System shutting off randomly/starting up to blank screen

[builtospill1]

I built a new system back in January 2016, its an i7 4790k on a GA-Z97X-UD3H with 16 GB DDR3 G.Skill dual channel memory, Samsung 850 evo, Nvidia graphics- built it with a mix of new and used parts. System was never over clocked.
The system started to boot to a black screen within a month of it up and running (CPU fan would run full speed), when I pressed restart the system would boot and post normally. Eventually I RMAed and replaced my AX650, and problem persisted with replaced refurb AX650, problem kept happening. Corsair upgraded me to AX760i and then eventually upgraded me to a brand new AX860i. At the point of the AX760i, the computer started to shut off randomly (power supply clicking off at any random point either in BIOS menu or in OS.) At this point I assumed I had a bad motherboard, Gigabyte replaced my board with same board but from Rev 1.0 to 1.1.
New board still had all of the above problems. Just had the CPU replaced with brand new i7 4790k and system still powers off randomly and will often turn on to blank screen with blinking cursor (no post or beep codes).
I've tried building the system outside the case with bare minimum connections including jumping power pins, using just integrated graphics replaced my GTX750 for a GTX680, 1 stick memory, etc.
At this point I am going to RMA the G.Skill memory. Prior to RMA'ing the CPU, I ran MemTest86 and it got 1 error in the 2nd pass, didn't really seem to serious since I've seen faulty memory give many errors. If memory is not the solution, what other troubleshooting tips are there?
Thanks!!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Is that PSU Haswell / Skylake "Ready"? The newer Haswell and Skylake CPUs, have low-power states that older PSUs didn't really handle well, because it would draw too little current on the +12V line, and they had issues maintaining proper regulation.

 

[builtospill1]

Yeah, the AX650, AX760i and AX860i are all 100% Haswell compatible according to Corsair's website. Never had issue with sleeping and resuming computer too.

 

[Burpo]

Have you set bios to defaults yet?

 

[builtospill1]

Yeah I've tried reset to default "optimized settings" in bios menu as well as jumping the reset pins on the motherboard.

 

[UsandThem]

Post where this originated from:

http://www.portvapes.co.uk/?id=Latest-exam-1Z0-876-Dumps&exid=threads/anyone-have-experiences-with-cpu-rma-through-intel.2482958/

You have already RMA'd everything but your hard drive and RAM.

You say the RAM shows errors within two passes, so that is an issue. Have you tried a different hard drive? Is that RAM on Gigabyte's QVL or does the G Skill memory finder say that RAM is compatible with your particular motherboard model?

 

[denis280]

16 GB DDR3 G.Skill dual channel memory[/QUOTE]What is the model Volts and speed

 

[builtospill1]

Yeah, the RAM (G.Skill F3-1600C9D-16GXM) is on the approved list for the Z97X-UD3H motherboard on Gigabyte's website as well as QVL on G.Skill website.
I have taken out the Samsung 850 Evo and used a 7200 RPM drive with no changes.
When I ran the Memtest utility, it just came up with 1 error in the second pass only, I did about 3 passes I think. The memory runs in XMP Profile 1 at 1600mhz.

 

[builtospill1]

Denis280:
It is G.Skill F3-1600C9D-16GXM (Ripjaws X) (2x 8gb modules)
Running with Xmp Profile 1 @1600mhz
No memory overclocking Profiles are enabled, all settings on auto including memory multiplier at auto (shows 16.00), Profile DDR Voltage shows 1.50v but is greyed out, realtime voltage shows 1.512v in the enhanced system tweaker bios menu. But as far as settings go, I've left all memory on auto except for turning on Profile 1 to use memory at it's 1600mhz speed.

 

[UsandThem]

Denis280:
It is G.Skill F3-1600C9D-16GXM (2x 8gb modules)
Running with Xmp Profile 1 @1600mhz
No memory overclocking Profiles are enabled, all settings on auto including memory multiplier at auto (shows 16.00), Profile DDR Voltage shows 1.50v but is greyed out, realtime voltage shows 1.512v in the enhanced system tweaker bios menu. But as far as settings go, I've left all memory on auto except for turning on Profile 1 to use memory at it's 1600mhz speed.

There was another member here who had crash issues like you are experiencing. His post was in general hardware (I'll link to it later when I'm on my desktop PC), but he said he came across a thread on another site where instead of leaving the memory on 'auto', to manually set its speed in the BIOS. He claimed it worked for him.

