[dar124]

Hello,

 

Hopefully someone here can give me some additional info or get me headed in the right direction with my PC.  I have a HP xw6200 WorkStation with dual Intel Xeon 3.60 GHz processors, a Nvidia video card (not sure of exact model), a Samsung 128GB SSD for my OS drive and a 500GB WD spinner for the programs drive.  It has 8GB of DDR2 PC2-3200 memory running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit in a Cooler Master case.

 

I put the PC together about a year ago and it's run like a charm, up until about a month ago.  The PC normally runs 24/7 but about a month ago I started randomly finding that the PC was off.  At first I didn't think too much of it, just figured that it did some updates and didn't restart correctly or we briefly lost power at home, etc.  But it happened more and more and eventually I saw it power off while I was using it.

 

It seems to run at idle without issues.  But when transferring data to my server, scanning the PC, running multiple programs, etc it will shut down.  My first thought was that it was dusty inside and during these tasks it was overheating.  So I opened it up and cleaned it out real good.  It wasn't really dusty, but figured I'd still clean anything that I found.  I also listed a handful of things that I've done below.

 

Removed additional SATA port card

Disconnected DVD drive

Checked for blown capacitors

Ran malware bytes scan (PC shut down during scan)

The WD HD passed HD DPS test & error checking

I did a system restore back to mid June

There aren't any errors in device manager

All 4 fans (2 on the heat sinks and 2 case fans) are running

 

The PC will still boot up, run for a while and then shut down.  I did recently adjust the virtual memory to a custom size 8191MB as the initial and 14336MB as the max.  Not sure if that would effect anything??

 

I'm still going to try to remove each of the 4 memory sticks one by one and see how it runs.  And I will switch out the video card (the motherboard doesn't have any onboard video, so I'll have to temporarily put another card in there).

 

 

Any other suggestions??  Or things to look for.  Or a good way to check any error logs.  I'm sure there are a handful of other things to try but I'm just hitting a wall here.

 

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

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Hello dar124,

 

Nice informative OP 

 

Typical symptoms of overheating even though you have cleared out the dust bunnies, too much voltage from the PSU or dust inside the PSU itself are two other possible causes of overheating or alternatively a drop in output from the PSU could also cause unexpected shutdowns, we should check the former first as it has the potential to do more harm, please see canned info below;

 

Is the original 500W PSU still being used.

 

Please take expanded screenshots and only use the method below to attach them.

Download Speedfan and install it.  Once it's installed, run the program and post here the information it shows.  The information I want you to post is the stuff that is circled in the example picture I have attached.

If you are running on a vista machine, please go to where you installed the program and run the program as administrator.

 

 (this is a screenshot from a vista machine)

 

 Download then run HWMonitor and post a screenshot so that we have a comparison to the Speedfan results, details from here

 

To capture and post a screenshot;

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... Click on the More Reply Options tab then after typing in any response you have... click on Choose File...desktop...find the screenshot..select it and click on Attach This File...on the lower left...after it says upload successful...click on add reply like you normally would.

 

Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

[phillpower2]

Hello dar124,

 

Nice informative OP 

 

Typical symptoms of overheating even though you have cleared out the dust bunnies, too much voltage from the PSU or dust inside the PSU itself are two other possible causes of overheating or alternatively a drop in output from the PSU could also cause unexpected shutdowns, we should check the former first as it has the potential to do more harm, please see canned info below;

 

Is the original 500W PSU still being used.

 

Please take expanded screenshots and only use the method below to attach them.

Download Speedfan and install it.  Once it's installed, run the program and post here the information it shows.  The information I want you to post is the stuff that is circled in the example picture I have attached.

If you are running on a vista machine, please go to where you installed the program and run the program as administrator.

 

 (this is a screenshot from a vista machine)

 

 Download then run HWMonitor and post a screenshot so that we have a comparison to the Speedfan results, details from here

 

To capture and post a screenshot;

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... Click on the More Reply Options tab then after typing in any response you have... click on Choose File...desktop...find the screenshot..select it and click on Attach This File...on the lower left...after it says upload successful...click on add reply like you normally would.

 

Screenshot instructions are provided to assist those that may read this topic but are not yet aware of the “how to”.

[dar124]

Thanks phillpower2.

 

Yeah, I tried to do a bunch of things myself and also be as descriptive as possible to give you as much info as I could and also to help eliminate some things that I've already done / tried to do.

 

 

This PC does have a 500w PSU, but it's a new Corsair CX500 PSU that was put in when I build the PC a year or so ago.  Also when I cleaned the dust out of the PC I took it outside and used my shop vac with the hose on the other end (I switched it from suck to blow    ) and used that air to blow out the inside of the case.  So I'd think that even dust that I couldn't see has been blown out.

 

Here's screen shots from Speed Fan and from HWMonitor.  I just installed these programs, launched them and took the screen shots.  I didn't want to risk running the PC too long and having it shut down.  I wonder if running the PC longer or running a handful of programs would change any of these numbers below??

