Computer keeps dying, PSU or mobo issue?

[Kabob]

The past few days my computer has been randomly turning off in what looks like a power supply issue but I want to be sure. Usually this happens shortly after turning it on (or at least it never seems to happen when the computer has been running for a while) but this morning it's happened several times and I'm trying to figure out who the culprit is.

The turn off is immediate and often times though the computer will "flutter" after trying to turn itself back on (quicly cycles the power on and off until I turn the power strip off).

The PSU is a relatively new Corsair TX650 (maybe 4-5 months old) and my motherboard is an older Asus Rampage II Gene. I bought the PSU after my old OCZ PSU finally crapped out.

Is there a way to definitively tell which it is? Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

EditResurrecting this thread, I borrowed my brother-in-law's PSU and my machine worked fine for an hour so I got a new power supply. Put it in and my computer has worked perfectly ever since...until last night.

The exact same symptoms mentioned above are back. The first time it happened my computer locked up and I had to force a restart, ever since the computer will turn on for just a few minutes/seconds and then die, usually with flickers of power as the computer tries to restart itself. The power supply I have is brand new and I know it has enough juice for my machine so where do I go from there?

I tried a new power strip and it didn't alleviate the issue. My thoughts return to my motherboard but I can't imagine why my computer would work fine for 3 weeks with the new PSU and then start acting funny again.

 

[mikeymikec]

A spare PSU is the easiest way. What's the spec, could a cheap and nasty PSU do for very short-term testing?

If there's a period of time that it is pretty much guaranteed to stay up for, you could try prime95 as quickly as possible after bootup, which doesn't necessarily point the finger at the PSU but it would point it as a problem that occurs under load.

 

[Kabob]

Unfortunately I don't have a spare PSU, at times it'll stay alive long enough that I might be able to run prime though. Is the constant power cuttings and "flutterings" of power going to hurt anything (hardware or software-wise)?

 

[SeaSerpent]

Weird, I have a Corsair TX750 that just started doing the exact same thing. I noticed the 12v fluctuates quite a bit. Going to order a new PSU in the next day or two.

I will me messing around on the pc and it just blacks out.

 

[Kabob]

Weird, I have a Corsair TX750 that just started doing the exact same thing. I noticed the 12v fluctuates quite a bit. Going to order a new PSU in the next day or two.

I will me messing around on the pc and it just blacks out.

Yup, this is exactly what mine does, although I haven't verified any sort of rail fluctuation yet. I know it's still under Mfr warranty, maybe still within the Newegg replacement window so I can get it swapped out no problem if needed. Wanted to make sure that was the culprit before doing so.

 

[SeaSerpent]

What motherboard do you have?

 

[SeaSerpent]

Found this on the Corsair forum http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=115949

 

[mikeymikec]

Is the constant power cuttings and "flutterings" of power going to hurt anything (hardware or software-wise)?

It is conceivable. However normally power supplies fail without affecting the rest of the machine, in my experience.

 

[Kabob]

Found this on the Corsair forum http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=115949

Hrm, kinda sorta similar but not quite, I might have found a PSU to borrow but we'll see.

 

[Kabob]

Resurrecting this thread, I borrowed my brother-in-law's PSU and my machine worked fine for an hour so I got a new power supply. Put it in and my computer has worked perfectly ever since...until last night.

The exact same symptoms mentioned in my original post are back. The first time it happened my computer locked up and I had to force a restart, ever since the computer will turn on for just a few minutes/seconds and then die, usually with flickers of power as the computer tries to restart itself. The power supply I have is brand new and I know it has enough juice for my machine so where do I go from there?

I tried a new power strip and it didn't alleviate the issue. My thoughts return to my motherboard but I can't imagine why my computer would work fine for 3 weeks with the new PSU and then start acting funny again.

 

[smitbret]

Heat?

What are your system specs?

OC?

A failing PSU will usually manifest itself immediately when put under load but will often work just fine for easy tasks that don't cause anything to draw power. If it boots up OK, but then resets when you load a game or some other GPU or CPU intensive task then it is most likely PSU.

If it just does it after awhile, I would look at something else like bad RAM or overheating issues.

 

[john3850]

Once I had a sticky on /off switch so I pulled the on wire and used the mb switch to see if it would correct the problem.
A faulty or non seated memory stick.

 

[Z15CAM]

If not Heat, it may be possible you have a Bad Sector on the OS partition.

 

[capeconsultant]

These types of issues can be a bitch. I have sometimes tried plugging mine right into the wall with no strip just for grins.

Anything not seated; RAM, vid card, etc can cause weirdness. And so can a worn out or bad or partially overheated/melted mainboard.

Is the CPU fan seated properly with paste?

Any shorts?

Fans working?

 

[Kabob]

Heat?

What are your system specs?

OC?

A failing PSU will usually manifest itself immediately when put under load but will often work just fine for easy tasks that don't cause anything to draw power. If it boots up OK, but then resets when you load a game or some other GPU or CPU intensive task then it is most likely PSU.

If it just does it after awhile, I would look at something else like bad RAM or overheating issues.

No overclock, stock voltage on my machine:

Asus Rampage II Gene mobo
Intel i7-930 CPU
2x3GB Corsair XMS DDR3
Corsair TX-650 v2 PSU
OCZ Vertex 3 SSD (OS/drivers only)
300GB WD HDD (Secondary drive)
XFX 6850 HD Video Card
Antec Super Lanboy case (old as dirt but it's the perfect size)

The issues don't seem to be related to computer load, everything has run perfectly fine for the past three weeks and that includes a good bit of League of Legends, Starcraft 2, and Dolphin Gamecube emulation.

