Unstable new PC. Any thoughts?

Antnee

Antnee

Antnee

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13 Feb 2009
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42
Hi guys,

I've just put this together:

  • Intel Core i7-3930k CPU
  • G.Skill 1600MHz 8x4GB CL9 32GB RAM
  • Asus P9X79 Pro motherboard
  • Intel RTS2011LC liquid cooler
  • 2x (recycled) Gigabyte GTX260
  • Seagate 1TB SATA 6Gbps HDD
  • HiPro 700W PSU (recycled from an old Alienware machine)

This is all in a Silverstone Raven RV01 case.

That is all that has been in the PC. I used an external DVD drive to install Windows (waiting on the new internal one arriving) and have had no end of problems:

  • Couldn't get Windows to install. Whether I chose the UEFI or standard boot, it always complained about missing files
  • Removed 16GB and a video card and it did install OK
  • Put the second card in and the rest of the RAM and it appeared to be OK
  • Full memory test appeared to have either locked up or only got to 21% over night (approx 7 hours testing)
  • Powers on, powers off, then powers on again and boots
  • Often no working keyboard or mouse in Windows, whether legacy USB is enabled or not, whether using USB2 or 3 ports, even though they're lit up as expected (but locked up also. Num lock is on, but can't be turned off)
  • Sometimes powers on, then off, then on again a few times, as if it's cycling something and testing
  • After it all appeared to have been working OK, I powered it on to get a warning message about the CPU only being running at 12x 100MHz and to check for errors

Now, most of that screams "BIOS Update and new PSU!" so I've ordered a new 850w PSU and will get the BIOS updated as soon as it turns up. It's also coming with an SSD and the internal BD writer. However, I'm interested in any other thoughts you guys might have? Anyone got any experience of a similar setup? Is that board known to power off and back on again rather than just restart? Even when you save BIOS settings and restart it turns off for a second, then powers on again from cold.

Thanks everyone
 
I would suspect the PSU is a prime suspect. From what little specs I get on a google it seems it's a bit limited when it comes to sli, due to it's +12v design.
 
Well TBH, I don't run the cards in SLI... I have four LCDs connected in a 2x2 configuration. It's not a gaming machine, but I (will) use it for a lot of database development and for running VMs, but even so, it IS an old PSU now, having been in that Alienware for 5 years.

BTW, I checked one of these online power calculators and theoretically I shouldn't need as much as 700w, even with cap-aging, but I know it's not quite that simple :) Will see what a fresher, more powerful PSU does for me in a couple of days when it gets here. At least this way I won't have to keep taking the PSU out to swap between machines :|
 
Cheers. I know there's a lot of hype in the Alienware brand, and the components aren't necessarily as good as people might think, but do you think they'd use a cheapo PSU? TBH, I don't think I've ever had one even last 5 years before :D
 
Antnee said:
Well TBH, I don't run the cards in SLI... I have four LCDs connected in a 2x2 configuration. It's not a gaming machine, but I (will) use it for a lot of database development and for running VMs, but even so, it IS an old PSU now, having been in that Alienware for 5 years.

BTW, I checked one of these online power calculators and theoretically I shouldn't need as much as 700w, even with cap-aging, but I know it's not quite that simple :) Will see what a fresher, more powerful PSU does for me in a couple of days when it gets here. At least this way I won't have to keep taking the PSU out to swap between machines :|
Click to expand...

I probably should have been a bit clearer, running 2 high power cards might be a problem.

Though if you're not using it for gaming or GPU processing I would ditch the two GTX260 and use 2 low powered cards or find a cheap 2nd hand Quadro4 PCI / PCI-E card. :)
 
@Rich, RAM you say? TBH I did wonder that. It seems that the slots on this board are a bit temperamental, I must admit. I noticed at one point (should've mentioned this earlier) that only 30,720MB (IIRC) was detected. I reseated everything and I got all 32GB back, but things still didn't seem right. I don't like the slots on this board at all. There is only a retaining clip on one side and it appears to be made out of cheese. They bend really easily when removing the RAM and one has snapped off with so little force. The other side has nothing actually holding it in at all.

I have tried various banks and individual DIMMs to see if I can find a faulty one but the problems only seem to flare up to the max when all the RAM is fitted, which again could be power related, or BIOS, right? This was a kit of 8 designed for quad-channel and XMP, so I assume that it should work fine here?

