Could it be my PSU?

Calranthe · 11 Jul 2021 at 15:27

Okay this is a strange one and I have been checking multiple sites, google, Reddit, HELP!

Please read all before offering suggestions.
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Symptoms, random unexpected shutdowns of PC but only when idle or doing low power stuff (8 hours of gaming, streaming, ultra graphic's, encoding, no problem but leave my pc to sit and have discord on or steam downloading a few games and it shuts down unexpectedly.
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Why do I think it could be the PSU?
This is my current system.

MSI 570x Tomahawk Wifi,
Arctic 360mm freezer II CPU cooler
AMD 3950x
32gb 3600mhz corsair memory
Zotac 2080ti Amp Extreme.
2 M2 Sabrent 1TB
1 Samsung 950 pro M2
4 Samsung Evo SSD's
be quiet! Straight Power 11 1200W 80 Plus Platinum Modular Power Supply (bought when I built the system in September 2020.

No overclocking just XMP profile.
Was running fine with a 1080ti for 6 months with no issues.

Installed the 2080ti and about a month later issues started, but no problems in benchmarks, no problem streaming, no problem playing games 1440p ultra graphics, Frostpunk, Valhalla, No man's Sky. SkyrimVR with maxed out mods no issues.
OCCT shows no errors in Vram, no GPU errors on 1 hour test.
(yes I DDU in safe mode and removed drivers)
CPU tems idle at 20-35c, max out at 62c under load.
Graphics card max temp 65c under load.

(case is a Phantex Enthoo with really good cooling)

Digital thermal probe shows max temps under GPU and CPU benchmarks up to 62c when reading the boards, cables and pretty much everything (PSU temps are around 30c max)

Bios firmware updated, All windows 10 drivers updated, removal of kaspersky and any other software still happens.

Complete reset of windows including letting it clean all my hard drives, reinstall a couple of days ago minimal software install except drivers, obs and full windows update, played VR, streamed games all yesterday, then set it downloading games during the night and 2am the system shutdown went into a restart loop and I found the system at 9am this morning stuck in the no screens active but fans going, had to hard reset for it to come back.

Error logs,
sometimes it doesn't even get to draw a full blue screen of death before it shuts down, other times it shuts down with a dump, errors range from netios, to BAD_POOL_CALLER (c2) The current thread is making a bad pool request. Typically this is at a bad IRQL level or double freeing the same allocation, etc. Arguments: Arg1: 000000000000000d, Attempt to release quota on a corrupted pool allocation.

to it not being able to write a dmp because of power loss.

House power is stable and not an issue.

Memory tests ran multiple times clean.
drives tested for issues none found clean.

Diagnostics of windows file system shows some file corruption but that is from the unscheduled shutdowns and reboots, fixing errors, I even used driver/view to run tests.

BTW all power saving settings are turned off and I am running the AMD Ryzen Power scheme

So it could be a graphics card issue but what graphics card issue only shows up during idle times?

It acts like a PSU issue but is only happening when system is drawing minimal or normal power not in games.

It acts a little like a memory glitch but memory isn't a problem ?

I have done everything I know of to test this.

MrRockliffe · 11 Jul 2021 at 15:28

If it’s during low power states I have a feeling it’s either the CPU or PSU.

I’ve seen some threads in the past with similar issues with Ryzen CPUs and it turned out to be the CPU

Calranthe · 11 Jul 2021 at 15:40

MrRockliffe said:
If it’s during low power states I have a feeling it’s either the CPU or PSU.

I’ve seen some threads in the past with similar issues with Ryzen CPUs and it turned out to be the CPU

Oh interesting, will look into the Ryzen CPU to see if that could be an issue (not something I would have looked at) thank you for the idea.

Hunterlit · 11 Jul 2021 at 16:07

Disconnect the PSU from everything ( if possible) and hook up a low load to it(PC fan for example). Then test between live and neutral on each lead, motherboard connector, CPU connector, etc you will more than likely need to short the 4th and 5th pin on the motherboard connector to simulate it's been connected. I'm assuming you are armed with a multimeter.

Calranthe · 11 Jul 2021 at 16:10

Hunterlit said:
Disconnect the PSU from everything ( if possible) and hook up a low load to it(PC fan for example). Then test between live and neutral on each lead, motherboard connector, CPU connector, etc you will more than likely need to short the 4th and 5th pin on the motherboard connector to simulate it's been connected. I'm assuming you are armed with a multimeter.

No I don't have one sadly but going to pursue the Ryzen low power state and memory timing issue which seems to be a thing after reading up on multiple "my pc shuts down while idle or chatting on discord"

Hunterlit · 11 Jul 2021 at 16:16

Calranthe said:
No I don't have one sadly but going to pursue the Ryzen low power state and memory timing issue which seems to be a thing after reading up on multiple "my pc shuts down while idle or chatting on discord"

I'm not very familiar with Ryzen CPUs, but that sounds a good avenue to go on and the more likely culprit.

EsaT · 11 Jul 2021 at 17:26

How long runs of memory tests you've done?
Also have you tried installing OS on different drive?

Calranthe · 12 Jul 2021 at 23:54

Update:
Chemical Main on another site gave an explanation far better that what I can.

Your investigations are right on the mark, for most people with ‘idle’ reboots or crashes, it seems to be due to C6 states. The processor can enter two main forms of C6 states, the cores themselves individually can enter them (CC6) and the package as a whole can enter it (PC6).

When the cores or package enters C6, the supply voltage drops to 0.2V, pretty low but it handles most chips. For those that cannot without crashing, it is usually due to a motherboard/PSU issue or the CPU itself (as people have reported replacing the processor fixed the issue).

You haven’t stated what ‘most of the fixes’ you tried were so I’ll ask, have you tried turning off Package C6 states and/or Core C6 states? If you disable them, idle voltage would instead drop to the input SVI2 telemetry voltage, ~0.925V rather than 0.2V.

In the BIOS your motherboard may have Package C6 states under the category ‘Power Supply Idle Control’ or something similar, usually with two options called ‘Typical Current Idle’ and ‘Low Current Idle’. Try switching that to typical and see if the issue still happens. If it does, try disabling C-states entirely.

It isn’t ideal to disable C-states. All processors should be able to handle C6 states and if they can’t, they’re technically defective. If you’re able to, try another processor in the system to see if it still happens, if it doesn’t you should probably RMA the processor.

My CPU is under warranty so going for a replacement and see if that fixes it.