Random Crashes

[bigbubba3]

I'm sure there a metric shit ton of posts like this here, so if there is another thread that addresses my problem please send me there.

Had a full ower with an i7 870, 8 gigs of ram, an ssd and 2 hard drives.

Moved to college dorms and couldn't fit the full tower any more.

Bought a new mobo asus P7h55-m pro as well as an in win dragon slayer (or something like that)

Everything goes very well, reinstall all my hardware and do a fresh windows install.

Boots up, stable, i7 runs cool (under 60C in prime 95 after 30 min)

Fast forward a week and the computer just shuts down randomly. No BSOD, lock up, freezing, just a click sound and its off.

I open case and clear CMOS. Reboot. Run default settings in BIOS just incase it was an unstable overclock. It boots to windows fine and everything runs great for about 5 minutes, then it dies again.

The only way to get it to boot again is to unplug the psu, clear cmos and power on via cmos jumper or power switch.

I observed this about 5 more times an noticed a pattern.

1) Boots up, and stays up for anywhere in between 5-10 minutes (stress has nothing to do with it as far as i can tell), then shuts off
2) Goes to soft restart, gets halfway through bios then crashes
3) Continues restarting another few times but never gets to BIOS



Then I began trouble shooting.

Updated BIOS, no effect.

Changed wall sockets, no effect

Changed power cord, no effect




My guess its either or both:

Motherboard: Only new component, everything else was working before
PSU: Because its just losing power. I highly doubt though because I have never had a problem with it before.

I am going home tomorrow and will have the option to return the mobo to the store i bought it from.

CAN ANYONE TELL ME HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN PSU OR MOBO BEFORE I BRING IT BACK?

thanks guys to listening to my crapstorm.

 

[Motorheader]

Brand/make/model of PSU? I'd look at that first since it doesn't sound like a thermal issue with the CPU itself. Do you have it on a surge protector or battery backup coming out of the wall? I've had bad or questionable unit cause intermittent power issues. The last one was cause for repair of a flat screen TV in my house back in the summer.

 

[bigbubba3]

Raidmax 6xx watt psu. Pretty much a cheapo but has been reliable so far, including overclocking.

In the dorm it is my pc to the wall.

 

[Athadeus]

I'd guess:
60% Unstable settings in BIOS or corrupt BIOS
25% PSU going flaky
15% Something else odd

Do you have Advanced System Properties -> Advanced -> Startup and Recovery Settings -> System Failure - Automatically Restart turned off?

What is the model number of your memory, and what frequency and voltage do you have it set to run at in BIOS?

Also, did you really use it much during claimed stable week?

I wish you luck in fixing your problem. Whatever you do, don't let a computer problem ruin a semester like I did!

 

[bigbubba3]

I have updated the BIOS as it made sense to me that there may be a problem there. However that didn't change a thing, still crashes even when in the BIOS.

I am not sure about the Auto Restart. Is that Windows or BIOS?

I have 2x4gigs Patriot Viper extreme. I set the system on boot after it crashes to run default BIOS so that it eliminates that as a problem. I have them running @ 1700 @ 1.7v or 1600 @ 1.6v

I used it a ton, played all the way through the Battlefield 3 campaign as well as a few hours of Payday, and Witcher 2 as well. In all honestly it was on for a good 8 hours per day and used for 4 of them.

I brought up a different power supply that I am going to test with this evening. And i certainly won't, thank God for my laptop.

 

[bigbubba3]

Ok as I mentioned above I tested my system on a new power supply. It is up and running stable. I will be running Prime 95 while in class although I am pretty sure it will be stable.

Thank you all for your helpful insight, I will keep you updated.