Got a new PC back in December. Main reason I got it was to max out Skyrim as the old PC couldn't even use the HD DLC. I have:

Window 8 (which I HATE by the way) 64bit

Intel Core i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 4 Cores

16 GB RAM

What happens however is when I play (and sometimes when the PC is just sitting there on) the thing just shuts off and restarts. It's quick, but it often does it while I'm playing. Originally it only did it after playing 4 or 5 hours straight. Now it seems like it does it every 30 minutes.

I ran a Windows Memory Diagnostic and it found nothing. I even had it set to run on start-up and it did it right after one of the shut downs. Still it found nothing.

Playing Skyrim seems to speed up the shut downs, but I don't know what's causing it.

Any idea's as to what to check? Any Skyrim setting that may slow them down a bit?

Extra question. While playing, and even while typing this, I hear a ding ding ding and my keyboard will lock on the last key I pressed. In game it means my guy will be stuck running some direction or whatever until I hit the key again. Again this is Windows 8 and I think its some messaging system running in the background but I can't find it to turn it off. Any ideas?

Thanks.

First, make sure auto restart on stop error (or something) is turned off in the system settings. Next, continue on as normal. Now, a couple things could happen once you turn this off: you'll get a BSoD instead if that's causing the issue or you'll just get the reboot if it's something else. In the case of the former, please copy the message down verbatim as that usually gives a hint as to the problem. In the case of the latter, I'd monitor the power and the temperatures of things up until the point it reboots.

As for your last question, make sure sticky keys and all that stuff is disabled in the keyboard settings for Windows.

How do you do those things? I'm new to Windows 8. I can't even figure out where to do a search for Restart on Stop Error.

Thanks.

To be honest, I don't have a damn clue where Windows 8 puts anything. I actually haven't used Windows since before Windows 8 was released to the public for various reasons and I'm not planning on actually touching Windows 8 anyways. Sorry I couldn't be more help with that one.

It may be system error, it's been a while since I turned that setting on as it's generally one of the very first things I do when I first get into Windows so I can better identify any problems.

As for the keyboard thing, if you have something like Accessibility settings, it may be in there. I seem to recall Microsoft starting to move some (maybe more?) of the keyboard and mouse settings into that category with the release of something.

Yeah I can't stand Windows 8. Every time I search for anything it looks through Apps. Why the heck do I even want Apps on my PC? It's not a tablet dang it.

I can't for the life of my find a Windows 8 help section. And where the heck is my Control Panel?

It just did that ding ding ding again. Three short dings, low pitch, with each one sounding a little lower than the last. I have no idea what it is but when it happens my key stiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii cks. Dang it did it again!

Hello,

I'm going to try and assist you today, your ding ding ding probably is you pressing shift five times in a very short period and a message is popping up saying if you want to enable sticky keys. Please follow this link to disable it.

techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/quick-tip-disable-the-sticky-and-filter-keys-in-windows/3910

Next download a program called who crashed. Follow the instructions on how to correctly setup the program. Once it is setup play skyrim as normal until the pc reboots. This will generate a report for who crashed and give us much more information to assist you with.

Edit: forgot link