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The story
A thread popped up on Newsoku VIP (5ch’s casual chat board) after a user’s PC — bought five years ago from PC Depot — started randomly rebooting, freezing, and even failing to display anything on screen. The poster reapplied CPU thermal grease with no improvement, then followed the board’s instructions step by step: pulling the graphics card, testing with a bare-bones setup, and more, all in search of the cause. Commenters chimed in with theories like “a degraded power supply unit can drag down other components” and “weird fan noise might signal thermal throttling,” while opinions split on how long a PC should realistically last — some said 2-3 years, others insisted 10 years is no problem.
What people said
Cleaning it out and redoing the thermal paste didn't fix it…
guess it's time for a new one.
Just the CPU paste, that's all I did!
I don't even know what a 'bare-bones setup' means.
The lights do turn on!
But the monitor won't display anything…
Lol, fair enough.
But it's not totally off-base either — the diagnostic LEDs on the motherboard are actually an important clue.
Sounds like something at the core died and it's dragging several parts down with it.
A new PC… is that really it? (;_;)
I've never touched the graphics card before —
is it easy to just pull out?
It's not a custom build!
I bought it pre-built from PC Depot.
Why not try plugging the monitor cable straight into the motherboard instead?
Are the other parts generally fine even after 5 years, aside from the GPU?
Nope.
If you don't scrap it right now, your life could be in danger.
You've really gotten your use out of it.
Most people replace theirs after about 2-3 years, so……
I see…
Actually the reboots are the lucky part —
the screen stays on for a while afterward.
It's a hassle since you'll end up handling most of the other parts, but at least you won't need to remove the CPU or RAM, so don't worry about that.
By the way, if the PSU is degraded and straining to keep up with power demand, it can damage both hardware and software — so stop powering the thing on.
I've already shut it down and
restarted it a ridiculous number of times (;_;)
Is it already too late…
Yeah, the fan is loud!
I stupidly thought it'd last 10 years…
As long as the specs hold up, 10 years is totally fine.
The graphics card won't come out…
I'm scared to force it…
Did you release the locking clip?
Maybe yours was just a dud?
Seriously?!
…I can't forgive PC Depot!
That's gotta be the cause.
Figure out which fan it is, then clean it and redo the thermal paste.
Guess I've got no choice but to turn into a detective about it!
Yeah, that's probably better than an amateur like me poking around (;_;)
Yikes, I've already messed with a lot of stuff.
I was told to pull the GPU to isolate the problem, so I did —
is that a problem?
Not a problem at all, it's just more work.
Can't see the image, but if it's out, connect the display to onboard graphics and boot up.
If it doesn't crash, the GPU was the cause —
assuming your CPU has integrated graphics.
Where's the cable that used to plug into the graphics card —
should I plug it in here?
Did the PC fail to boot even without the GPU?
I'll go check the temps!
I've got HWMonitor open, but
which readings actually matter?
Is just checking the temps enough? 💦
Background and Key Points
As a rule of thumb, core PC components like the CPU and motherboard tend to last 5-10 years, while power supply units degrade faster and are typically good for only 3-5 years. The split in the thread — some saying “most people replace theirs after 2-3 years,” others saying “10 years is fine if the specs have headroom” — comes down to differences in usage and load, and neither claim is really wrong. What stands out in this case is that multiple symptoms — reboots, freezes, and a blank screen — are showing up simultaneously, which is hard to explain with a single failed part and looks more like a degrading power supply dragging down several components at once. The intuitive instinct to “just blame the graphics card” is the easy misconception here; as commenters pointed out, the proper approach is to isolate the issue first using a bare-bones setup or the motherboard’s diagnostic LEDs, since pulling the GPU first doesn’t necessarily get you any closer to a fix.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Newsoku VIP) thread “[Calling all PC experts] Random reboots, freezes, blank screen — am I done for?“.
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