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LstBrunnenG
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2003
- Messages
- 6,676
A while back my computer shut itself off. The NIC activity lights were lit, the standby lights on the motherboard were lit, and USB devices could charge. But when I pressed the power button, the PSU would make this short whine noise it usually does right at power on, the lights in the room would flicker like normal for when I turned it on, but the computer wouldn't start. I could make it try to power up again by holding down the power button for more than 4 seconds, waiting a moment, and then hitting it again.
I started tearing down the computer component by component, and then trying it again. After I took the sound card out and then tried the power, it finally roared to life. Unfortunately, all this did was make me intimately familiar with how Windows 10 will confuse my sound card for an older model when running hardware detection. Much later it happened again. During the course of that teardown, I discovered that some of the leads from some 3-pin Y cables had pulled out of their plugs. This could easily have led to a short-circuit should the lead make momentary contact with one of the other leads. I excised that entire fan circuit from my system and started it up again.
That wasn't the end of it. It's been happening with more and more frequency lately. I'm usually gaming when it happens, but they aren't particularly stressful games - usually CS:GO. Eventually I discovered that the teardown is an unnecessary step - just leave it alone for some time with the power unplugged. I haven't yet experimented as to whether even leaving it unplugged is necessary. Once it came back in as little as 30-60 seconds. The last time it happened, this evening, it took more than 15 minutes.
By now, I'm thinking that the PSU is the issue. Once it came back, I decided to try really stressing the PSU. I ran furmark for more than half an hour. I figure, something easy like CS:GO causes an issue, drawing this much power will make it fail for sure. No issues. I started up CS:GO. Power cut out in the middle of a match, again.
What further diagnostics could I perform to ensure that the PSU is the cause, short of just purchasing a new one and trying it out for a few weeks? As yet, I don't have a quick way to reproduce this issue. I once had a faulty Antec PSU that would shut off when you wiggled the cables coming out of it. I've wiggled everything I could think to get my hands on, no luck. I'm going to try running Furmark for a longer period, but I'd appreciate anything else you guy can think of.
My PSU is the Enermax MaxRevo 1500W from my sig. Rest of my specs can be seen there. I'm also running a custom WC loop not listed. I'm using a D5 pump.
If I buy a new PSU, I will likely get an EVGA Supernova 1300 G2 - I like the [H] Gold Award, 10 year warranty, and it should be more than enough for my setup. If I RMA my current unit, I'll likely also purchase that unit and sell what Enermax sends me, unless Enermax will do an advance exchange.
TL;DR: Computer shuts itself off. Will eventually let me turn it on after time passes unplugged. Can't be traced to cabling or any other specific hardware defect. Not easy to reproduce. Any suggestions for getting to the bottom of this?
I started tearing down the computer component by component, and then trying it again. After I took the sound card out and then tried the power, it finally roared to life. Unfortunately, all this did was make me intimately familiar with how Windows 10 will confuse my sound card for an older model when running hardware detection. Much later it happened again. During the course of that teardown, I discovered that some of the leads from some 3-pin Y cables had pulled out of their plugs. This could easily have led to a short-circuit should the lead make momentary contact with one of the other leads. I excised that entire fan circuit from my system and started it up again.
That wasn't the end of it. It's been happening with more and more frequency lately. I'm usually gaming when it happens, but they aren't particularly stressful games - usually CS:GO. Eventually I discovered that the teardown is an unnecessary step - just leave it alone for some time with the power unplugged. I haven't yet experimented as to whether even leaving it unplugged is necessary. Once it came back in as little as 30-60 seconds. The last time it happened, this evening, it took more than 15 minutes.
By now, I'm thinking that the PSU is the issue. Once it came back, I decided to try really stressing the PSU. I ran furmark for more than half an hour. I figure, something easy like CS:GO causes an issue, drawing this much power will make it fail for sure. No issues. I started up CS:GO. Power cut out in the middle of a match, again.
What further diagnostics could I perform to ensure that the PSU is the cause, short of just purchasing a new one and trying it out for a few weeks? As yet, I don't have a quick way to reproduce this issue. I once had a faulty Antec PSU that would shut off when you wiggled the cables coming out of it. I've wiggled everything I could think to get my hands on, no luck. I'm going to try running Furmark for a longer period, but I'd appreciate anything else you guy can think of.
My PSU is the Enermax MaxRevo 1500W from my sig. Rest of my specs can be seen there. I'm also running a custom WC loop not listed. I'm using a D5 pump.
If I buy a new PSU, I will likely get an EVGA Supernova 1300 G2 - I like the [H] Gold Award, 10 year warranty, and it should be more than enough for my setup. If I RMA my current unit, I'll likely also purchase that unit and sell what Enermax sends me, unless Enermax will do an advance exchange.
TL;DR: Computer shuts itself off. Will eventually let me turn it on after time passes unplugged. Can't be traced to cabling or any other specific hardware defect. Not easy to reproduce. Any suggestions for getting to the bottom of this?
Last edited:
.. Sounds like the PSU is on its way out sadly.