@Sasahara; I just need adequate power to run 4 monitors at 1920x1200 with a fair bit of 2D acceleration (have to use Photoshop etc occasionally). It's rare that I ever play games on the PC, but it would be nice to be able to when I want to. Isn't Quadro4 donkeys old now?
 
This method is time consuming and boring.. but gives good results..

Take all the RAM out.

Get 1 stick at a time, place it in dimm slot 1.. run mem test, dimm slot 2, mem test, 3, mem test, 4 mem test... ram stick 2, mem test... etc..etc

Eventually, if youve got a faulty stick, or dimm slot.. it will show up in the results.
 
Antnee said:
Indeed it will take time... 8 DIMMs... 8 slots... 64 tests... :D
Click to expand...

But it works :)

...

Ok, first, drop that i7 back down to stock clock.. its running at 3.91Ghz at the moment, and although this may usually be fine for an i7.. were diagnosing. Stock everything!.

On that note, I cant see it here, but is the RAM clocked??

Also, http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...4113498825_787508824_11122574_278183737_n.jpg

Im assuming that this graph either doesn't show all your RAM, or your missing 8gb of it?.. that's only showing a max of 8gb when I'm under the impression you've got 16?

Also, just saw this
Antnee said:
HiPro 700W PSU (recycled from an old Alienware machine)
Click to expand...
.. And it made me violently sick. HiPro itself are **********, and the crap they put in the Alienware's these days are even worse... although I dont think the PSU is the issue... you still need a new one.

Antnee said:
Removed 16GB and a video card and it did install
Click to expand...

OK so you were having issues and removing ram and 1 gfx card fixed the issue.. lets assume its either one of them.

Antnee said:
Full memory test appeared to have either locked up or only got to 21% over night (approx 7 hours testing)
Click to expand...

First, What are you using to memory test? Memtest86?
If so, and you were running it properly (outside windows) then it runs purely in its own environment and in the memory... obviously it still needs other components to run properly.. but from experience if its freezing/crashing here.. either memory is ****** (or clocked too much), or the cpu/mobo is dead.

Antnee said:
Powers on, powers off, then powers on again and boots
Click to expand...

More info please.. BSOD? complete power cut?, what point does it happen?

Antnee said:
Often no working keyboard or mouse in Windows, whether legacy USB is enabled or not, whether using USB2 or 3 ports, even though they're lit up as expected (but locked up also. Num lock is on, but can't be turned off)
Click to expand...

Sounds like RAM clocked too much.

Also, http://a6.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...4113338825_787508824_11122571_242123701_n.jpg

I realllly don't like how much the voltage is fluctuating here.. I much prefer if mine is a nice line and not killing my cpu jumping around all over the place.. this is no doubt because of the clock that's set.. I'm assuming its set to auto clock itself depending on usage... Me no like.
 
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Hi Rich, thanks for the trouble you've been to.

OK, that graph of the memory was created when there was 32GB in the machine, but the OS was only using ~8GB at the time, which is why you can't see the rest.

Corsair TX850 v2 (Seasonic I believe) should be delivered shortly :)

The memory test was just the Windows one, which reboots and tests outside of Windows. Didn't have a Memtest86 disc handy at the time, but I will be sorting one out shortly if the PSU doesn't sort it

The power off is a complete power off, then turns on again as if I'd pressed the power button. I'm not sure, but it looks like it's how the board restarts. If I change BIOS settings (not sure I should really be calling them BIOS settings, being a UEFI system, but you know what I mean) and "Save and Reset", the system appears to power off and turn itself back on. That is, all the lights go off, the fans stop, everything. A second or two later it powers itself back on. It does a similar thing if you're using the "Mem OK" (or whatever it's called) function that is supposed to check your RAM and configure everything to work properly, even with mismatched DIMMs

The RAM is 1600 (default for the CPU) and is running at about 1333MHz if I've understood everything correctly. I've tried it at default speeds and with XMP but it doesn't seem to do much good

When the new PSU arrives I shall get it all wired up and try resetting everything to bog-standard default again and give it another shot. I also have a new SSD arriving today so I'll attempt a reinstall on that too

Thanks again
 
Antnee said:
OK, that graph of the memory was created when there was 32GB in the machine, but the OS was only using ~8GB at the time, which is why you can't see the rest.
Click to expand...

Yeah thought as much

Antnee said:
Corsair TX850 v2 (Seasonic I believe) should be delivered shortly :)
Click to expand...

