Ruling out the PSU

[Abletoxx]

Hello! This is just a quick thread to ask if my hypothesis about my PC crashing is feasible.  

 

My parts list in case its needed: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hH3MD2

So, I've been running into crashing every time I play games.  During single component stress testing, my PC does fine.  I have stressed the CPU, GPU, RAM, HDs, and reinstalled Windows (Pro and standard).
My theory is that my PSU is not receiving enough power from the wall to actually power my PC.  Here's why I think this.  Every time my PC is connected to my wall, it crashes (during games) every 30min to 3hours.  It crashes in random points in time independent of what I'm doing in the game (even if I'm AFK).  Luckily, I have a 3000W Generator.  So I just started it up and plugged my PC into it for about 3 hours and I got no crashed (it started raining and I had to put my generator back inside so I couldn't test for longer).  

Here's what happens when I crash: 
 

My screen freezes but the sound stays normal (I can hear my friends on Discord and I have about 1 second before I can tell them I crashed), after about 2 seconds, I hear a constant "Brrr" for about 2 to 3 seconds (some times it never stops until I either power off my PSU or hit the reset button - But lately it always automatically restarts) and then it restarts. I tried to set up mini dump crash reports but every time I restart, no dump files. I go into the "Event Viewer" to check the system logs. I see the same 3 errors:

Bottom Most Error: The previous system shutdown at (whatever time) on (whatever date) was unexpected.
Second Error: Dump file creation failed due to error during dump creation.
Third Error (Critical): The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

 

 

[Cereal5]

Are either the cpu or GPUs overclocked? If both are then you might be pulling too much

[SALEEN961]

Not getting enough voltage from the wall is rare, but it does happen, typically this is caused by a bad connection somewhere causing the voltage to drop too low when the circuit is under load. This can be verified by measuring the voltage at the outlet with nothing plugged in and then again with a large load like your PC or a vacuum running. Ideally you won't have any loss of voltage, in the real world where builders skimp on wiring a 5% drop from the service disconnect to the outlet isn't unreasonable.

 

I've had to fix issues like this before where I had 120V at my service disconnect, only 110V at my outlets without a load, and load voltages that were even lower that not all computer controlled devices will tolerate. I found loose connections in the main breaker panel that were the cause of my issue.

 

Using something like a Kill-a-watt type device that will let you monitor the input voltage and system power draw on the same outlet socket you are using to power your PC would be a good place to start.

[Abletoxx]

9 hours ago, SALEEN961 said:

Not getting enough voltage from the wall is rare, but it does happen, typically this is caused by a bad connection somewhere causing the voltage to drop too low when the circuit is under load. This can be verified by measuring the voltage at the outlet with nothing plugged in and then again with a large load like your PC or a vacuum running. Ideally you won't have any loss of voltage, in the real world where builders skimp on wiring a 5% drop from the service disconnect to the outlet isn't unreasonable.

 

I've had to fix issues like this before where I had 120V at my service disconnect, only 110V at my outlets without a load, and load voltages that were even lower that not all computer controlled devices will tolerate. I found loose connections in the main breaker panel that were the cause of my issue.

 

Using something like a Kill-a-watt type device that will let you monitor the input voltage and system power draw on the same outlet socket you are using to power your PC would be a good place to start.

I will purchase one because I've had this issue for the past 6 months and after intensive troubeshooting and part swapping, I came to this conclusion. I will keep it posted and will ask questions on what are signs of bad voltages. 

 

Is this the device you mentioned? https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=asc_df_B00009MDBU/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167125429392&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8595786008523930382&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1015138&hvtargid=pla-306572288073&psc=1

[Guest]

What's odd is that the PSU you're using should continue to operate even if mains voltage drops as low as 90V. 

 

Test with the generator again when you get a chance.  May have been a coincidence that it worked when it did.  If you do use the generator again and it actually consistently corrects your issues, then it could actually be line noise in your mains disrupting the PFC in the PSU. 

 

 

[Abletoxx]

11 minutes ago, jonnyGURU said:

What's odd is that the PSU you're using should continue to operate even if mains voltage drops as low as 90V. 

 

Test with the generator again when you get a chance.  May have been a coincidence that it worked when it did.  If you do use the generator again and it actually consistently corrects your issues, then it could actually be line noise in your mains disrupting the PFC in the PSU. 

 

 

I will try again when I get the chance.  Do you think purchasing a Kill A Watt is a good idea just for reference?

[Guest]

28 minutes ago, Abletoxx said:

I will try again when I get the chance.  Do you think purchasing a Kill A Watt is a good idea just for reference?

Kill-A-Watt doesn't have any kind of logging feature.  You're not going to know what goes wrong when it goes wrong.

 

You have an HX1000i.  Why wouldn't you just run LINK and turn on the logging feature to write a report of everything that's happening to the PSU??????

