• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Instability problems - which component?

beatle

beatle

Diamond Member
I think I may have cooked my i5-2500K after 3 years of overclocking. Even at stock clocks, I get periodic reboots and under a Prime95 load, the machine just spontaneously goes back to POST after less than 10 minutes.

Microcenter recommended a new CPU/MB, though I was suspecting a PSU issue. In the brief time I was able to view my rails during Prime95 I didn't see anything more than 2-3% out of spec.

I went AMD instead of Intel this time and picked up an 8320 and an open box Crossfire V Formula Z (who thinks up these names?) I also picked up a Hyper 212 EVO cooler. I get everything hooked up, load the OS, and then decide to run a check on my SnapRAID array before I go to bed. It starts running and I nod off.

When I wake up, the system is black with no response from the keyboard to wake it. The power button on the case is not even responsive when held down for 5 seconds! I turn it off from the PSU switch and turn it back on from the front (button works now.) It powers up but does not POST. Again the PSU button does not work to turn it off.

I shut if off again from the PSU and let it sit for a few minutes. I power it back on and it POSTs and goes into Windows. It black screens again in less than a minute. I shut it off again at the PSU. Power on again after a few minutes and attempt to run HiRen's boot disk to run MemTest. Before I can get to the application it black screens again.

Reboot again and check BIOS for temps. All is well with temps in the low 30s.

Not sure if it's my open box MB or the PSU at this point. I'm thinking PSU now, but it's just another hunch.
 
Right, that's why I was attempting to test the RAM. However, my experiences with bad RAM haven't presented themselves like this before.
 
Yes, I have an idea to go back to Microcenter and have them replace the board, but wanted to see if my PSU idea had merit as well.
 
I'd probably take the board and CPU back. The board is $240 new, so even if they knocked 50% off for it being open box, it's still $120 worth of board. Add to that the $100 FX-8320 MC price, and you're looking at $240. That's not a good deal when $260 gets you the i5 4670K and ASRock Z87 Extreme3 combo.

Anyway, back to your problem. The fact that it sometimes works after the PSU has been drained of power means that it could either be a mobo or PSU problem. I'd lean towards the PSU since you had weird power problems on the other board too.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0413251
 
You still have the 2500k right? Try a new PSU on those old parts. Get rid of the stuff youjust bought. No need to sidegrade for $200+. Also try each RAM stick by itself.
 
HW monitor logging during prime run shows.....? Event logs reviewed? Memtest results? Crystal Disk to check hard drive?

I usually do alot of diagnostic testing before throwing the hands up and going on a buying spree.
 
As I mentioned, HW monitor showed reasonable temps of mid 60s during Prime and voltages were all within 2-3%. I think that's pretty good.

Nothing out of the ordinary in event logs other than the generic errors you get when the box hard reboots.

I ran memtest a while back when I was bringing my system back to stock several months ago and all was well. The instability just got to a point where I was sick of it as this machine now provides storage via iSCSI to my ESXi host and I need something that can actually stay on 24/7.

I got the board for $78 which was a nice draw to AMD. I don't play games and I plan to run a couple nested ESXi boxes inside VM Workstation so the 8 cores of the 8320 were appealing to me.

I have a new board. Will install it tonight and see what I get.
 
I'm leaning towards your ps as well. If you have a digital multimeter put the leads on the rails and see what it reads during boot, idle and load. I just went through it with a failing hx1000 that would randomly shut me down until I replaced it.
 
Ok, I put the new board in on Thursday night and the symptoms were the same. It black screened while I was checking the BIOS for the first time. I went back to Microcenter once again and picked up a Corsair CX750M. I hooked it up to my old Intel MB/CPU combo, reloaded the OS again and tried Prime95. Solid for 9 hours, 15 minutes. I'm going to put it back in my case, hook up the rest of my peripherals, and see if it's still stable. Maybe I'll even clock it back up to 4GHz. 😉 Thanks for the help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top