After the patch, I tried to play Skyrim and every time, about 30 minutes in or so, my whole computer completely shuts off. It won't turn back on until we reset the power strip, and everything else on the power strip stays on. This only happens with Skyrim (I have tried Mass Effect 3 and it did not cause it to turn off) and it has only started happening after the patch. I am at a loss of what to do, so any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

The only time your computer will shut off completely is when its under powered, or over heating.

I don't believe that it's overheating... I've neve rhad this problem before. This problem only started occuring with Skyrim after the latest patch; it doesn't happen ever when I am playing a different game or doing something else on my computer. My power supply has more than enough wattage to run my entire computer.

It's not even that hot in my room, I have a fan going and everything. ;n;

Try updating your graphics drivers. Your computer is definitely overheating. A bad combination of buggy drivers and/or buggy games can cause your cooling system (ie the fans) to not work properly (if at all).

And I'd get this fixed before you play Skyrim any more, otherwise you might end up baking your computer's circuit boards.

Take a look inside the case, and make sure all of your cooling fans are working. Your CPU fan, or one of the other fans, might have died around the same time you updated the game. Or they might just be clogged up with lint.

We have the latest drivers; I have an amd radeon 6700 HD graphics card.
All my fans are working; and we tried to clean out the computer the other day. But I will try cleaning it out more just in case

You should get Core Temp and something that could tell the temp of your GPU.

If it's not overheating, then it's likely something wrong with the power supply. And just because you think it's only shutting off in Skyrim doesn't necessarily mean anything. Could just be a coincidence, or something else.

I just replaced my power supply that was randomly shutting down only while playing TF2. Sometimes 30 seconds after playing, sometimes hours. But it never shut down while doing anything else (including Skyrim). I even ran Furmark and Prime95 stress tests at the same time for hours and it didn't shut off. But once I started playing TF2, boom.

This hasn't happened since I've replaced the power supply.

Power Settings in Control Panel? High Performance mode give that a shot.

If your computer shuts off completely while playing Skyrim your power supply is going into a "Over current" condition and the power supply shuts of the computer. I have had it happen to me. I would not use it in this manner it may cause a fire. Please post specs of system and rated amps of you Power supply? 3.3V 5V and 12V rails.

Good point.....Corsair FTW! At least for future reference.

Downloaded core temp and monitored my computers temperature, it doesn't seem to be overheating. It was hovering between 38 degrees Celsius when playing Skyrim, and peaked at 41 degrees. When doing normal things like browsing the internet or using photoshop, it's at 33-36 Celsius. (I did not play long enough for it to shut off, though)

Turned my power supply on high performance mode to see if that helps.

OS: Windows 7
8 gigs of RAM
Graphics Card: AMD Radeon HD 6700 Series
Processor: AMD A4-3400 APU with Radeon HD

Rated amps:
3.3v 16a
5v 20a
12v 18a

Hope that's enough info ;n;

I'm no expert but I'd be willing to bet if you got a power supply with one high current 12V rail--40-60A--it would fix this. It sounds like yours is probably 4 rail.

Okay, any suggestions on what power supply would work better for me? I am looking at the CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650M 650W. (Would post the link but forums won't let me LOL) I found it on newegg.

I have a Corsair TX 850 v 2 and it's fantastic, can't fault it. I'd recommend the same, but maybe 750 watt if you don't need 850.

This is incorrect.
The ATX standard specifies no more than 20A on any 12V rail.
Therefore, to deliver 720 W (60A) a PSU requires at least three 12V rails.
A PSU with one enormous 12V rail is therefore completely outside the established specifications, and should neither be manufactured or purchased.
That said, I use Corsair CX-430 PSUs in my non-gamer builds. Solid PSU.
(It has a single 22A 12V rail that does not trample the Intel ATX specification.)
So do not be put off by PSUs having multiple 12V rails, as per the spec.
More importantly, ensure any unit you consider purchasing uses Active PFC, and is a well-known brand name, well-reviewed, from a popular manufacturer.
EVERY good PSU ever made has been reviewed (at one time or another) on Tom's Hardware and/or [H]ardOCP.
I like OCZ, Antec, Enermax, Silverstone, and yes Corsair but only in smaller wattages.
I can go 22A, 25A, okay maybe even 30A on a 12V rail.
But a 1000W PSU with one single 12V rail? Ridiculous.
Regards

That's very much not overheating. Was that an overall PC temp, the CPU temp or GPU? Those are really low temps for GPU without some sort of aftermarket cooling...with the super-warm weather we've been having here lately, my 6970 was flirting with 80C at some points when I played Skyrim last night.

Since you've eliminated overheating, I'd say you're definitely looking at a faulty power supply. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. (Only in my case it was the first Trine that caused mine to go blip.) I'll second the recommendation for a Corsair...they really are awesome PSUs, and I learned the hard way not to skimp out on that front. How much wattage you need will depend on what's in your system. What's your current power supply?

When I replaced my faulty PSU I actually went from a 750W Thermaltake to 650W Corsair (the Enthusiast Series TX 650V2, actually--should be functionally identical to the one you're looking at, just not modular) without any problems.That should be enough for most systems, but if you've got Crossfire or SLI you'll want one with a bit more wattage.

Yes, does Coretemp only do CPU measurements? You might want to try GPU-Z, run it up in the background while you're playing Skyrim (tick the "background" box) and have a look at the results every so often (alt-tab out every 5 mins). You can adjust the output fields by drop-downs to show max, min, average etc.

+1
Trying to run a 550ti with 400 watt psu. duh.

I rock the 750 watt but remember this with Corsair you get every last watt advertised and great build quality. Go with whichever one is in your price range and the modular ones are potentially useful if you plan on changing out the GPU in a year or so. Pretty sure the Corsair has two 12v rails mine at least....been a while since I read the specs. You def get what you pay for when you buy Corsair though in my experience.

What???? lol....

http://www.corsair.com/power-supply-units/professional-series-gold-power-supply-units/professional-series-gold-ax1200-80-plus-gold-certified-fully-modular-power-supply.html Nothing else could power my Rig. (Peroid)

Supports the latest ATX12V v2.31 and EPS 2.92 standards and is backward compatible with ATX12V 2.2 and ATX12V 2.01 systems

100 amps.... one single rail. I trust Corsair for 10 years now....and its got a 7 year warranty.

650 watts

@Camaro- I am a beginning illustrator LOL. There is no way I could possibly afford that.

But thanks everyone for your input, I will go and look into getting a new one, most likely a corsair based on your comments.

Was Illustrating a point (pun intended) Trust Corsair. My last PS was of course a Corsair and is now powering my sons rig. They will last you a long time. I think single rail is best because it takes the hassle of balancing the separate rails, out of the equation...

Good luck OP and remember Newegg has sales all the time so just keep an eye out.

Well I don't know, but my Corsair Enthusiast TX750 V2 runs my MSI N580GTX just fine, and at least according to Newegg has 1 12V rail @ 62A.

Good choice with the Corsair. My system in my sig was being powerd by an enermax 465 watt with 3.3-34A 5V-34A 12V-32A. However when I added the second 560 it would go into the "over current" and shut off. Corsair is a great PSU manufacturer, I went with the Silverstone PSU because for my price range and Amps needed it was the right price... As a bonus it is 100% modular.