Also, have you tried running only one stick of RAM at a time to see if it had any effect? Are you running the latest BIOS version?

 

[builtospill1]

There was another member here who had crash issues like you are experiencing. His post was in general hardware (I'll link to it later when I'm on my desktop PC), but he said he came across a thread on another site where instead of leaving the memory on 'auto', to manually set its speed in the BIOS. He claimed it worked for him.

Cool, yeah would totally appreciate that, I'll try anything at this point. This system is a nightmare, never had anything like this before. Although the last system I built was a Pentium 4 a long time ago, so this new fancier hardware seems so much more pickier.

 

[UsandThem]

Cool, yeah would totally appreciate that, I'll try anything at this point. This system is a nightmare, never had anything like this before. Although the last system I built was a Pentium 4 a long time ago, so this new fancier hardware seems so much more pickier.

The forum search function seems to be not working right now, so I can't find it right now. I went through about 30 days of my last posts, but didn't see it.

Since reading back through your posts, I was going to ask if it was an OS related crash, but you stated you've had crashes while in your BIOS as well.

Three last thoughts to try:

1. What slots do you have the memory installed in? The motherboard manual states on page 16:

For optimum performance, when enabling Dual Channel mode with two memory modules, we recommend that you install them in the DDR3_1 and DDR3_2 sockets.

Try installing them in DDR3_4 and DDR3_3 slots instead.

2. Disable the X.M.P in the BIOS.

3. Try running one stick at a time. Does Memtest86 show any errors on one, or both of the sticks when run separately?

EDIT:

Found the thread, it was in a different sub-forum:

http://www.portvapes.co.uk/?id=Latest-exam-1Z0-876-Dumps&exid=threads/bsod-memory-management-error.2480368/

 

[builtospill1]

The forum search function seems to be not working right now, so I can't find it right now. I went through about 30 days of my last posts, but didn't see it.

Since reading back through your posts, I was going to ask if it was an OS related crash, but you stated you've had crashes while in your BIOS as well.

Three last thoughts to try:

1. What slots do you have the memory installed in? The motherboard manual states on page 16:



Try installing them in DDR3_4 and DDR3_3 slots instead.

2. Disable the X.M.P in the BIOS.

3. Try running one stick at a time. Does Memtest86 show any errors on one, or both of the sticks when run separately?

It's never been an operating system crash, it is just a complete system power off and goes into restart, so theres no crash report or anything like that.

I have them in slots 1 and 2, so yeah I need to try slots 3 and 4.

Have not disabled XMP in BIOS yet, will try that too.

Only did Memtest on combined dual channel installed. Will have to try separately to see if one stick is prone to errors over other.

 

[builtospill1]

So I tried Memtest86 on stick number 1, once the test started it immediately reported 59 errors during pass 1. It stayed at 59 throughout pass 1 so I just stopped it and restarted computer to see if Memtest86 would get these errors again, and it didn't. Used computer for a bit using this one stick and the computer randomly powered off while in OS.
Tried testing stick number 2 and the computer shut off in the middle of Memtest86. When the computer is shutting off, the computer will power back on and then immediately the Corsair AX860i will go into power protection and the red light turns on.
After the computer shut off during memtest86 with the second stick the computer would not turn back on, every time I pressed the power button the computer would start but the AX860i would immediately click off and red fault LED on PSU would light up. I tried starting without any memory and same power issue would happen.
Unplugged power supply for a short minute, plugged back in and the computer started up fine without AX860i's red light going on and powering down system.

This power off thing all started when they gave me the newer AX760i and continued on with AX860i, the random power offs never happened with any of the AX650 power supplies. Only symptom I got with the AX650 was the computer booting to a black screen and restarting would let computer post fine.

When I sent my original GA-Z97X-UD3H board to Gigabyte, the guy told me it tested out fine, I insisted he send me a different board which he did because I was convinced it was the motherboard.

 

[UsandThem]

I'm not sure what to recommend for your next step.

You have tried three power supplies, two motherboards, two CPUs, two hard drives, two video cards, and tested your RAM individually and even tried powering it without RAM.

I keep extra components at my house where I can swap in a different power supply, RAM, video card, and if I thought it was the motherboard or CPU, I could pull one from a working system.

