Probable Hardware Problem

Voa

Voa

Voa

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Joined
7 Feb 2014
Posts
20
So I bought my parts back between in January and June 2013 and assembled them by August 2013. These included an EVGA 650W PSU, an MSI + i5 pre overclocked bundle (so the 8 gig ram (2 sticks) and everything came ready to go out of the box) , and a GeForce GTX 670.
Now, when I first started with the system, the overclocked specs were messing up something fierce. I just pushed them back to "auto" or safe limits, and my machine ran perfectly fine.

Fast forward to mid-February this year, and my machine starts turning itself off at 25-35 minute intervals. No bluescreen, no warning, just off.
Thinking this was a PSU problem, I initiated an RMA with EVGA, and they helpfully shipped me out a brand new PSU for my troubles...except it didn't fix the problems.
Thinking it might be a BIOS issue, somehow, I cleared my CMOS (coin battery clear, everything went as expected).
This still hasn't fixed the problem.
*edit*
Oh, a little more information;
The system runs between 15-30 degrees, regardless of activity (though the GPU spikes at about 45 on high load). I don't think anything's overheating as such.
I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem, or has any suggestions towards solving it? Could it still be hardware? Could it be software?

Thanks for your time.
 
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Windows 7, and yes, memory dumps are enabled. Most of them are dating back to 2013 though, as the error is more like a shut off than anything else (like I said, no warnings or bluescreen).
 
Maybe, but since the PSU is the only thing I've replaced so far, and it falls into their 650 range rather than their 1000+ range, I'm not convinced that it's the culprit.
 
The only other suggestion would be to remove all connected devices you don't need, GPU, CD/DVDRW/drives and connect them one by one until you find the fault.
 
Would you recommend only removing ones connected directly to the PSU, or any in PCI slots as well? I have both a sound and network card as well as graphics card in the PCI slots, but I don't think either of the two basic cards could really be the culprits...though at this point, I'm willing to try anything to get my rig back to (continuous) working order.
 
Oh, another thing, I left the machine idling in BIOS, and it still shut down. Now, I wasn't on the machine at the time, as I left it idle as an experiment when I went out, but I'm pretty sure it shut down on its own again. I could repeat the experiment to see if it has a safety switch off if left too long.
 
I still think the PSU maybe the fault with this behaviour, but through process of elimination, remove everything you don't need connected and use the on-board graphics to monitor it's behaviour. If it's fine, connect each peripheral 1-by-1 until the issue is found.
 
Okay, so I removed everything and tested it to the time when it would break. It worked fine, though for some reason it didn't display through the motherboard's DVI connection (no on board, I guess), it did seem to start up properly and run though. Same thing with putting just the network card back in. Now I have the graphics card in, and I have a display back up as well. It seems to be okay for most things, but if it turns out to the graphics card, I assume I contact ASUS about RMA stuff?
 
Voa said:
Okay, so I removed everything and tested it to the time when it would break. It worked fine, though for some reason it didn't display through the motherboard's DVI connection (no on board, I guess), it did seem to start up properly and run though. Same thing with putting just the network card back in. Now I have the graphics card in, and I have a display back up as well. It seems to be okay for most things, but if it turns out to the graphics card, I assume I contact ASUS about RMA stuff?
Click to expand...

Great news!

The motheboard graphics will be running from the CPU. If on-board is enabled, it'll work fine, if not, just enable it!

If the GPU maybe at fault, you may wish to test in another PC before requesting RMA. I would RMA with the company you purchased it from in the first instance.
 
Which would be Overclockers themselves. I should have an answer in about 20 minutes.
*edit*
Shutdown occured as before. I'll repeat it one more time, and then contact Overclockers about RMA on the item.
*Second edit*
Yup, it's the graphics card that seems to be at fault. I'll contact *********** later tonight/tomorrow. Thanks for the help.
 
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Update time...
After sending off the GFX card for RMA, it turns out it was fine. So I did some more experimenting, and it started shutting down with nothing else attached. So...does it sound like a busted motherboard? Or could it be something I could actually fix?

Since this only started happening recently, could it be a case of needing a BIOS update? I had thought I had the most recent for my MSi Z77A-G43...
 
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