Problems with CMOS? PSU? RAM?...

[xiMeth]

Hi guys! First time posting here! How are ya?!
This is going to be quite lengthy. First, these are my computer specs:

- Asus P5Q LGA 775 Intel (P45/ICH10-R)
- Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Wolfdale Socket 775 (45nm) @ 3.16 Ghz & Artic Freezer 7 Pro Heatsink with AS5 Thermal Paste
- G-Skill 4096MB DDR2 @ 1066Mhz PI Series
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 Sata 3.0 Gb/s (160 GB) + Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 Sata 3.0 Gb/s (750 GB)
- XFX Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5
- Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Channels
- Coolermaster CM690 Mid-Tower ATX Case & Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Power Supply
- Windows 7 64-Bit Pro Edition
- I also use an APC UPS Battery Backup. Don't know the ratings but it keeps my pc on for a good 10 minutes.

First things first, my PC is highly optimized, no virus, i defragment it every two weeks, latest drivers, latest windows updates, run ccleaner almost every other day an AV is up-to-date (AVAST). I clean the dust every 3 months so no dust inside my pc. Yes i know I'm an OCD kinda guy! I have an array of problems in my pc so i want to enumerate these problems. I also hope that you can help me narrow it down so I can find the culprit of it all.

1. Computer shuts down randomly. It shuts down even after 2-3 seconds of turning it on, or even after 5 hours. When it turns off its only a matter of seconds when it turns on again (from 1 second to 30 seconds). When it turns off, I can't manually turn it on with the power switch, I just have to wait till she wants to turn on by itself. Sometimes would I hit the side of the case in anger and the computer turns on again lol. But that doesn't happen all the time. Yesterday i used it for 5 hours and no random shut down happened. Somedays I use it for long periods of time without problems. Sometimes it happens very constantly. Currently inside Windows OS no random crashes happen of any kind (applications, error messages). The only crash I've seen are Blue Screen Crashes but are not constant (kinda solved...see point 2) Possible Reason: RAM Faulty

2. My sound card started making this weird high pitched noises and having driver problems. I usually uninstall the driver, run driver cleaner and reinstall same or newer drivers and works real good for about 3 weeks. Then after that it starts all over again. Last time it happened it didnt even recognize the sound card so i uninstalled the card and am using onboard sound. Since then, NO bluescreens, NO high pitch noises, NO sound problems. Prolly a bad sound card.

3. Sometimes out of the blue, my pc would not post. No beep whatsoever. I would take out the RAM and put it back in and it posts. It Happens every now and then. The inside of the pc is never dirty plus I have like 7 fans inside a CM690. So i would say heat and dust are not an issue here. These same memory sticks i tested. Single, Paired, both of them. I used Memtest 3.7 to go through 1000% on each stick (Not Memtest86+). No errors were seen after basically 10 passes each.

4. Sometimes on startup the motherboard would say something like "Overclocking Failed, press F2 to blah blah"... I usually hit F2, load my saved
preset, restart and it boots fine again. My BIOS is updated to the latest firmware. This really doesn't bother me, but wanted to point it out in case it helps to solve the problem. Also, my pc is not overclocked, just set the memory to 1066 in Bios because it is not by default and turn off some innecesary settings on bios. Possible reason: CMOS Battery is faulty.

5. For the last a year and a half I would use the computer, and then after being done with it and shutting it down, I would flick the PSU switch to off. So NOO current/voltage enters the mobo. I'd do that for that whole year and a half. The thing is, i dunno if that is harmful to the PSU. Then like 3 months ago I went to turn on the computer and it didn't remember the bios settings, i re-entered them, used the pc and flick the button again just to find that he next day that I had to re-enter the settings on the BIOS...once again. Possible Reason: CMOS Battery or the PSU being faulty.

Still there guys? Haha. So that's about it with all my different pc related problems. That's why I have reached the conclusion that it may be either the CMOS, PSU or RAM. But I'm asking you guys If you may have a different opinion or advice (For all we know the MOTHERBOARD may be the culprit). Or Could it be the On/Off Switch on the Case? Many thanks in advance and I hope to hear from you!

 

[killerkid]

Welcome to the forums. Here is something that you can try. You said and I quote, "Also, my pc is not overclocked, just set the memory to 1066 in bios". When you did that did you also set the correct timings and voltage? Look up your ram and see what the timings are and manually set them, also manually set the voltage to the ram.

I recommend you run prime 95, intel burn test, and a few other programs to check your load temps. No where in your post do I see any information about idle/load temps so that could potentially be an issue later on down the line. However the not posting, failed o/c etc, could easily be due to the ram voltages.

Just so you know, some computers fail there "overclock" at auto settings because the ram requires more voltage then the auto is putting out in bios. For example if your ram needs 1.6volts and auto has it at 1.5volts this would explain a lot of bsod's and issues.

 

[xiMeth]

Well, just tried that. Same outcome, it shut down in about an hour! What's next?

