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Computer shuts off randomly

Engr62

Engr62

Senior member
I'm having some difficulties (randomly shuts off during video encoding) with a PC I built in September of 2012. Here are the specs:

AMD Phenom II 965 BE (stock HSF, not overclocked)
Gigabyte 970A-UD3 motherboard
G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-pin DDR3
MSI Radeon HD 7770 PCIe video card
XION 700 W ATX 12V power supply
1 Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive
1 Toshiba 1TB 7200 RPM hard drive
1 LG 12X Internal Blu-ray Drive

I've encoded a bunch of my movie collection (approximately 120 movies) using Handbrake since I put this system together. Most of the time, it works flawlessly; however, over the 8 or so months I've had this system, it has shut off randomly while encoding a movie (fewer than 10 times over the 120 times I've encoded a movie).

When the system shuts down like this, I can't get it to power back on until I unplug the cord from the back of the power supply, then reinsert it. Apparently, the power supply has some kind of safety mechanism that needs to be reset after the abnormal shut down.

Suspecting I have either a heat issue, power supply problem, or bad memory, I've tried the following things:

1) Removed the stock HSF, applied a fresh layer of thermal paste, and reseated it.
2) Installed SpeedFan & CoreTemp monitoring software.
3) Ran Memtest86 to test the memory.

My temperatures seem to be OK. Idle=38-39C, Full Load (100% all 4 cores)=54-55C. The limit for this CPU is 62C. SpeedFan reports the system temperature (I assume this is the chipset temperature) to be 37C while all 4 cores are fully loaded. I've looked at the temperature logs after the system shuts down abnormally, and all of the temperatures look to be in this same range with no strange spikes.

SpeedFan reports the following: Vcore1=1.38V, Vcore2=1.50V, +3.3V=3.33V, +5V=5.03V, +12V=12.29V, -12V=-7.26V.

Memtest86 ran 3 loops with no errors.

I've also tried setting the Affinity for Handbrake to use only 3 cores (with CPU 1 unchecked). Although I didn't get a crash (which it doesn't with any regularity), the CPU temperatures still stay around 54-55C.

I don't have another power supply lying around that I could try, and I hate to spend another $70-120 without knowing it is the problem.

The system will run fine for weeks on end, then have a random shut down (it's only occurred while encoding videos where the CPUs are highly stressed). It hasn't happened while I'm surfing or playing Starcraft II (although, I only play SC2 occasionally).

Any thoughts? Thanks.
 
Engr62 said:
I'm having some difficulties (randomly shuts off during video encoding) with a PC I built in September of 2012.

.......+3.3V=3.33V, +5V=5.03V, +12V=12.29V, -12V=-7.26V.


Any thoughts? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Your -12V reading says bad PSU. For about 15 bucks more than you paid for the Xion, and even though it's rated 620 watt, you can get this SeaSonic that will run circles around the Xion in every way: SeaSonic S12II


.
 
Last edited:
Thanks to all who have replied.

I'm now sure that my problems are caused by a faulty power supply. There are a couple of other voltages that SpeedFan reports that I didn't include in the original post. There are two different +5V numbers reported by SpeedFan (I guess one is the +5VDC and the other is the +5VSB), but I'm not sure which is which because they are both labeled +5V. I think the +5VSB must be the power to the system board (SB?).

Anyway, one of the +5V is 5.03V (as I reported before), and the other +5V is 3.63V. According to ATX power supply specifications, the tolerance for +5VDC and +5VSB is +/- 5% (4.75 to 5.25). The +5V=3.63V is well outside of this tolerance. If +5VSB is the power to the system board, and if it's actually only 3.63V, it's no wonder that the power to the system goes off.

This power supply has a 12-month warranty, and it's a little over 8 months old. Now I've got to decide if I'm going to RMA it (and have the computer down for an extended time until the replacement arrives), or chunk it and go with the SeaSonic Bubbaleone recommended.
 
If you want the SeaSonic S12II at that price you better jump on it now, because like most most really good Newegg sales; it won't last long!
 
daveybrat said:
Xion and 'Quality Power Supply' should not be spoken in the same sentence. Upgrade that to a Corsair, Antec, or Seasonic and you're problems will likely be solved.
Click to expand...

I've got a XION 800W PSU, in a rig that used to have FOUR 9600GSO 96SP cards in it. (Each card takes one 6-pin PCI-E power connector.) Well, it started crashing.

Yet, it works if I only have TWO 9600GSO cards in it. I figure the PSU must be going.

I would agree with daveybrat, I don't think XION PSUs are that high-quality. They're better than PowMax/RaidMax, only because they are probably less likely to start fires when they get overloaded.

Get a decent Antec or SeaSonic.

(I previously had an Antec EarthWatts 650W (Delta OEM) PSU in that rig, and with a pair of 6-pin PCI-E splitters, it powered all four graphics cards just fine. But I wanted a PSU with more wattage, and actual PCI-E power connectors coming off of the PSU. So I picked out the XION, what a mistake.)
 
Most XION power supplies are manufactured by a company called Super Flower. They have one good or two lines of their own which are actually pretty decent (i.e the Golden Green and Golden King labeled units). However, they also have several units (probably for relabeling OEMs like XION) which aren't so good.

I'm with davybrat, Bubbaleone, and VirtualLarry. Ditch the XION unit and pick up a good quality unit (that Seasonic referenced by Bubbaleone is a good one at a good price) and don't look back. You can still RMA just to keep the XION for use as an occasional emergency spare; however, if you RMA it and go back to using it regularly, you'll probably be purchasing a better power supply again in another 8-12 months (provided your hardware lives through the next failure).
 
Thanks for all of the advice. I placed an order for the SeaSonic S12II tonight. I'll RMA the XION and keep it as a back-up.
 
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