Computer shuts down after a few minutes

Question

So I spent all day yesterday trying to figure out what was wrong with my computer. The specs look something like this (before replacing the board):

1. Z77 MSI M Power
2. Samsung 840 Evo SSD
3. 16GiB Ram (2 Corsair, 2 Patriot)
4. Intel i5 2800 series
5. Corsair RM850 PSU
6. Nvidia 2GB (cannot remember series)
7. OS - Windows 8.1

The main problem I keep having is after a certain amount of time, say 10 minutes the computer just shuts down. Goes to the "Shutting Down" orange screen. The two most recent pieces of equipment I installed were the SSD and PSU. I tried everything from 1 stick of RAM, still the same problem.

I installed Windows 7 on one of my spare hard drives, same thing happened. I swapped out the 1155 i5 with an Intel Celeron 1155, same shut down screen. Next thought that came to mind was the motherboard. So I swapped the Z77 with a MSI ATX.

Figured that was my best bet, same shut down screen. So after that I decided to try another PSU and low and behold, the same problem. So far the only thing I have been able to keep running is a copy of Fedora 18 on a really old WD hard drive but if I go to the files portion and look at the drives it says in red letters something along the lines of "This drive will fail soon".

I've done everything I can think of including switching out SATA cables. I am thinking something may be shorting the system out. My question is what would be the next logical trouble shooting point? Maybe someone else has had a problem like this?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Edit: Forgot to mention as of a few days ago the computer was running great for a long time. Also the CPU temp does not go above 35C. The PSU is never hot to the touch nor is there any of the "burnt psu" smell.

Edit 2: While these shutdowns were occurring I was getting the message in event viewer "The kernel has initiated a shutdown". Sometimes the computer would stay on for 30 minutes, sometimes 2 minutes.

Answer 1

I would still suspect over temperature. If it's a laptop be sure not to block the vents on the bottom, e.g. the laptop sitting on soft surfaces. If it's a desktop/console type check again for ventilation ports. Those systems can be opened and cleaned using a compressed air can. Perhaps a fan is malfunctioning or has a loose electrical connection.

Answer 2

It's hard to tell from the facts available, but what surprises me is that the shutdown screen is orange: Isn't it blue normally?

Actually the Windows Event log should contain details why the system was shut down.

Answer 3

I had a similar problem (automatic shutdown after x minutes) once on a Microsoft domain controller. There was a problem with an expired license.

I dont have a windows system to test it actually, but you could try to check the license status via powershell:

Get-CimInstance SoftwareLicensingProduct -Filter "Name like 'Windows%'" | 
where { $_.PartialProductKey } | select Description, LicenseStatus

It should be the following output (LicenseStatus == 1):

Description                                 LicenseStatus
-----------                                 -------------
Windows(R) Operating System, OEM_DM channel             1

Code taken from here: How can I check if Windows is activated from the command prompt or powershell?