Need help help diagnosing power loss problem.

[Slazeus]

So I started a thread here maybe about a week ago and I thought I would start a new one rather than revive the old one.

 

My system has been loosing power at random times recently and I suspected it to be the psu. (you can use a link at the bottom to read my original post if you'd like).

 

After a few days of not using the computer anymore I decided to pull the psu out and hook it up to my old pc to confirm that it was indeed the source of the problem, however, it worked absolutely fine in my old pc like it always had. No power loss.. nothing.

 

So I thought then maybe I had done something in the bios when I set the computer up (about two months prior to this problem manifesting) so I hooked the psu back up to my new pc and cleared the c-mos (am I correct in assuming that doing that pts the bios bac to default settings?) and went for a boot. I still get the power loss and more worryingly it's much worse than before, I can't even reach the bios let alone windows before it cuts out, on top of that it would appear that its done this enough times for the automatic repair stuff to kick in.

 

I really don't have a clue at this point, is it the psu? if so why does it work fine with my old system? is it bios settings? again if so why does resetting it to default not help? is it some other component? and if so why would the error readout on my MoBo not detect any problems? 

 

Basically I'm at a loss here. I'll include a link to the original post for some more information and one to a video I took of the power loss in action.

 

Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read / watch / try to help!

 

Link to video:

 

 

Link to original post:

 

[Brooksie359]

It sounds to me it isn't the psu then. How do you know it is a power loss and not the pc just turning itself off? Make sure the cpu fan is plugged in as if it is not them it can cause a shutdown on startup. 

[Slazeus]

3 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

It sounds to me it isn't the psu then. How do you know it is a power loss and not the pc just turning itself off? Make sure the cpu fan is plugged in as if it is not them it can cause a shutdown on startup. 

When it happened the first time I was using the pc as normal, it had been powered on and running for several hours already , then it just cut out like someone pulled the plug out, I guess there would be a shutdown/restart screen displayed if it was the system shutting itself off? I have an AIO and it's hooked up the way it said in the manual (plus the system has been built and working for around a month and a half before this issue)

[Brooksie359]

Have you tried using another cooler? And thermal shutdown is instant to prevent damage. 

[Docretier]

2 minutes ago, Slazeus said:

When it happened the first time I was using the pc as normal, it had been powered on and running for several hours already , then it just cut out like someone pulled the plug out, I guess there would be a shutdown/restart screen displayed if it was the system shutting itself off? I have an AIO and it's hooked up the way it said in the manual (plus the system has been built and working for around a month and a half before this issue)

Try reseating everything except the cpu(as everything else is much easier to get to), if the problem persists then reseat the cpu. 

[Slazeus]

10 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Have you tried using another cooler? And thermal shutdown is instant to prevent damage. 

No I don't have another on hand I could try. Oh right, but would it not stay off if it was thermal? rather than rebooting straight away?

 

9 minutes ago, Docretier said:

Try reseating everything except the cpu(as everything else is much easier to get to), if the problem persists then reseat the cpu. 

I can try this in the morning, I would also need to order some thermal paste if I were to reseat the cpu so it would be day or two before I could try that.

[Brooksie359]

3 minutes ago, Slazeus said:

No I don't have another on hand I could try. Oh right, but would it not stay off if it was thermal? rather than rebooting straight away?

 

I can try this in the morning, I would also need to order some thermal paste if I were to reseat the cpu so it would be day or two before I could try that.

Yeah it wouldn't restart after thermal shutoff. Honestly it wouldn't restart if it was power either. If it was restarting and shutting off while trying to boot it would be because it couldn't post and is trying diffrent memory timing to get the computer to post. At least that is one reason why it would shut off and on like that. 

[Slazeus]

55 minutes ago, Brooksie359 said:

Yeah it wouldn't restart after thermal shutoff. Honestly it wouldn't restart if it was power either. If it was restarting and shutting off while trying to boot it would be because it couldn't post and is trying diffrent memory timing to get the computer to post. At least that is one reason why it would shut off and on like that. 

Not even if it was a fault with the psu? The rig thats having the problem will use much more wattage than the old one it works in. Perhaps it just can't quite handle he new rig 'cause its old? I mean it is an 850W unit, all be it a 2/3 year old one.

 

Maybe, it could post before though, it was just when I tried it today that it seemed to struggle. I wouldn't necessarily describe it as shutting down or restarting either, more like 'dying' the vid I linked shows what I mean. Before today though it did that while on the desk top and a good 15 minutes at least before it would happen again, sometimes even an hour or so.

