Faulty Antec HCP 750?

[crestfa11en]

I first ordered the PSU in 2012 and it's still within Warranty, for what was my first PC build and from the second month it started playing up, and I simply but it down to my own inexperience, and refused to believe that such an expensive PSU could be at fault,
In the last few months this PSU as become increasingly unstable to the point that having more than 7 tabs open in Google chrome is inadvisable

I spend most my time working, it's only now 3 years layer that I've gotten around to this, please bare with me if I take some time to reply.

I believe that this PSU may have a faulty 12v rail problem:
Here are some of the web articles connected to this:
Looking at the reviews one by Jason he refers to the HCP 750 rebooting problems I've been getting:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-HCP-750-GB-SLI-Ready-CrossFireX/dp/B004BLMFY8

Quote from hardwaresecrets.com
(Unfortunately, there is something going on with Antec's quality control. The first two samples from the Antec HCP-750 High Current Pro we revived provided voltages below the minimum allowed)

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Antec-High-Current-Pro-750-W-Power-Supply-Review/1632/11

I've RMA'd it and sent in the following message:

Unstable bower supply unit
Dear Sir/Madam

From day 1 this unit has been unstable but now it's gotten so bad that I can't keep more than 7 tabs open on my browser before my PC shuts down and reboots with the following message:

(POWER SUPPLY SURGES DETECTED DURING THE PREVIOUS POWER ON.
ASUS ANTI-SURGE WAS TRIGGERED TO PROTECT SYSTEM FROM UNSTABLE POWER SUPPLY UNIT )

Having spent countless hours/days/months trying to problem solve this I'm throwing in the towel, I've disabled the ASUS ANTI-SURGE, I've swapped out every conceivable piece of my PC leaving only the PSU, and still the PC reboots any time I try and run a game or a application.

Reading the following articles gives me little hope a replacement will help but what recourse do I have left:

Quote from hardwaresecrets.com
(Unfortunately, there is something going on with Antec's quality control. The first two samples from the Antec HCP-750 High Current Pro we revived provided voltages below the minimum allowed)
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/antec-high-current-pro-750-w-power-supply-review/11/

Here are some Amazon reviews connected to this:
looking at one by Jason he refers to the HCP 750 rebooting problems I've been getting and a possible cause (faulty 12v rail problem)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Antec-HCP-750-GB-SLI-Ready-CrossFireX/dp/B004BLMFY8

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I appreciate that you can't comment on the above articles but I felt the need to covey my dilemma in full

Reply was as follows:

Below are instructions on how to replace your product through us.

1)Please fill out the RMA Request form at http://www.antec.com/download/Antec_EU_RMA_Request_Form.xls

2)E Email the filled in Excel sheet to ANTEC EUROPE including a copy of your proof of purchase.
3)Make sure to include your TicketID number on the Subject.

On receipt of your request, we will authorize the RMA and send the RMA number to you, at which point you can return the product to our Rotterdam office for exchange(address included in the RMA Request form).

I did as requested after three days of waiting received the following Email:

Dear Sir,

Since you have these problems from the beginning we think the following has happened.

This is due to the strict power timings your Asus motherboard has.

We advise the following to stop this from happening.

Disable power monitoring in Bios and lower your C state to maximum 3.

However last week another customer also contacted Asus and was told to

1. Disable multi monitor support (in Bios)
2. Disable the on the motherboard available LED support (in Bios)
3. Make 1 PCI-E card the primary Master in Bios (in Bios)
4. Test each individual RAM (if they don’t match each other they will give different timings which the Asus mb will interpret as a wrong timing causing it to shut down the system)

And after he did what Asus support suggested he even did not needed to change the power monitoring and C states.

Could you check with Asus support please if everything has been installed correctly?


best regards,

I contacted Asus support:

Dear ####,
My name is #### and I will try my best to assist you issue.
Please feel free to rate our service according to the solution provided in the questionnaire that will be sent to you shortly after our reply to your inquiry.
Concerning your message about the MAXIMUS V GENE.
You may be able indeed to disable the monitoring of Anti-surge from BIOS which indeed is power monitoring as specified by yourself.
But if any issues arises regarding surges it will not be noted by the motherboard and certain faulty may appear afterwords.
Multi-monitor support can be disabled from your peripherals tab in BIOS and also be sure that the primary Video mode is either set to PEG/PCI or PCI.

Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to get back in touch with us.