 

[trents]

Well, just tried that. Same outcome, it shut down in about an hour! What's next?

You need to try them with a temp monitoring program open like HWMonitor or CoreTemp. Run Prime95 blend for 10-15 minutes with one of those two programs open and report back to us what the core temps are.

 

[jameseboy]

I had this same issue with an old p4 server i had. The thing would run for between days on end, and literally seconds then would shut off. i tried everything i could think of, switched ram, psu, gfx card, hard drive, case, cpu heatsink. eventually i gave up, i think the motherboard was shorting out at certain points for some reason.

If you come up with any fix can you please pm me, cause i still have this board lying around. might be able to sort it still :L

 

[xiMeth]

One thing I forgot to point out was...When i went to turn on the pc yesterday I pressed the power button and nothing happened, pressed it twice, three, four times and still nothing. I got mad and pushed it really hard a fifth time and BAM it turned on. Do bad power switches make your pc shut down? Should I try replacing the power switch with the reset switch (i barely use it) just to see if anything different happens?

 

[trents]

Bad power switches can make your pc shut down indeed if they get stuck in the closed position. It would be just like holding the button in several seconds to force the power off. Yeah, try switching the reset button over to the power pins. That's a cheap experiment indeed!

 

[jameseboy]

Deffo sounds like an issue with your motherboard then. change your reset and power switch pins around and see just to make sure. it could cause it to shut down if the circuits tripping

 

[byrdawg]

I had a psu issue with similar problems you are having now. I was able to narrow it down to psu after I realized that after trying to turn it back on several attempts and nothing happened, I would turn the switch off on the back of the psu. It would make a noise, then I would flip the switch of the psu on again, hit the pc power button, and presto, it would boot again, almost like it was purged. Before you spend any money, I would see if you can borrow a psu from a friend for a bit.

 

[xiMeth]

Ok, a little update...I took off the power switch pins and replaced it with the reset switch ones. Right now I have only the reset switch pins connected. The computer turned on quickly and ran like a champ from 9:30pm to 12:00am. We'll see what happens next. I don't want to get my hopes up! I'll keep you posted!

 

[jameseboy]

Let me know how it goes when you get a chance to run it for longer =]

 

[xiMeth]

Update: Yesterday i used the PC non-stop from 10pm to 4am working really nice and today from 12:30pm to 7:00pm and still using it. No reboots or shut downs (knocks on wood) Could it be that all my problems are gone? I'll keep testing and posting!

 

[jameseboy]

good to know =] you can pick up either replacement switches for a few pounds. thats if you cant be bothered using the restart switch all the time instead =] either way works =-]

 

[xiMeth]

I really don't mind using the reset button. It'll stay like that...till my next build!

 

[xiMeth]

Sad News guys...after two successful and beautiful weeks, my PC has done it, ONCE again. It turned off and had to hit it on the side so it would turn on again and it did. I'm more inclined to say this is a Motherboard problem after all, even a CPU problem if I dare say. I think it has nothing to do with the Power Supply IMHO. I've had this type of problem for months and i think when Power Supplies start to fail they usually don't last this long! I dunno guys...Help me out!

 

[jameseboy]

Damn thats annoying. im thinking its something shorting somewhere, unplug everything from your board bar gfx, main hdd, and ram, then boot your system bare minimal. If it runs fine then you have a hardware problem somewhere else, if not then id go for maybe time for a new build my friend.

 

[xiMeth]

So I've given it some thought and well...I WANT to know what's goin' on with my PC! (stubborn eH?!). So i opened the case, cleaned up the dust, removed the creative sound card (which was dead anyway) and placed everything carefully back to its place and removed two apevia fans which their cables were kinda ripped. I decided to get some new fans with Leds. Maybe some Xigmateks i dunno. I also went to Walgreen's and went to get some Energizer 3V Cr2032 CMOS Battery as a replacement to try that also. Installed the battery and has been runnin' good so far. If the PC turns off I guess I will buy a PSU, If THAT also fails, i have a faulty mobo...and also time for a new build! I'll keep posting till' this is solved!

 

[xiMeth]

Well, I went to turn the PC on today and it didn't turn on so I tried the usual...the hit/shake on the side of case and it did turn on. Something weird is happening. Also I flicked the PSU switch the O position to see if it retained my time/date bios settings. Flicked the switch off, waited like 5 minutes, flicked it on, then turned the PC on and then... Time/Date bios settings were reset. No BIOS settings retained whatsoever! Wasn't the new CMOS battery supposed to take care of that? Did the motherboard or PSU already discharged the CMOS battery? Faulty Mobo or PSU? I think I'm gonna buy a PSU today! -_-

 

[jameseboy]

New psu is a deffo. Sounds like its shorting something out for sure. Your cmos shouldnt reset if you psu is turned off. Thats what the battery is for, it should only reset if you switch the jumpers on reset in the bios.

let me know how the psu went, if not i have a spare motherboard for a p4 i could possibly sell you which has the same socket type that i believe still works.