PC issues driving me nuts...tempted to just upgrade everything

trickycurve · 21 May 2017 at 12:47

The problem is that Coffee Lake is [hopefully] just around the corner, so I'd probably be stupid to grab a Kaby Lake CPU right now; but I've been having so many issues with my current setup recently and I've had the parts for four years that I'm close to just throwing in the towel and upgrading.

I thought it was my overclock (which isn't even that high), but even with BIOS defaults my PC sometimes fails to POST. It powers on, fans all spin, internals light up...it just doesn't do anything else. Clearing CMOS mostly seems to solve the POST issue (until the next day), but like I said I'm already running BIOS defaults so that seems odd. The error codes I'm getting on the board itself show 15, then flash 32 and 36 - and it just loops like that until I power off.

I mean, it could be my RAM, but I've also tried with other sticks and in different DIMM slots (although admittedly I haven't tried running single sticks in each slots - I should probably do that, as well as running Memtest86+ when I am able to boot). But it could also be one or two of the DIMM slots themselves, the motherboard, or my CPU. Or maybe even my CPU heatsink and fan, but I have checked that that is all seated and connected properly. I don't think it's my PSU (Corsair AX650) because, like I say, everything powers on, but I could be wrong - it's the same age (four years) as the other parts after all. And I'm almost certain that it's not my graphics card because I get similar issues just using the iGPU (plus I get not issues during games when I am able to boot).

The fact that I'm seemingly getting issues with everything stock might point more to a RAM or DIMM slot issue. I really hope it's not the CPU though as that's the most expensive part to replace since I doubt anything is within warranty, but I can swallow £100 for a new kit of RAM (might as well upgrade to 16GB if I need to get new RAM) or a new motherboard.

Apologies for the rant-y style of my thread, but any pointers would be grateful!!

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Signature didn't seem to attach (haven't posted for quite a while), so specs as follows:

i5-4670K 4.2GHz | Gigabyte Z87X-UD4H | Gigabyte GTX 1070 G1
Corsair XMS3 8GB DDR3 | MX200 250GB (x2) | Win 10 Pro 64-bit

VaderDSL · 21 May 2017 at 12:50

It's your PSU imo, I had virtually the same problems, I had a Corsair AX650 and it's a common issue, I ended up RMAing it and they replaced it with an AX860i which solved all the problems.

Good news is the PSU came with a seven year warranty, I had my proof of purchase and the RMA all went through at no cost (bar shipping). You should be able to do the same.

Here's my thread

trickycurve · 21 May 2017 at 12:59

VaderDSL said:
It's your PSU imo, I had virtually the same problems, I had a Corsair AX650 and it's a common issue, I ended up RMAing it and they replaced it with an AX860i which solved all the problems.

Here's my thread

Interesting. I just ruled it out because, as mentioned, everything powers on.

When you were able to power it up, did your PC run fine? My PC was fine for almost 12 hours straight gaming yesterday (all at stock BIOS settings), but this morning when I tried to turn on it wasn't playing ball. And the other day when I was running my overclock, it would just switch off (no BSOD...like it just loses power and reboots).

Fortunately I do have a spare PSU, but it's actually an even older OCZ model and I'm not sure how reliable it is (although at last check a couple months ago it did work).

What's Corsair's warranty like? You reckon they'd check a 4-year-old PSU?

VaderDSL · 21 May 2017 at 13:01

trickycurve said:
Interesting. I just ruled it out because, as mentioned, everything powers on.

When you were able to power it up, did your PC run fine? My PC was fine for almost 12 hours straight gaming yesterday (all at stock BIOS settings), but this morning when I tried to turn on it wasn't playing ball. And the other day when I was running my overclock, it would just switch off (no BSOD...like it just loses power and reboots).

Fortunately I do have a spare PSU, but it's actually an even older OCZ model and I'm not sure how reliable it is (although at last check a couple months ago it did work).

Yep it ran flawlessly once powered on, even overclocked. Not a single hiccup when powered on. It's sometihng to do with the voltages only when turning on.

All I did when creating the RMA was reference the 4 or 5 threads I linked to in my other post and it was accepted without question, especially as I had used 2 different cases and motherboards/CPUs/RAM etc.

MIne was 4 years old when I got it replaced, the AX series came with a 7 year warranty back then.

trickycurve · 21 May 2017 at 13:14

Ok sweet. I'll give my OCZ PSU a try (there's always a chance it's not the PSU, even though it sounds highly likely based on the documented issues for the original AX series) and then submit an RMA if it all looks good.

Thanks for the insight man

EsaT · 21 May 2017 at 13:29

Definitely wouldn't start doing any stress testing on second rate caps equipped OCZ.
But just booting to Windows should be enough in this case.

As for upgrading wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than 8 threads capable CPU.
Though still with just four cores 7700k isn't that good looking for three-four years to future.

trickycurve · 26 May 2017 at 09:10

So Corsair have dispatched me a new PSU (currently don't know what it will be - hopefully a 650RMx), but I find their RMA process very curious because I asked what they found wrong with my PSU and the support guy said that they don't have repair centres so they just replace customer units as if new.

At least I get a brand new PSU free of charge, even though I'm now anxious about it not fixing my issue

VaderDSL · 26 May 2017 at 09:15

trickycurve said:
So Corsair have dispatched me a new PSU (currently don't know what it will be - hopefully a 650RMx), but I find their RMA process very curious because I asked what they found wrong with my PSU and the support guy said that they don't have repair centres so they just replace customer units as if new.

At least I get a brand new PSU free of charge, even though I'm now anxious about it not fixing my issue

Good news! Although I'm sure it will solve your issue, it was immediately obvious replacing my AX650 had solved my issues, hope it's the same with you!

Afaik, they will give you an AX series but I'm not 100% on that, when I requested an advanced RMA, they only had the AX860i so they simply sent me that, fully boxed, sealed, unopened.

And I don't think they check, I received my replacement before ending back the old one, advanced RMA.

Even though the OSU was faulty I was thoroughly impressed with the support, I'll probably buy Corsair in the future based solely on my RMA experience.

trickycurve · 26 May 2017 at 09:22

Fingers crossed then!

VaderDSL said:
Even though the OSU was faulty I was thoroughly impressed with the support, I'll probably buy Corsair in the future based solely on my RMA experience.

And yeah, it's definitely reassuring to know that, if I were to experience future issues, the RMA process is very quick and seamless.