Once I had a sticky on /off switch so I pulled the on wire and used the mb switch to see if it would correct the problem.
A faulty or non seated memory stick.

Hrm, I hadn't thought about a sticky switch but that still baffles me as to why it would work fine for a few weeks after replacing the PSU and then be messed up again.

I checked to make sure all the memory sticks were seated correctly but I haven't checked to see if any are faulty.

If not Heat, it may be possible you have a Bad Sector on the OS partition.

This isn't it as I completely removed my OS drive and just turned my machine on and sit at the point where it tells me I have no OS disk and then the problem happens.

These types of issues can be a bitch. I have sometimes tried plugging mine right into the wall with no strip just for grins.

Anything not seated; RAM, vid card, etc can cause weirdness. And so can a worn out or bad or partially overheated/melted mainboard.

Is the CPU fan seated properly with paste?

Any shorts?

Fans working?

I checked for bad capacitors on my mobo and didn't seen any. The CPU fan is seated properly and I used paste when I added the fan but I can check again. It was a stock i7 fan that had never been used and came with the pre-attached "ready to be melted" CPU paste on it.

I don't know of any shorts but what's the best way to test?

All fans are working properly.

 

[you2]

I had a simlar problem on an old amd box (thunderbird if you can date that). I could never figure out why it was crashing but i strongly suspec t the cpu was overheating and auto-shutting down - i just coulnd't prove it. On that system I tried changing the psu and tripped checked the motherboard and checked the memory on another system. Eventually i just gave up since i had another spare mb (amd opty 165 - which was 10x faster) so I ended up just swapping mb and that fixed the problem
(this was a spare system I gave my dad - - I swapped the mb last year to give you a perspective of time span).

 

[john3850]

When I set up my 930 many people were having boot problems with 2x3GB Corsair XMS DDR3.
I went with gskill pi to avoid trouble.
Recheck your dram voltage 1.50 or 1.65v.
Make sure you dont have any green or power saving stuff enabled.
I kept C1E enabled and the c-states,speedstep off.
I leave my cpu at x21 if I set it at auto it turbos up to x22 and 4400 crashes at times.

 

[bleucharm28]

any bluescreen? BSOD

 

[capeconsultant]

No overclock, stock voltage on my machine:

Asus Rampage II Gene mobo
Intel i7-930 CPU
2x3GB Corsair XMS DDR3
Corsair TX-650 v2 PSU
OCZ Vertex 3 SSD (OS/drivers only)
300GB WD HDD (Secondary drive)
XFX 6850 HD Video Card
Antec Super Lanboy case (old as dirt but it's the perfect size)

The issues don't seem to be related to computer load, everything has run perfectly fine for the past three weeks and that includes a good bit of League of Legends, Starcraft 2, and Dolphin Gamecube emulation.



Hrm, I hadn't thought about a sticky switch but that still baffles me as to why it would work fine for a few weeks after replacing the PSU and then be messed up again.

I checked to make sure all the memory sticks were seated correctly but I haven't checked to see if any are faulty.



This isn't it as I completely removed my OS drive and just turned my machine on and sit at the point where it tells me I have no OS disk and then the problem happens.



I checked for bad capacitors on my mobo and didn't seen any. The CPU fan is seated properly and I used paste when I added the fan but I can check again. It was a stock i7 fan that had never been used and came with the pre-attached "ready to be melted" CPU paste on it.

I don't know of any shorts but what's the best way to test?

All fans are working properly.

I guess by making sure no nails for small metal pieces have fallen onto the mainboard is the best way to test for shorts I have always suspected that sometimes mainboard traces heat up and short out but cannot prove it

 

[you2]

Actually I was impressed by the ram voltage suggestion; in my case (older system) i doubt that was the issue (it is possible) but esp for the newer systems there has been a lot of issues in this area.

 

[rolli59]

Have you tried putting the PSU's in your brothers system? If they work there then most likely you are dealing with faulty motherboard, possibly short that is tripping the short circuit protection in the PSU.

 

[Kabob]

OK, here's my theory. My father in law has a voltage tester and the plug that my power strip was attached to is VERY buggy, the majority of the plug area is a dead zone with only a few areas showing correct voltage. Considering that the machine appeared to work fine for 3+ weeks before dying with my new PSU how safe is it to assume that an issue like that killed my PSU? I haven't tried pulling the PSU out and plugging it into another machine, it's a bit of a hassle but I can do so if need be. We replaced the bad plug on Sunday although I tried everything on several different plugs around the house and the problems persist, although the computer seems to stay afloat longer before dying than it did on the bad plug.

 

[bryanl]

OK, here's my theory. My father in law has a voltage tester and the plug that my power strip was attached to is VERY buggy, the majority of the plug area is a dead zone with only a few areas showing correct voltage.

Considering that the machine appeared to work fine for 3+ weeks before dying with my new PSU how safe is it to assume that an issue like that killed my PSU? I haven't tried pulling the PSU out and plugging it into another machine, it's a bit of a hassle but I can do so if need be. We replaced the bad plug on Sunday although I tried everything on several different plugs around the house and the problems persist, although the computer seems to stay afloat longer before dying than it did on the bad plug.

I think you may be saying 'plug' when you mean 'socket.'

 

[rolli59]

A quality PSU has built in protection for under voltage amongst other things. Without trying it in a different system we really do not know if it is the PSU or motherboard.

 

[Kabob]

I think you may be saying 'plug' when you mean 'socket.'

Go by what I mean, not what I say, you know!

A quality PSU has built in protection for under voltage amongst other things. Without trying it in a different system we really do not know if it is the PSU or motherboard.

Hrm, I don't have another system readily available that I can pop it into.