 

I just dunno though I have no experience in troubleshooting hardware, and seemingly without access to the system on a sotware level I feel rather helpless. I'll try reseat everything tomorrow though as Docretier suggested (minus the cpu, I wont be able to do that till I get some thermal paste) and see if that helps, I guess it's as good a starting point as any.

[Slazeus]

Quick Update:

 

I tried removing some stuff that wasn't essential to the system. I removed the graphcs card, all but one dimm stick and 2 drives leaving only the boot drive.

 

The system stayed powered or a decent 5 minutes this time, went through the disk repair / check stuff then reached windows. I was just beginning to load into the desktop beore it happened again. 

 

I wish I could get just long enough to check the event logs and the like.

 

I still think it may be a faulty psu, perhaps the voltages are falling below he standards or something? Though I don't have a multi-meter or anything so I can't test that thoery.

[Brooksie359]

9 hours ago, Slazeus said:

Quick Update:

 

I tried removing some stuff that wasn't essential to the system. I removed the graphcs card, all but one dimm stick and 2 drives leaving only the boot drive.

 

The system stayed powered or a decent 5 minutes this time, went through the disk repair / check stuff then reached windows. I was just beginning to load into the desktop beore it happened again. 

 

I wish I could get just long enough to check the event logs and the like.

 

I still think it may be a faulty psu, perhaps the voltages are falling below he standards or something? Though I don't have a multi-meter or anything so I can't test that thoery.

I wonder if it is simply a dying motherboard. 

[Docretier]

1 hour ago, Brooksie359 said:

I wonder if it is simply a dying motherboard. 

It does sound like it

[Slazeus]

That's is a possibility I suppose, though the board is only about 2 months old and was working beautifully for those first 2 months, even now when it does boot the error readout (I have a maximus x hero btw) and hardware indicators all seem to function fine. Also removing some hardware before has made a consistent improvement to the mount of time it stays on. Usually about 5 minutes now, instead of straight away. That just makes me think voltages, I could be wrong though.

[Brooksie359]

57 minutes ago, Slazeus said:

That's is a possibility I suppose, though the board is only about 2 months old and was working beautifully for those first 2 months, even now when it does boot the error readout (I have a maximus x hero btw) and hardware indicators all seem to function fine. Also removing some hardware before has made a consistent improvement to the mount of time it stays on. Usually about 5 minutes now, instead of straight away. That just makes me think voltages, I could be wrong though.

Voltages are dictated by your powersupply and your motherboard. You tested the psu in another system and it worked fine while you haven't tested the motherboard so it leads me to believe it's the motherboard especially because it is relatively new. Failure curve is a bell with high failure rates when items are relatively fresh from manufacturing and low after until they get to a certain age where they will naturally start failing. There is also a possibility it's both. The psu is giving unstable voltage causing the VRM of the motherboard to work harder and eventually fail. 

[Slazeus]

Yeah I get what you're saying. It'll take a little while before I'd have the funds to replace my psu anyway, so I may just look into getting the board replaced, should easily be possible if it's only 3-2 months old, and at least it would rule that out while I wait on a juicy enough payday to replace the psu if it doesn't help.

 

One interesting thing though, I've hooked the psu up to my old pc again (just so I have a pc to use while I order / replace stuff) and the gpu wasn't providing a signal when I put it in. The signal was still going through the mother board. 

 

Cutting the story short, it was a driver but I had a look at the event viewer before I figured that out and my old pc (the one I'm on now) has 3 instances of the Critical Kernal-Power thing, says: 

 

Log Name:      System
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
Date:          02/11/2018 15:07:23
Event ID:      41
Task Category: (63)
Level:         Critical
Keywords:      (70368744177664),(2)
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      DESKTOP-RFR5B14
Description: The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
 

This old pc hasn't lost power once or been forced to shut down or anything so I don't know why it would have these errors logged. Maybe there is something fishy with the psu? or maybe just a coincidence or some other factor of the old pc?

 

Also would there be a way to access the event logs of the new pc from my old one if I plug the hdd in? (I wouldn't be able to boot from it though as the old system is amd and the new one was Intel) 

[Slazeus]

Quick Update 2: 

 

So I don't know why it's only happening now but the old PC is now also experiencing the power issues, albeit less aggressive and frequent, they are happening now. Both systems have multiple power-kernal logs in the event logs and the only 2 components in common are the Power Supply and one SSD. 

 

Is it safe enough to call this case closed and say the PSU is for sure the faulty component here? Or could I be missing something?