Best Regards,
ASUS Technical Support

Which although very polite was unhelpful as I need to be directed to the correct bath to do the follow in Maximus V Gene BIOS e.g.
ADVANCED\CPU CONFIGURATION\CPU POWER MANAGEMENT

I've had a stab in the dark at the Antec support advice:

1: Disable power monitoring in Bios

(I have disabled the ASUS ANTI-SURGE in advanced tap)

2: lower your C state to maximum 3

(I've gone into ADVANCED\CPU CONFIGURATION\CPU POWER MANAGEMENT changed CPU C3 Report to Enabled from Auto and Disabled CPU C6 Report to Disabled, but truth be told I haven't a clue what I'm doing?
The path and the options displayed as I found it first:
ADVANCED\CPU CONFIGURATION\CPU POWER MANAGEMENT

CPU RATIO - AUTO
ENANCED Intel SpeedStep Technology - Enabled
TURBO MODE - ENABLED
CPU C3 Report - Auto
CPU C6 Report - Auto
PACKAGE C STATE SUPPORT - Auto

3: Disable multi monitor support in Bios

(in SYSTEM AGENT CONFIGURATION\GRAPHICS CONFIGURATION\
iGPU Multi-monitor was disabled by default.

4: Disable the on the motherboard available LED support in Bios

(I've changed SUPREMEFX III Lighting LED to Disabled)

5:Make 1 PCI-E card the primary Master in Bios in Bios.

(I need a path to follow/tap sub option to go into? )

6: Test each individual RAM (if they don’t match each other they will give different timings which the Asus mb will interpret as a wrong timing causing it to shut down the system.

(I've replaced every component of my PC apart from the CPU/MB and PSU as I've not got a second compatible PSU at hand)


Thank you for taking the time to read this mammoth post, at this point I'm very lost.

 

[crestfa11en]

Hi. I'm the UK Antec rep.

I believe you are from the Czech Republic.

We have contacted Asus about this issue previously and Asus confirmed that they changed the timings on a number of motherboards that were produced around 2 years ago. And Asus advised us they will swap any boards for customers who experience the problems you are having.

We offered to replace your PSU as well but we have an expectation that your problem will still remain as it seems likely to be the motherboard, and we advised you of this.

You returned your PSU back to us and it arrived with our RMA team on the 31st July, and Antec sent you a replacement on 4th August, it was shipped via DHL and it looks like it was delivered to your neighbour on the 5th august, as there was nobody at your property.

I believe you've got me mixed up with someone else, I'm from the UK my first language Welsh which might come through in my writing, the only messages/reply's that I've had are quoted in the above post, I've not sent back my PSU to Antec or been offered an RMA at any point.
My apologies if this post seems like I'm criticising Antec which is not my intention but I imagine the frustration this problem is giving me is showing.

It's news to me that Asus may have had faulty MB's which is another problem to solve, how whould one go about testing a motherboard for this timings problem?

 

[crestfa11en]

My worry is that if we offer you an RMA and you still have the problem, you have lost money on the return postage costs for your original PSU. Of course I'm not saying that it IS NOT the Antec PSU, it may well be, but you won't know for you sure till you replace one or another.

My apologies for the lateness of my reply, my thanks for all your help and offer of RMA but as you say there's no grantee it would help, at this point I think I'll need to contact Asus and see if my motherboard has the changed the timings that have been mentioned, I'll post back at a later date with their reply.

I'm much embarrassed with all the fuss I've made, my thanks goes to the Antec Team humouring my little tantrums

 

[crestfa11en]

Dear sir,
My name is **** and I will try my best to assist you with this issue.
Please feel free to rate our service according to the solution provided in the questionnaire that will be sent to you shortly after our reply to your inquiry.

I am sorry to hear you are having issues with your MAXIMUS V GENE.
I'm afraid there is no way to check whether or not your motherboard has had any change in timings.
Unfortunately if the date of purchase you specified is correct then your warranty has expired and as such there is no recall to be made or any In Warranty service that can be provided.
Such an agreement between ASUS and Antec is not something we are familiar with. Unfortunately we cannot base any decisions on forum posts. Please have Antec provide you with written proof of such an agreement and the terms and conditions however it is not likely for this to apply to your motherboard as it is currently Out of Warranty.
If the current PSU you have does not work properly with your motherboard you will have to have it replaced with one that does.
The motherboard revision number should be located on the motherboard itself, it can also be found on box it came in. The motherboard revision number is not the same as the BIOS version or Product S/N. It is usually something like: Rev 1.0 or Rev 3.0.
Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to get back in touch with us.

Best Regards,
****
ASUS Technical Support

To say I've left it a little too late would be an understatement, I'm left with the option of 50%50 chance my PSU being the culprit and what I would imagine to be a pricey RMA to somewhere in Europe, or buying another in PSU in the random hopes of finding a compatible unit.
I'm caught between a rock and a hard place