[Rusbel]

Greetings. I have been having a hugely frustrating problem with my computer since building it about 6 months ago. The issue has many symptoms the most annoying of which is blue screens which happen completely randomly, sometimes when I have no program open and am doing nothing and sometimes when I am in a game, streaming, browsing, and very often while booting, it doesn't seem to matter what my computer is doing. Another huge annoyance is that Firefox crashes all the time and video games as well although only seemingly while loading. There were other issues when I first built the computer that have disappeared with time.

One very strange thing was that downloads would stop randomly. They wouldn't crash, but simply stall out and the only way to fix it was to pause and resume, which is only possible with certain programs meaning often I would have to restart the download over again. I have had sporadic relapses of this sort of problem but I think they were simply caused by lag that I frustratingly blamed on this issue, so I can say that I am pretty sure this problem has resolved itself. Also I used to blue screen a lot while streaming video, however it was never your typical BSOD with text and a memory dump, but rather a darker blue with dark vertical lines. That issue also seemingly resolved itself but who knows perhaps these things can give insight to what is still ailing my machine.

I suspect RAM or my SSD but have been too lazy/busy to work around these things to try and isolate issue considering I'm really just guessing.

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Argh sorry I didn't realize there was another thread with pretty much my same problem, should have reviewed that first. But since I have already posted this I will try to update what I was able to glean from very quickly browsing that post. I really didn't read it because I am far to exhausted at 5am but I did download CPUID Hardware Monitor and found something interesting.



It would seem my 12V bar is not holding its minimum voltage within tolerances. At least that is what I think because from what I know the minimum should be at least 11V, but I could be mistaken. So does anyone know could this be causing my problems?

[Edit] Oops I forgot I should have edited my original post instead of replying. Haven't been here in quite a while hope you will excuse me for my lack of etiquette.

Edited by Rusbel, 21 September 2012 - 06:31 AM.

[Rusbel]

Argh sorry I didn't realize there was another thread with pretty much my same problem, should have reviewed that first. But since I have already posted this I will try to update what I was able to glean from very quickly browsing that post. I really didn't read it because I am far to exhausted at 5am but I did download CPUID Hardware Monitor and found something interesting.



It would seem my 12V bar is not holding its minimum voltage within tolerances. At least that is what I think because from what I know the minimum should be at least 11V, but I could be mistaken. So does anyone know could this be causing my problems?

[Edit] Oops I forgot I should have edited my original post instead of replying. Haven't been here in quite a while hope you will excuse me for my lack of etiquette.

Edited by Rusbel, 21 September 2012 - 06:31 AM.

[rshaffer61]

Check your bios for voltages also and see what the +3.3, +5 and +12 volt readings are.

[Rusbel]

Is this what your asking for?



Also CPUID Hardware Monitor is currently showing the min voltage on the 12V bar above 11V but now the 5V bar's min voltage is reading 1.63V

Edited by Rusbel, 21 September 2012 - 06:19 PM.

[rshaffer61]

Yep is that all there was as far as voltages?

[Rusbel]

Yeah that is everything. Also I just edited this into my prior post, but that was while you were replying to my post so you might not have seen it.

"CPUID Hardware Monitor is currently showing the min voltage on the 12V bar above 11V but now the 5V bar's min voltage is reading 1.63V"

[rshaffer61]

Yeah those rails are not showing stable at all.
Any possibility of getting a PSU that you know is good to try out?
To be sure it should be at least the same wattage as what you have now. If not do you have a shop near that can test the psu and make sure the readings are correct?

[Rusbel]

It should still be under warranty so I will look into RMAing it.

Thank you for your help!

[rshaffer61]

I would suggest having it tested first because it could be the motherboard also.

[Rusbel]

I understand but i don't want to spend to have the thing tested if I don't need to. I mean its possible they won't honor my request to RMA in which case I may end up having to test it, but really if I have to send it to Corsair to have it tested that is preferable to doing it myself because I can do without the computer for a while and money is tight. Thanks again for your help!

[Rusbel]

Ok they sent me a new PSU and it didn't fix anything. In fact now when I try booting it stalls at the screen where you select user and/or enter your password, but there is no information there. I mean I only have 1 account but it is password protected but now there is no box to enter my password and no account information. I even disabled the password and it does the same thing, however in safe mode it works properly. It seems my operating system is falling apart.

Anyhow it would seem there is an issue with the motherboard if you are correct so I will try to get an RMA, but first I wanted to know whether the processor could be the culprit.

Also the new PSU was making some noise when I first started it up. It was barely audible from outside the case but when I opened it up I was able to hear it very clearly coming out of the PSU. The best description I can give is a very high frequency semi metallic sound. I feel like it was the fan, and the noise seems to have gone away, but it had been off and for the first few hours in operation. Anyhow I just want to know whether I should be concerned about this or is it possibly just a part of breaking in.

[rshaffer61]

The PSU may have just been the new PSU breaking in. Grease may have been hardened and bearings were not lubricated enough. Since it eventually went away I believe the problem is corrected there.
You can visually check the motherboard yourself for bulging or blown capacitors to see if that could be the issue. The cpu is another question because the only visual test you could do is to remove it and check for burn marks or bent pins.

[ranchhand3]

If I may inject a thought here, I don't want to break your train of diagnosis: I notice that there is a huge difference in temperature between the system temp and the CPU temp; if the computer is not under load and is running idle at 46°C that is too high; under gaming load I estimate you could hit 55-60° or higher. You also might want to enable your CPU temperature warning, that may give you more information. When you set your CPU, how did you apply the thermal grease? This may (or may not) be the reason for your problems, but it could contribute.

[rshaffer61]

No problem ranchhand as you are always welcome to suggest something that may help. In fact I welcome any member to join in and offer assistance. The thermal paste question is a very valid point to make.

[Rusbel]

Ok thanks guys! I will go ahead and do a visual inspection and while I am at it I will inspect the heat sink and reapply thermal grease to the processor.