Much Better :D

Antnee said:
The system appears to power off and turn itself back on. That is, all the lights go off, the fans stop, everything. A second or two later it powers itself back on
Click to expand...

Ok.. Now were getting somewhere...

This usually happens when your motherboard needs to change and refresh some major setting.. like BLCK or CPU Ratio...

If it was memory, graphics, or motherboard then it wouldn't restart. It would either just completely turn off, or just completely freeze and be unresponsive.

IMO its an overclocking issue.

Stock the BIOS, completly turn off anything that looks sounds or resembles any type of overclocking/overvolting/cpu level up etc etc.

This cooullld... could be a PSU issue... even more so linking it up with both the graph from earlier and what those HiPro psu's are renowned for.. fluctuations.

This is what I mean:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NUz5rNzw1Q

Antnee said:
The RAM is 1600 (default for the CPU) and is running at about 1333MHz if I've understood everything correctly. I've tried it at default speeds and with XMP but it doesn't seem to do much good
Click to expand...

Yup, just leave it on XMP for now. That will load the best settings from the RAM and how its designed to run.

Antnee said:
Thanks again
Click to expand...

No Problem :)
 
Ah, I bet it was turning itself off fully because I had the TPU and EPU enabled; Asus's "Dual Intelligent Processors 3" setup that's supposed to be able to tweak the system for performance, reliability and economy (as desired). Admittedly I have had them disabled recently and it seemed worse :/

Anyway, that video was interesting. I know there's a big variation when it comes to PSUs and what's good and what's not, but that was really quite worrying! I also saw a video that admittedly I took with a pinch of salt (because it was on Corsair's website IIRC) where they blew up a few PSUs in a row, all within minutes of getting them out of their boxes, when trying to get them to produce the rated power. Having gone through a lot of PSUs in the past in an old machine, I'm quite amazed that this HiPro has lasted so long, considering it's usually on 24/7 in a 5 year old PC. But still, I take your points completely!

Looking forward to this PSU turning up in a bit now :) Hopefully will finally be able to get the bloody thing up and working today. It's been weeks since I ordered it so it's killing me that it's stood under my desk powered off all the time! Grrr!
 
Antnee said:
Ah, I bet it was turning itself off fully because I had the TPU and EPU enabled; Asus's "Dual Intelligent Processors 3" setup that's supposed to be able to tweak the system for performance, reliability and economy (as desired). Admittedly I have had them disabled recently and it seemed worse :/
Click to expand...

Sounds like that might of been it...

Antnee said:
that was really quite worrying!
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Yeah I know!, Ive done this test a couple times myself on a few cheap PSU's and the results have been the same so its not just the video.

Antnee said:
Hopefully will finally be able to get the bloody thing up and working today. It's been weeks since I ordered it so it's killing me that it's stood under my desk powered off all the time! Grrr!
Click to expand...

Yeah hopefully!.. Know how you feel!, When I purchased my pc (sig) and built it I had loads of issues,, couple weeks down the line and a few RMA later, the HDD and RAM both got replaced after being faulty! Was soooo frustrating!

Good Luck!
 
New PSU just turned up so I'm going to fit it now.

Annoyingly this is only my second ever Intel based PC (excluding laptops). I've never had problems with the AMD ones (including the Alienware) but the Intel ones always seem to bite me in the ass. Just my luck :D
 
So far not so good. Have fitted the new PSU and set everything to default, then enabled XMP. Booted to Windows and the keyboard and mouse still appeared locked up. So I've got it running a standard memory test now. It's 11% through at the moment. Will leave it running while I'm working and when the SSD and BDRE drive turn up (due this afternoon) I'll fit them and try reinstalling Windows and see if that helps
 
Quick update: It's actually looking better now. The new SSD and BDRE went in a couple of hours ago and Windows is installed. Have set up Synergy so I can control both PCs from one keyboard/mouse and I'm now doing a Windows update. Some of the software that came on the motherboard's DVD didn't install properly (the integrated BT driver, for example) so I'm going to download that to see if it's a disc issue, or an unpacking issue (and therefore probably RAM or CPU fault).

I have run it through a couple of cycles of memory tests and they've passed fine too. I've got the latest Ultimate Boot CD also, so that I can run various diags if necessary, including MemTest86.

I think it's looking positive so far anyway. Thanks for the tips up to now!
 
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