 

[Abletoxx]

15 hours ago, Cereal5 said:

Are either the cpu or GPUs overclocked? If both are then you might be pulling too much

Nothing is OCd.

 

5 hours ago, jonnyGURU said:

Kill-A-Watt doesn't have any kind of logging feature.  You're not going to know what goes wrong when it goes wrong.

 

You have an HX1000i.  Why wouldn't you just run LINK and turn on the logging feature to write a report of everything that's happening to the PSU??????

Wow, I did not think of that...  I do have to disconnect a USB header so I can plug it in.  I'll do some research and see what I find.  

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Abletoxx said:

Wow, I did not think of that...  I do have to disconnect a USB header so I can plug it in.  I'll do some research and see what I find.  

You can also use a standard USB cable and plug it into an external port or a laptop or....  

 

[SALEEN961]

1 hour ago, Abletoxx said:

I will purchase one because I've had this issue for the past 6 months and after intensive troubeshooting and part swapping, I came to this conclusion. I will keep it posted and will ask questions on what are signs of bad voltages. 

 

Is this the device you mentioned? https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=asc_df_B00009MDBU/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=167125429392&hvpos=1o1&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8595786008523930382&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1015138&hvtargid=pla-306572288073&psc=1

Yes, I don't personally own one so I can't speak to quality of any particular model, but that is what I was referring to. I personally use others methods that are best left to electricians and people with a strong electrical background. As another person pointed most of them don't have logging capability, but logging on your PC which keeps shutting down may not give you an answer either depending on whether or not the log saves the event that caused the crash, although I will admit that trying this is a very good idea because if the log does show an issue you'll know the answer without buying anything.

 

In either case if the issue is your wall voltage you shouldn't really need to know what happened when it crashed because you should either see excessive voltage drop under load indicating a problem or proper voltage. You wouldn't need to wait for the crash to know that the voltage is already lower than it should be. A random intermittent voltage drop that only affects your PC would be pretty uncommon, but a brown out that affects you whole house wouldn't be, although I'm sure you would have figured out if that was the issue as all your lights would dim when the issue occurred.

 

Your specific PSU is rated to work with an input voltage of 100V-240V, assuming you are using a 120V outlet your voltage with no load should be very close to that 120V rating, if you put a full load on the system and see your wall voltage dropping down to 105V I'm willing to bet that that is your problem, if your voltage stays up around 115V then the wall voltage likely isn't your issue. You might find that you drop to 105V when gaming and that you are ok until something else in your house turns on like a sump pump or a vacuum that briefly pulls that voltage down below the 100V minimum input voltage for your PSU.

 

In the house I was living in the issue was the main connections in the breaker panel so loads on different circuits caused excessive voltage drop across every circuit in the house regardless of what breaker they were on because they were all fed by the same main connections.

[Abletoxx]

@SALEEN961 and @jonnyGURU,

 

I first want to thank you for trying to help out.  Second, I made a mistake on the PSU I had, it's the AX1200i.  I have the HX1000i but I gave it to my brother as I went for the AX1200i about 2 months ago. I still get the crashes. 

 

Third, I set up the Corsair LINK. I have attached a screenshot of what the iCUE software shows.  The Corsair LINK software just says that my PSU is controlled by iCUE.

 

I'm guessing I should keep my eye on the input wattage.

[Abletoxx]

So, I was playing GTA V while logging my PSU.  I crashed specifically at 17:58:58.  The last log is at 17:58:56 and I have attached the log file and a screenshot of the last log.  

corsair_cue_20181111_17_44_24.csv

[SALEEN961]

Well based on your log file I'd say that input voltage probably isn't your issue, 117V is perfectly acceptable and your log file isn't showing any fluctuation. I'd be interested to know what happens when you get a chance to run off of the generator for a longer amount of time.

 

For what it's worth I was chasing down a stability problem that would cause my old PC to blue screen when running a specific piece of software (similar to skype) that doesn't even load the system and my issue was memory timings. After loosening my timings slightly I never had an issue again. To make things weirder my RAM never failed any stress test even when run for over 24hrs, but the program that gave me issues would always crash within an hour.

[Abletoxx]

1 minute ago, SALEEN961 said:

Well based on your log file I'd say that input voltage probably isn't your issue, 117V is perfectly acceptable and your log file isn't showing any fluctuation. I'd be interested to know what happens when you get a chance to run off of the generator for a longer amount of time.

 

For what it's worth I was chasing down a stability problem that would cause my old PC to blue screen when running a specific piece of software (similar to skype) that doesn't even load the system and my issue was memory timings. After loosening my timings slightly I never had an issue again. To make things weirder my RAM never failed any stress test even when run for over 24hrs, but the program that gave me issues would always crash within an hour.

I could give that a try.  But I have tested two seperate kits of RAM by different brands.  I did one stick, 2 sticks, 4 sticks, and all 8 sticks.