Build Randomly Restarts W/ No Warning

[MattMan657]

Hey all,

Little under a year ago I built my first custom gaming pc with great success. Ended up putting in a simple but effective WC loop. The computer runs awesome, cooling is great, performance great, no issues on that front. I owe much thanks to these forums for the guidance in reaching that goal.

The one issue that is starting to happen more often is that the computer will randomly reset. Not like Windows randomly resetting, but like a hard reset. Tower will turn off, fans stop spinning, and remains off for about 2 seconds than turns itself back on. When Windows begins to load I get the Windows did not shut down normally, etc.

It happens at complete random times. Sometimes gaming, sometimes just browsing the internet, etc. I was wondering what a good pc monitoring tool would be that I could use to log the cause of this? I've failed to pinpoint an exact cause, so perhaps some form of PC logging would help.

I wonder if maybe there is some dust in the case that is causing something to act weird. I think it is just about time to do the annual big clean up and whatnot.

Thanks in advance, as always, OC rocks.

 

[RollingThunder]

Hey all,

Little under a year ago I built my first custom gaming pc with great success. Ended up putting in a simple but effective WC loop. The computer runs awesome, cooling is great, performance great, no issues on that front. I owe much thanks to these forums for the guidance in reaching that goal.

The one issue that is starting to happen more often is that the computer will randomly reset. Not like Windows randomly resetting, but like a hard reset. Tower will turn off, fans stop spinning, and remains off for about 2 seconds than turns itself back on. When Windows begins to load I get the Windows did not shut down normally, etc.

It happens at complete random times. Sometimes gaming, sometimes just browsing the internet, etc. I was wondering what a good pc monitoring tool would be that I could use to log the cause of this? I've failed to pinpoint an exact cause, so perhaps some form of PC logging would help.

I wonder if maybe there is some dust in the case that is causing something to act weird. I think it is just about time to do the annual big clean up and whatnot.

Thanks in advance, as always, OC rocks.

Can you put a DMM on one of your power supply molex connections at idle and load to check your 12V voltage?

 

[manu2b]

^This.

Certainly a 12v failing. Can be wire, a connector, or the PSU itself.

 

[Wathnix]

Blow the dust off your computer and try running it with the side panel off and see if it still resets. Sounds like your PSU is going bad. Another idea is to see if the driver disk for the motherboard has a temperature monitoring software in it. Install this and see what you are running for temps and compare that to the temp limits set in your BIOS.

 

[MattMan657]

Will do. Bummer if the PSU is going bad as its not even a year old and it's a good one. Good thing I bought warranties.

 

[EarthDog]

I see a 1.2kw model for a pc tbat needs no more than 400w....coolmaster quality is hit and miss. That said, PSU I would look at, though not first simply.because it happens with low loads. Are you overclocked? Go back to stock. What does windows event log say happened?

 

[MattMan657]

The reason why I went with a 1200w model is for scalability. I plan on going SLI in the near future, additional hard drives, more water cooling and beyond. However yes you are correct, at the moment it is overkill.

Yes I am overclocked. Not a super intense OC but an OC nonetheless. At 4.5ghz at 1.230ghz. I have had no issues with the OC.

I'm out of town on work right now, I'll check the log when I get back.

 

[EarthDog]

Unless you get 4 GPUs and a slew more HDD's it will always be overkill. A 850W PSU is PLENTY for 2 680s, a bunch of HDDs, water cooling, and overclocking.

That said, back off the overclock and see if that helps. Perhaps it is unstable for whatever reason.

 

[MattMan657]

Probably gonna upgrade to a GTX 780ti then go SLI.

Gonna clean out the dust and what not when I get home, see how that works, and if need be I'll back off the OC and check out the log.

IF I need a new PSU, what would you recommend. I just realized I don't have a warranty on my PSU (annoyed as hell), so other options may be needed.

 

[EarthDog]

850w us still enough for 2 780ti. Love the grandiose plans and all, but unless you have multiple monitors or a 4k monitor, I surely woukdnt rock more than one 780ti for 1080p... Get a better monitor first...

As far as PSU... Lets worry about that if it's actually broken. I'm not remotely convinced, so far, that is the problem.

If you want to jump ahead, in my signature is a link to our osu thread. Good or great psus are there...

 

[MattMan657]

Love the grandiose plans and all, but unless you have multiple monitors or a 4k monitor, I surely woukdnt rock more than one 780ti for 1080p... Get a better monitor first...

Haha yea. Goin for gasps is where its at. I'd consider getting a new monitor. Aren't 4k monitors at least 2k a piece? What I like about mine is the 144hz refresh rate.

 

[MattMan657]

Well I unfortunately need to bring this thread back to life. This has happened twice over the last day again. I grabbed my PS tester This.

Tested both a Molex and a PCIE.

Molex Test is first image, PCIE Test is second image. The LL on the Molex is because a Molex doesn't carry the 2nd 12v, I think...

I'm no expert on PSU readings, but from my limited knowledge in this subject it appears to be ok.

I'm going to run Prime and test my OC again.

 

[MattMan657]

I also just had another thought. I'm powering 6 Akasa fans off of the same 8 way splitter. So therefore the splitter is hooked up via Molex to the PSU. The Molex cable to the PSU, that powers the splitter and hence the 6 fans, has another Molex connection which I use to power my pump. So the same modular port on the PSU powers my MCP-35X pump and six Akasa Viper fans. Do you think this could cause any issues?

Link to the fan specs
http://www.akasa.com.tw/update.php?...type=Fans&type_sub=PWM Control&model=AK-FN059

 

[xsuperbgx]

try running memtest for a few hours and see what happens> I have had a cpu and memory both cause random resets/

 

[MattMan657]

What is the best Memtest application? I see a couple different versions.

 

[Lvcoyote]

http://www.memtest.org/

 

[JackNSally]

http://www.memtest.org/

+1

If you pass that pull out add in cards/usb/external devices, 1 at a time. Unplug hard drives if possible. Take some hardware out of the equation to narrow it down until the issue stops.

 

[GTXJackBauer]

Also make sure you have bluescreenview. Great tool to point you in the right direction whenever you should get BSODs.