The only motherboard I bought and could not get working in 20 years of working on computers (even after I returned the first one back to the retailer and got the same model again) was the Gigabyte GA-H97-D3H. I literally replaced every component in the PC, and I couldn't get it to not randomly crash. After a week of trying to get it to work, I gave up and returned it. I replaced it with a Asus Z97-A/USB 3.1 and everything worked.

It was the only time I was completely stumped by a component that wouldn't work.

 

[builtospill1]

Yeah, the thing is I'm primarily using this for a Mac system. I have a super stable install of El Capitan running on this, although I'm stuck with this specific motherboard for it's compatiblity.

 

[UsandThem]

Yeah, the thing is I'm primarily using this for a Mac system. I have a super stable install of El Capitan running on this, although I'm stuck with this specific motherboard for it's compatiblity.

One of the reasons I gave up on the board was because of the user posts on 'TonyMac86' website stating the same issues I was having. I wasn't trying to install El Capitan, but from what I read Gigabyte dropped the ball on some of their Haswell boards.

 

[builtospill1]

I'm just going to try a cheaper power supply and see if that works. I'll take the random black screen power ups that I used to get with the AX650 over random power offs which make this system useless. Next step would be to just change brands of motherboards that are hackintosh compatible. Built this machine to be a budget Mac Pro system to speed up my Adobe Lightroom editing and use hot swappable 3.5" hard drives, at this point I could of bought a used Mac Pro and saved myself all this hassle, haha

 

[Bubbaleone]

I realize this is anecdotal but you may just be experiencing a string of "buzzard luck" with your hardware. When I built the rig in my sig I had to RMA that Extreme9 three times in a row before Asrock sent me one that wasn't borked. The Asrock tech that worked with me was as puzzled as I was and could only suggest static discharge as the likely culprit. I've always worn a ground strap when I'm poking around in the innards, so I still think it was just buzzard luck.

 

[builtospill1]

Do you think I should try to RMA my Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H board again? When I RMA'ed the first time I had to push the support guy to send me a different board because he said mine tested fine.

 

[UsandThem]

Do you think I should try to RMA my Gigabyte board again? When I RMA'ed the first time I had to push the support guy to send me a different board because he said mine tested fine.

You could try, but if they test it again and say it tests fine, they're likely to send it back to you. Plus, you'll be out of even more shipping money.

And you aren't even sure it's the issue. You could get another one and still have the same problem. Sometimes motherboards have bad runs, but the odds of getting two boards from different retailers (rma dept as one) is very low.

 

[Ketchup]

I haven't heard anything about what is outside the computer. Battery backups? External drives? New/old power cables? Different wall sockets/rooms? As you have stated, bad RAM won't always give you a hard power loss like that. And you've replaced everything else that would matter (CPU, GPU, motherboard, case).

 

[builtospill1]

The case is a Fractal Design R4, it plugs into a power strip, but I've tried plugging into a different outlet by itself. I've built the system outside of the case with bare minimum and jumped the power switch to turn it on with same sudden power down issue. I notice when I have the PSU unplugged and I start up computer fresh the system will run fine and stable all day long, but then when I shut down computer and say use it next day, then the sudden power shut downs start and the computer will 8/10 times start up to black screen and require a reset to get it to boot/POST.

 

[UsandThem]

The case is a Fractal Design R4, it plugs into a power strip, but I've tried plugging into a different outlet by itself. I've built the system outside of the case with bare minimum and jumped the power switch to turn it on with same sudden power down issue. I notice when I have the PSU unplugged and I start up computer fresh the system will run fine and stable all day long, but then when I shut down computer and say use it next day, then the sudden power shut downs start and the computer will 8/10 times start up to black screen and require a reset to get it to boot/POST.

I found this thread on your PSU:

http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?t=149802

It has reviews on different sites with some people having similar issues.. Try a different brand like EVGA, Seasonic, Antec, etc.

 

[builtospill1]

Yeah, I've heard of other people complaining about the AXi series as well as a YouTube video of someones AX860i. I'd assume because it has all that DSP stuff inside that it doesn't like some motherboards. Like I said before, I had originally purchased a refurb AX650 when I built this system and all I was originally getting was powering up to black screen/no post. Once Corsair upgraded me to the AX760i was when the computer would randomly power off and reboot. I assumed since Corsair eventually gave me a brand new AX860i, I was good to go, but same old story.
Going to try an EVGA NEX750B super nova PSU that someone is selling locally online for cheap and see if my life gets better.

P.S.
haha, please watch the end of this video about the AX860i