 

 

 

 

 

 

[phillpower2]

Hello dar124,

 

Your CPU and MB are rather hot for a computer that is not under any load, the CPUs thermal trip should be at around 79°C so I suggest you check this in the BIOS, once checked, do some gaming or watch some video etc to put the computer under load and then run Speedfan and HWMonitor again to see what temps are reported.

 

You are welcome btw 

[dar124]

Hello dar124,

 

Your CPU and MB are rather hot for a computer that is not under any load, the CPUs thermal trip should be at around 79°C so I suggest you check this in the BIOS, once checked, do some gaming or watch some video etc to put the computer under load and then run Speedfan and HWMonitor again to see what temps are reported.

 

You are welcome btw 

 

 

I've been told that the HP xw6200 WorkStations run hot.  When I was building this PC I replaced the front and rear case fans with Noctua fans to try to keep things as cool as possible.

 

I'm not exactly sure where in BIOS the CPU thermal trip temperature would be??  I'll check out he BIOS this evening and look around for it.

[phillpower2]

Any luck with checking the BIOS.

[dar124]

Yep, I looked at it yesterday evening.  I didn't see anything listed for "CPU thermal trip".  But I took some pics of the BIOS menus, etc.  So maybe it's somewhere that I wasn't looking??

 

Sorry for all the pics, but I wanted to make sure I included all the menus.  I also included pics of the "Advanced - Processors, Chipset / Memory and Thermal" settings.  Does anything in there look incorrect??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by dar124, 13 July 2016 - 08:51 AM.

[phillpower2]

No problem, more pics is good 

 

BIOS layout varies on different age and brands of computers, HP and others should stick to a generic format for their desktop and notebooks, it would make things easier for all of us, HP has on option in some of their BIOS that has a hardware monitoring tool under the Advanced tab but yours alas does not 

 

Check the Processors option for us please;

 

 

 

[dar124]

The screen shot from the processors section was in that big group of images above.  But it's here below as well.

 

Nothing stood out as odd for those settings / options.

 

 

 

[phillpower2]

Sorry, missed that 

 

What about the Device Options tab.

 

Going back to my reply #4;

 

do some gaming or watch some video etc to put the computer under load and then run Speedfan and HWMonitor again to see what temps are reported.

 

 

Can you do this for us please.

[iammykyl]

Gday.

What about, reply #8, Thermal?

Service and Technical Reference Guide > http://h50146.www5.h...n/c00213035.pdf

Might be worth running  the Diagnose software, if you do not have it, download the ISO, burn to CD, > http://www.manualsli...m.html?page=116

See page #17, Internal Conditions—The Internal Conditions view shows information about the health of the computer. This includes fan, temperature, and power-supply information.

[dar124]

Sorry, missed that 

 

What about the Device Options tab.

 

Going back to my reply #4;

 

do some gaming or watch some video etc to put the computer under load and then run Speedfan and HWMonitor again to see what temps are reported.

 

 

Can you do this for us please.

 

 

 

 

 

I'll check the "Device Options" tab this evening and post a screen shot.

 

I started up Speed Fan, used the PC to scan for new media to transfer to my server had an IE session with multiple tabs open, an open PowerPoint slide and was watching a video in VLC.  Below is the Speed Fan screen shot during all of this.  I didn't get a screen shot from HWMonitor.  But I can do that this evening as well if it's needed.

 

 

 

[dar124]

Gday.

What about, reply #8, Thermal?

Service and Technical Reference Guide > http://h50146.www5.h...n/c00213035.pdf

Might be worth running  the Diagnose software, if you do not have it, download the ISO, burn to CD, > http://www.manualsli...m.html?page=116

See page #17, Internal Conditions—The Internal Conditions view shows information about the health of the computer. This includes fan, temperature, and power-supply information.

 

 

 

I did some searching and think I found an ISO for the HP Diagnosis Software.  I'll look at it a bit, burn it and see about installing it.

 

Here is a screen shot of the "Thermal" tab.  The options in BIOS seem pretty limited.  I wonder if it's like that because this is a HP Workstation and not a "regular PC"??

 

 

 

[phillpower2]

The CPU temps look ok for the load that they are under but we really needed a HWMonitor screenshot from the same session as it gives us more information such as what the temps pf the video card were, pity we are not getting any voltage readings from the PSU though, please repeat the same scenario and grab a HWMonitor screenshot for us.

[dar124]

Sorry about that.  I usually trying to get a couple of these screen shots at the end of the day or on my way out before work, etc.  Just forgot about the HWMonitor one.

 

Here's both of them from today.  I did the same thing, transferred some media down to my server, had IE and a Power Point slide open and a movie playing in VLC player.

 

It's a bit strange, because it hasn't shut down recently??  I'm haven't really ran it for any significant length of time, pretty much just to do these screen shots, but still seems odd that it hasn't shut down.  I even did a bit of downloading this morning.  Figured that I'd put it under that load to see if that would change anything.  I was able to download a few things without it shutting down.  Not exactly sure what, if anything, that means, but just something that I noticed.