Random reboots

[KentState]

The main system in my sig is the culprit. Since putting it together a few weeks ago, it restarted a couple times in the first week, and then the last two days it has done it a few more times. Twice today when playing Planetside 2 and the video started getting slow/low fps. I also noticed one of the reboots occured when watching a video in Windows Media player. The GPU useage got really high and the video was choppy and it crashed a few seconds later. None of these have produced a BSOD or leave any errors in the logs.


I have run memtest86 through to passes without any errors. Prime95 ran for about 20 minutes and then a random reboot. None of the system monitors gave any sign of heat or power issues. All drivers and BIOS are at the most recent versions. What other things should I do to narrow down the problem? Could the PSU be the problem since it is 5 years old? It ran the 3770k system and i7-920 without a flaw during that time, even with overclocking both the CPU and GPU.

 

[bononos]

The haswell has more stringent psu requirements for its low power state (c7) but that doesn't seem like the problem in your case.

 

[KentState]

I did check the Corsair site, and the say that all TX models are 100% compatible. I assume that this includes the first generation models like mine.

 

[Paperlantern]

It could be PSU, yes, but it could also be a number of other things. Is the system getting clean power? The PSU can only give what it gets, perhaps this system is using more power or cannot tolerate the imperfections the PSU is delivering from dirty wall power like the previous machine probably could. The only way to know is swap the PSU, not the easiest thing in the world to do. If no UPS is used, maybe try one out (borrow if you dont have one and you can).

Youve already eliminated a bunch of the other issues I would have thought to try, BIOS and or Driver updates. Though the ironic thing is, sometimes they can hinder, Ive seen instances where a machine would lock up if it had the most up to date driver installed, but if rolled back to a driver that is a year or so old, it was stable as ever. Something to try would be even try and older version of the BIOS or Video driver and see if it has any effect.

Is this a new case? Try disconnecting the reset switch in case theres a short there. Turn off any and all BIOS related power features.

Disable VT-x and any other unnecessary features. And of course, remove any unnecessary peripherals (ANYTHING can cause problems, I have seen eSATA drives cause some really weird behavior before, disconnect anything USB/Firewire/Whatever).

 

[mfenn]

Did the low FPS in Planetside 2 coincide with a reboot, or was that an independent event? I think the answer to that is yes, but I wasn't 100% clear from your post.

If so, it sounds like you are hitting a thermal throttling issue. I'd suggest monitoring your CPU and GPU temps with HWMonitor, CoreTemp, GPU-Z, etc. and seeing if the reboots and slowdowns correlate with high temperatures.

 

[KentState]

Well, I decided to try to troubleshoot this computer again today. Over the last 3 months, I've been having random reboots a few minutes into games or can go hours playing something like BF4.

Today I pulled everything out besides the SSD, MB and CPU. Went down to two sticks of RAM. Still had the same problems and could not get Prime95 to run more than 15 minutes. The temps never went over 50C the entire time. I then pulled two sticks of memory out of my Haswell build which has not given me any problems. Same results, after 15 minutes the system reboots with temps not getting above 50C. I have a new PSU coming sometime today and I will give that a try. Any other recommendations before I give up?

 

[Phaetos]

Pull the mobo from the case and try it outside of the case. I can remember random reboots on PC's back when I was a bench tech, when pulled out of the case, the problem cleared up. Maybe intermittent short on the case. Heat makes things expand, maybe the board is expanding just enough to short out?

 

[KentState]

Will have to try that next. I think either way the MB has to come out for RMA. I tried a new PSU and got the same results.

 

[aigomorla]

each time u got a reboot did it show you a blue screen and tell you what failed?

Come back with us on what exactly failed.

 

[KentState]

each time u got a reboot did it show you a blue screen and tell you what failed?

Come back with us on what exactly failed.

I'm not getting a BSOD or any error message, just a reboot.

 

[aigomorla]

ugh ur using windows 8... i dont know how to fully navitage though there... but it should be simular to win7 which is....

You need to see if reboot on error is clicked..

in Control Pannel -> system and security -> System -> advanced System settings -> start up and recovery

need to make sure automatically restart is not clicked.

 

[KentState]

Yes, automatic restarts is disabled. Like I mentioned early, this appears to be motherboard/cpu related as the problem happened in both fresh/fully patched installs of Windows 7 and 8. I also had a few random reboots in the BIOS when I initially put the system together.

For now, I opened up an RMA with Gigabyte and may just pick up an Asus motherboard since they have served me well over many builds in the last 13+ years.

 

[mfenn]

Given that you've eliminated the RAM and PSU, I think that you're correct that the mobo is probably causing the issue. Gigabyte isn't going to give you your money back, so you might as well wait for the replacement board to come before buying another.

 

[KentState]

Given that you've eliminated the RAM and PSU, I think that you're correct that the mobo is probably causing the issue. Gigabyte isn't going to give you your money back, so you might as well wait for the replacement board to come before buying another.

I haven't used their RMA process before, but I really want to be up and running for BF4.

 

[Torn Mind]

Cold joint, faulty component soldered on, ESD damaged a transistor, damage in shipping. Seems like something on the mobo is not delivering the correct amount of power to the components.

Just one thing though, is there any blemishes or scratches on the bottom of the CPU? Bent pins?

 

[KentState]

Cold joint, faulty component soldered on, ESD damaged a transistor, damage in shipping. Seems like something on the mobo is not delivering the correct amount of power to the components.

Just one thing though, is there any blemishes or scratches on the bottom of the CPU? Bent pins?

I haven't taken everything apart yet. I went ahead an ordered Asus Maximus VI Hero and will inspect the cpu before I do the install.

 

[mfenn]

I haven't taken everything apart yet. I went ahead an ordered Asus Maximus VI Hero and will inspect the cpu before I do the install.

I guess you'll just sell the RMA'd board or keep it for a spare?

 

[KentState]

I guess you'll just sell the RMA'd board or keep it for a spare?

I will be a cpu short of a complete system when I get the board back. Might just see if a family member needs a computer for Christmas. I'm sure I could pick up an i5 Ivy Bridge CPU for cheap and make someone happy.

 

[Torn Mind]

I will be a cpu short of a complete system when I get the board back. Might just see if a family member needs a computer for Christmas. I'm sure I could pick up an i5 Ivy Bridge CPU for cheap and make someone happy.

Hmm...I thought your problem board took Haswell CPUs. :hmm:

 

[KentState]

Hmm...I thought your problem board took Haswell CPUs. :hmm:

You are right. I always get the code names mixed up.

 

[KentState]

Found the issue as soon as I pulled the CPU out.



Wish I would have taken the time months ago to troubleshoot this.

 

[mfenn]

Looks like a bent pin in the upper right? Yeah, that'll do it.

 

[Torn Mind]

Looks like I had the right hunch. Sucks that you're set back quite a few dollars, but I hope you enjoy the ASUS board you ordered.

 

[aigomorla]

wow.... bent pins

the SAD thing about it is the manufactor will deny your RMA and fight you til the end saying they are not at fault because of bent pins.

:\

 

[KentState]

wow.... bent pins

the SAD thing about it is the manufactor will deny your RMA and fight you til the end saying they are not at fault because of bent pins.

:\

It's my fault so I'm not going to bother with an RMA. I just posted in the FS/FT section for someone that would want to try fixing it.