Please help diagnose this.

[Lord Northern]

Hi.

I hope I'm posting in the right subforum for this. 

 

Anyway, recently I've been having some weird problems with my computer. 

This is a very general question, and more of a request to help diagnose this, as I can't put my finger on any specific reason (part of the reason I'm posting this question).

 

Anyway.

The problem:

A month ago or so, I noticed that whenever I move my PC (specs and details below) from one room to the other, sometimes, when I plug everything back in, it won't post.

It will just stick around, with a Q code of BF (or 6F, not sure), and just won't boot.

Sometimes, what will happen is that it'll boot and display a "Overclock failed blahblha blah enter bias " message.

Sometimes, it might start by suddenly showing a blue screen of death, usually with various error codes having to do with memory, and then when I restart, it won't boot (as described above).

It only happens when I plug/unplug my computer. So, that led me to think that perhaps the GPU could be loose? (because I'm messing with the monitor cables, and perhaps, moving it around...?).

 

Pretty much the way to fix it, is to try turn it off/on a few times, maybe plug/unplug it, and sometimes, I event had to pull out the mother board coin battery, to try to "bounce back".

 

I tried looking into RAM problems. I ran the RAM diagnostic tool in windows, and it shows no problems.

I even recreated this scenario with either of the two sticks of RAM that I have. 

I also don't think it's storage, because recently I actually replaced my SSD a week ago, and the same problem occurs. 

 

Generally speaking, when I let my computer be, it works great. It doesn't suddenly happen. It only happens, as it seems, when I unplug it, and move it to another room or back.

 

My computer:

CPU: Intel i7 6800K, base clock 3.4, overclocked (more on that later)

GPU: MSI Aero 1080 (non TI)

RAM: 16 * 2 GB of hyperx savage

Motherboard: Asus X99-A II

Storage: before: samsung sata ssd, now samsung m.2 NVME ssd.

3 monitors, two connected via display port (adapted from DVI) and one connected directly through HDMI.

 

Overclocking

As mentioned above, my i7 6800k is overclocked from base 3.4 ghz to 4.15 ghz, with voltage left on auto.

I had this computer for over a year, and had it with the same overclock, and it was always fine. 

I stress tested it pretty well back when I overclocked it, and it seemed fine, and I never had any crashes other than the recent problem described here.

Temps are good (mostly below 60 under load, I'm using a pretty beefy closed loop), so no problems there.

 

Again, this is as general as it gets. I need help diagnosing it, or at the very least, could somebody please point me to some tests to run, or things to try, and give me a genera l direction.

If this happened to you, what would be your steps to try and put your finger on the cause?

 

 

Edited August 3, 2018 by Lord Northern
overclock is 4.15, not 41.5 sorry typo hehe

[thecommand]

14 minutes ago, Lord Northern said:

Hi.

I hope I'm posting in the right subforum for this. 

 

Anyway, recently I've been having some weird problems with my computer. 

This is a very general question, and more of a request to help diagnose this, as I can't put my finger on any specific reason (part of the reason I'm posting this question).

 

Anyway.

The problem:

A month ago or so, I noticed that whenever I move my PC (specs and details below) from one room to the other, sometimes, when I plug everything back in, it won't post.

It will just stick around, with a Q code of BF (or 6F, not sure), and just won't boot.

Sometimes, what will happen is that it'll boot and display a "Overclock failed blahblha blah enter bias " message.

Sometimes, it might start by suddenly showing a blue screen of death, usually with various error codes having to do with memory, and then when I restart, it won't boot (as described above).

It only happens when I plug/unplug my computer. So, that led me to think that perhaps the GPU could be loose? (because I'm messing with the monitor cables, and perhaps, moving it around...?).

 

Pretty much the way to fix it, is to try turn it off/on a few times, maybe plug/unplug it, and sometimes, I event had to pull out the mother board coin battery, to try to "bounce back".

 

I tried looking into RAM problems. I ran the RAM diagnostic tool in windows, and it shows no problems.

I even recreated this scenario with either of the two sticks of RAM that I have. 

I also don't think it's storage, because recently I actually replaced my SSD a week ago, and the same problem occurs. 

 

Generally speaking, when I let my computer be, it works great. It doesn't suddenly happen. It only happens, as it seems, when I unplug it, and move it to another room or back.

 

My computer:

CPU: Intel i7 6800K, base clock 3.4, overclocked (more on that later)

GPU: MSI Aero 1080 (non TI)

RAM: 16 * 2 GB of hyperx savage

Motherboard: Asus X99-A II

Storage: before: samsung sata ssd, now samsung m.2 NVME ssd.

3 monitors, two connected via display port (adapted from DVI) and one connected directly through HDMI.

 

Overclocking

As mentioned above, my i7 6800k is overclocked from base 3.4 ghz to 41.5 ghz, with voltage left on auto.

I had this computer for over a year, and had it with the same overclock, and it was always fine. 

I stress tested it pretty well back when I overclocked it, and it seemed fine, and I never had any crashes other than the recent problem described here.

Temps are good (mostly below 60 under load, I'm using a pretty beefy closed loop), so no problems there.

 

Again, this is as general as it gets. I need help diagnosing it, or at the very least, could somebody please point me to some tests to run, or things to try, and give me a genera l direction.

If this happened to you, what would be your steps to try and put your finger on the cause?

 

 

Pretty strange. By moving do you mean moving the tower or components?/

[Crunchy Dragon]

-Moved to Troubleshooting-

[Lord Northern]

5 minutes ago, kkowarkar said:

Pretty strange. By moving do you mean moving the tower or components?/

The tower.
Which means that I need to unplug everything, and plug it back in in the other room.

[factorialandha]

Is it always when you move it to a specific room, or when you move it to a different location in general ?

 

If its one specific room / location you are moving it to that might cause problems, id check the Power outlet you are using, theres a chance its faulty and not providing enough power to the Computer, causing your overclocking to be too much for it ?

 

Just a guess, probably wrong  

 

[glenalz81]

If the problem seems to occur from physically moving the PC i'd say chances are it's a physical problem.

 

What i would do would be a full strip down and rebuild, checking every connection as i go.

 

8 minutes ago, factorialandha said:

If its one specific room / location you are moving it to that might cause problems, id check the Power outlet you are using

Worth checking also.

[MrShinny]

How are you moving it? Are you throwing it like a Frisbee or are you gently carrying it?

 

If unplugging something and plugging it back in, probably means it's a problem either with the PSU, outlets in that room, or failed mobo.

[Lord Northern]

1. I don't think it's the outlet because it happens in both rooms, after moving it either way.

2. I move it rather gently, hehe. 

3. Is there any way to test the mobo? Like, I'm sure mono symptoms are very general, and harder to diagnose, but is there a way to try and narrow it down to the mobo? And for that matter, the PSU? I do have a multimeter, if it could help. 

[factorialandha]

1 hour ago, Lord Northern said:

1. I don't think it's the outlet because it happens in both rooms, after moving it either way.

2. I move it rather gently, hehe. 

3. Is there any way to test the mobo? Like, I'm sure mono symptoms are very general, and harder to diagnose, but is there a way to try and narrow it down to the mobo? And for that matter, the PSU? I do have a multimeter, if it could help. 

what make / model / wattage of power supply do you have ?

[Lord Northern]

A, yes, stupid me, should've started with that:

CoolerMaster 650W 80+ Gold V650