Thread: Random Shutdown/Restart

Now i am thinking it has somthing to do with the lowvolts setting on the dsatx or maybe another setting on the dsatx.

I have lowvolts set to 11.6 from what i remember.

Does battery voltage drop lower when it cold? I just checked my volts when the car is off and its 12.5. So, when the car is at idle its probably above 14v.

I'm thinking it has something to do with my low idle when i'm stopped and when its cold, but there is no way it would drop to 11.6 to initiate shutdown.

Any ideas?

Originally Posted by TeamRSX

i have noticed it will only restart when i am completely stopped, it has never restarted while i'm driving.

I would say check your alternator and see what the voltage is on idle. Could be a problem with your electrical system. See if the lights dim when your computer crashes. That is a good indication of not enough voltage.

Or maybe your electronics aren't dealing with the cold too well. The crappy electrolytic capacitors used in most motherboards/power supplies can become out of tolerance in the cold

Originally Posted by nobb

I would say check your alternator and see what the voltage is on idle. Could be a problem with your electrical system. See if the lights dim when your computer crashes. That is a good indication of not enough voltage.

Or maybe your electronics aren't dealing with the cold too well. The crappy electrolytic capacitors used in most motherboards/power supplies can become out of tolerance in the cold

I dont think its a problem wiht the eletrical system as it only happends when its cold out. If it was a problem with the eletrical system it would be consistent in restarting which it is not . ALso it only happens in the morning when its cold, so most likely not a problem with electical system.

I can't see if the lights dim when my computer crashes, becasue my computer doesn't crash, but rather shutsdown and shutsdown properly as the dsatx initiates shutdown timer when the computer restarts.

Originally Posted by PontiacGA

If you turn the car off and leave the PC on, when you start the car again, does it turn off the PC...no shutdown? I have the same PSU and mine started doing this too since it's gotten cold and my battery in the car is about 6 years old. I'm thinking the battery is going. Time for an Optima.

when i turn the car off(assuming the car and pc are on) and leave the pc on it will still shutdown as acc goes low and will initiate shutdown mode, but if i have the car off, but only click the igniton to the second position so the car is not started the pc will turn on because i have vturnon set to enabled and vinhighthresh set to 11.8 so the pc will turn on even if the car is not running and as long as the volts dont go lower than 11.8v. BUt if i then start the car with the pc on it will initiate shutdown mode and restart the pc. Probably becasue acc goes low for just a few seconds.

Its weird because i just upgraded my battery a few months ago from the stock one. I was originally going to get the optima, but didn't end up getting it. It definately has something to do with the voltage dropping i'm assuming. I guess a quick solution would be a capasitor as it would hold the voltage from the pc, but i really dont want to run one. I am leaning towards the battery though.

Originally Posted by jessekilner

Don't mean to startle the car battery idea but i run a converted laptop and i get same effect.. Now thats it's cold. It has internal battery so in theory it should only go into standby when the ignition power drops below the settings (battery low charge) but it just shuts down randomly, no standby just off. So my guess is the computer needs to be around a stable temp.. I would check the manufacturers of motherboard to see operating temperature range. My guess is it's above not below 32f. Otherwise try insulating the pc all around except for the cooling vent. Im gonna give this a try and see.. I'll post results in a week for a more thourough test. Remember the harddrive needs to be checked also as it's not designed for winter use.. Check the manufacturer of that device too..i bet we all will be surprised to see the results.and im certain this issue will get worse as the temps drop below 0'

This could definately be another theory. My mobo i think is rated for 0 degrees celcius. But if it was too cold fo the mobo to startup why does it initially start up and then shutdown. This is why i am assuming it has to do with teh battery or voltage dropping. But right now i have the lowvolts on my dsatx set to 11.6v, so there is no way the voltage is dropping below that otherwise the car wouldn't start.

Now i havent checked the battery voltage when its cold out to see what the voltage is when the car has beening sitting overnight in the cold. But in my parking garage at work i did some tests and while the car is off its 12.45v and when the car is on at idle its 14.45v. These are normal numbers, but it could be a different story when the car is sitting in the cold.

It would be nice if we could pin point the problem. Its hard though as its not consistant. Good luck on your tests.

Also, my hard drive is a laptop drive with gforce, but its also rated for 0degrees. I think though if the barings in the hard drive were too cold it wouldn't initally boot up. There is a number of things it could be.