Computer shutting down - very strange

[bozilla]

Hi, I have a very weird problem.

I've finally managed to build everything get my machine rolling and I got the new pair of Swiftech coolers for Xeons (btw, very silent I'm impressed) but I keep getting a very weird problem. At my first boot, everything seems to be working great, all of the fans are spinning, every component recognized and I boot into windows xp. After some surfing and setting up, I wanted to restart. First thing I noticed that there was no StandBy Option available in the shutdown menu, only restart and shutdown. I hit restart and the computer powers off completely. After that, I couldn't turn the computer on at all. Very strange. I physically turn off the computer's power source (the on/off button on the actual power supply) and wait for about ten minutes. Then I try to turn it on again and the system boots up again normally. This time I go into bios to see the CPU temperature and system temperature and everything seems ok. I get both CPUs @ 38C and system is around 35C. I wait in the bios for a while to check out the voltages and all that..everything seems ok, voltages are pretty steady. I set the smart thermal management off (the thing that controls fan spinning based on CPUs temperature) and try to Exit and Save from BIOS the same damn thing. The computer powers off completely and no way to turn it on. I waited for another 10 minutes and tried again the system boots up. I go into BIOS to check the CPU temperatures again everything seems normal. Though the CPU1 started heating up more then the other, but I guess that's ok because in this mode only the first CPU works not both.

Now my question is this. The computer worked great when I had the Vantec Silent 520 PSU in it until today. Then I got the 4-pin to 8-pin 12V adaptor from Thermaltake (because my motherboard needs 8-pin 12V connector) and took out Vantec 520 and put in there this Thermaltake 680W PSU again. This is extremely strange. Before I start unplugging everything and replacing the PSU again, does this sound like something that happened to any of you? Is there a solution or it might be the PSU?

Thx.


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Main Design Workstation:
Dual Xeon 3.6Ghz EMT64
Dual Swiftech Coolers "MCX604-V" @ 28 dBA
ASUS NCCH-DL Mobo
4Gb DDR400 OCZ Performance Series (4x1gb)
ATI X800XT Platinum AGP
Arctic ATI Silencer 4
NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive
ASUS 16x DVD-ROM
WD Raptor 74Gb + 300GB Seagate 7200.8 SATA NCQ
Thermaltake Silent PurePower 680W PSU
Lian Li Black Aluminum Case, "PC-V1200B"
===

 

[anpictum]

Hi, I've been searching some threads on 2cpu.com and there is a growing theory among members there that a PSU with only one "strong" 12v rail is the way to go with the NCCH-DL. I'm still trying to sort my Xeon machine out as I have had nearly identical problems to yours. I've summarised the history below. Please let me know if and how you resolved things. Thanks.

System specs:
Coolermaster Stacker
NCCH-DL Rev 1.02 bios 1.03
2 x Nocona 3.6GHZ with Swiftech MCX604-V coolers
2 x Crucial 1GB PC3200 CL3
1 x NEC ND3500AG DVD-RW
6 x Western Digital SATA Raptor (boot - 2 x 73GB on 6300ESB, storage 4 x 36Gb on Promise controller)
2 x Western Digital SATA 250GB Caviar on PCI Raid card using PCI-X slot
1 x Hitachi ATA 100 40gb
1 x HIS ATI X800XT PE
1 x Creative SB Audigy2 using PCI 32 slot
6 fans controlled using Cobalt V Pyramid controllers
Windows XP Pro SP1 (up to date)


As my system requirements came to over 600 watts, I decided to go for a dual psu set up with 2 x 400W dual 12v (14A, 15A) rail Akasa PaxPower PSU's. However, this didn't work. I did manage to install the O/S with only two Raptors on the 6300ESB ports despite frequent crashes on reboot. To try something new, I hooked up my old Thermaltake PurePower 560W single 12v (22A) rail PSU (not EPS but has adaptor cables) and everything ran fine. I then installed four more Raptors on the Promise controller and also the ATA 100 40Gb drive. Still everything was fine.

I tried different combinations of controllers and drives and ran SisoftSandra Burn in Wizard and the machine was 100% stable. All the drives and controllers were tested, but I wasn't happy running a total of 9 hard disk drives on this PSU so I invested in the new Thermaltake PurePower 680W with triple 12v rails (15A, 15A, 8A). The first time I powered on with the new PSU with all the components connected everything went fine and I installed Halo to give it a run. As soon as I launched the game, the PC turned off. After several hours of testing the result is this: with 2 Raptors in raid 0 plus the optical drive, graphics card and memory, the system won't boot past the welcome screen. Each time I have to turn the main power switch off at the PSU and wait up to 30 minutes before it will start up again. If I try any sooner than that the PC instantly turns off.

Before I read threads in some forums, I was going to try the Enermax EG851AX-VH(W) 660W which apparently has 4 x 12v rails (14A, 16A, 14A, 16A) with each CPU having its own 12v rail (Enermax state that it will run Quad Xeons). The Asus manual states that a PSU with 600W minimum and 3 x 12v rails is recommended, but my experience with the single 12v 560W PSU seems to bear out the widely held theory in forums that, despite what the Asus manual says, a PSU with a strong single 12v rail such as the Antec TruePower 550W EPS (36A on the 12v rail) is the preferred solution.

 

[anpictum]

Please see this thread for info on NCCH-DL/PSU advice form Augustus:
http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62977