PC Shutdown during Idle/Browsing.

[Svarog]

Hi all,

First all i'm new here so i couldn't really find a suitable forum section to put this in.

I have a strange problem which is going on for a couple of weeks/months now. Like every 1 or 2 weeks my PC decides to shut itself down during Idle or Browsring the internet. It never happens during gaming which is a load operation. It simply shuts itself down and i have to press the power button again, it boots up normaly again without giving an error message after startup. I checked the Windows Log files a couple of times aswell at the time it shut down but it doesn't really tell anything that could have caused it.

Here is my PC Specs:

CPU:

Intel Core i7 950 @ 3.66 Ghz (166 x 22)

Voltage: 1.125 Normal, DVID +0.125 (Load-line Calibration Standard Intel Spec)

Cooler: Noctua NH-C14 Push/Pull 750 RPM

Temps: Idle 37C - Load (Gaming) 65C

Motherboard:

Gigabyte X58A-UD7 (Bios FC)

Memory:

GeIL DDR3 Ultra Tripple Channel 3x 2GB (7-7-7-24) (Voltage needed 1.65, set to 1.64)

(XMP 6-6-6-24 is unstable, BSOD Randomly)

Videocard:

Zotac GTX580 (Stock) (Arctic Accelero Xtreme Plus)

Installed in the first PCI-E 16x Slot

Soundcard:

Creative X-Fi Fatal1ty Titanium Pro

Harddisks:

OCZ Vertex 120GB (Firmware 1.6) (Windows Drive)

OCZ Vertex 120GB (Firmware 1.6) (Games Drive)

Samsung EcoGreen F1 HD103SI 1Tb (Storage)

All connected to the Intel controller

Power Supply:

Seasonic X750 GoldPlus 750 Watt

I recently swapped around the memory modules into different banks but that doesn't seem to make a difference. I have the same system specs as before it started happening. I had the two OCZ Drives in Raid-0 before and recently seperated them as i thought that might could be the cause, but it's not. Seeing it doesn't happen during load it can't be the PSU or Videocard either. I'm kinda out of ideas what it could be tho i'm leaning towards memory for some reason.

If anyone has any ideas of what it could be or what i could try to figure it out id be very thankful.

-Svarog

 

[Svarog]

I think the issue is one of the SSDs.

A week ago my oldest SSD (bought early 2010) all of a sudden wasn't detected anymore by the BIOS. So i attached a jumper and had to do a Destructive Flash which fixed again. But since then it happend once again that the PC just shut down while i was browsing the net.

I guess ill head back to the OCZ Forum to get more information.

 

[clutchuser]

I had the same problem last month. I replaced my power supply and it fixed it. If you have any spare parts try swapping things out and testing. random shutdown can be almost any piece of hardware so try to eliminate as much as you can.

 

[fcb]

Your motherboard is rev. 2.0 right? Check if you have the latest BIOS.

If you think it's your memory, you can try checking for errors with Memtest86+ or Prime95 with its blend test to check for stability of CPU and all of your RAM. You can configure it to test all your installed memory.

Do you have the latest Intel driver for your chipset? Check your system to see the version of your Intel chipset driver. You'll be able to find that under Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management -> Device Manager -> look under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers where it should display Intel® ICH10R SATA/AHCI/RAID Controller or similar. Open that and go to the Drivers tab and you should be able to see the version. If you don't have the newest 10.6.0.1022 you may try that out.

http://downloadcente...nology&lang=eng

Also, check to see that your SSD has the latest firmware. If not, you should make a backup of all your data and then update the latest firmware of your SSD.

Once you're back in Windows, you should make sure your SSD never shuts down or sleeps. You can do this by going to Control Panel -> Power Options -> Change plan settings -> Change advanced power settings -> and set your Hard Disk to never turn off.

See if this helps?

 

[Svarog]

- Motherboard is rev. 2.0 and has the latest non-beta BIOS (FC)

- Did Memory tests yesterday with each Module alone in Bank 1 and they came out just fine.

- The Chipset driver i got installed is 10.6.0.1002. So that's not far of from the latest

- Both SSDs have Firmware 1.6. Tho 1.7 is the latest but few people have managed to get their drives flashed succesfully. My flashes also fail, so for now 1.6 is the latest.

I got the feeling all my hardware is just fine. I remembered yesterday i had a APC Back-UPS RS 1500 (865 Watt) laying around. Tho last time i had it hooked up and the power went down it wasn't able to power my system.

But i think it simply has to do with Power Peeks and Sags. It does happen every now and then and i think that's why the PC simply shuts down PSU Protection.

 

[fcb]

- Motherboard is rev. 2.0 and has the latest non-beta BIOS (FC)

- Did Memory tests yesterday with each Module alone in Bank 1 and they came out just fine.

- The Chipset driver i got installed is 10.6.0.1002. So that's not far of from the latest

- Both SSDs have Firmware 1.6. Tho 1.7 is the latest but few people have managed to get their drives flashed succesfully. My flashes also fail, so for now 1.6 is the latest.

I got the feeling all my hardware is just fine. I remembered yesterday i had a APC Back-UPS RS 1500 (865 Watt) laying around. Tho last time i had it hooked up and the power went down it wasn't able to power my system.

But i think it simply has to do with Power Peeks and Sags. It does happen every now and then and i think that's why the PC simply shuts down PSU Protection.

You have a very recommendable PSU already. The Seasonic unit you have is really quite good.

Have you tried checking that the hard drive is set to never power off in the Advanced Power Settings? Have you tried using a secure erase on your SSD to help it revert back to factory performance? Did the firmware update failure cause any crashes or problems?

Maybe you could also give us a BIOS template with all your settings. It may be easier for the experts here to help you better.

 

[Svarog]

Well my power saving settings are set to 20 Min for the HDD, but i also had that before i started to get the issue.

I recently flashed both Drives with a Destructive 1.6 Firmware wich revert them to Factory aswell. I'm pretty sure by now the issue isn't any of my hardware at all.

Around the time the issue started happening i removed the Back-UPS from my PC because it failed to Backup when Power went out. Then again i didn't had the software installed so probably that's why it didn't take over the power. As i said earlier it must be power Peeks and Sags, since that happens around here often, and the shutdowns might have been too big for the PSU to handle. The Seasonic PSU does have Surge Protection but ofc that's limited range.

Will see what happens the next weeks now i have the Back-UPS between my PC and Wall again.

 

[Svarog]

It shutdown again this morning, so that been 11 days since last time. I'm getting lost here >_<

I did swap around my PCI-E Cards after it happend again. That's pretty much the only thing i can try out atm.

Swapped my GTX580 from PCI-E 16X_1 to PCI-E 8X_1. Yes, it's a 8X slot but performance wise it doesn't matter.

And the soundcard went from PCI-E 8X_2 to PCI-E 1X_2.

I also disabled HPET incase that matters. If these things don't work i have no clue anymore. I mean..it been 11 days since it last happend now. It's so rare i dunno where to search really.

 

[yassarikhan786]

It might be Driver issues. Which driver version have you installed for the Video Card.

 

[POWERMETAL]

It shutdown again this morning, so that been 11 days since last time. I'm getting lost here >_<

I did swap around my PCI-E Cards after it happend again. That's pretty much the only thing i can try out atm.

Swapped my GTX580 from PCI-E 16X_1 to PCI-E 8X_1. Yes, it's a 8X slot but performance wise it doesn't matter.

And the soundcard went from PCI-E 8X_2 to PCI-E 1X_2.

I also disabled HPET incase that matters. If these things don't work i have no clue anymore. I mean..it been 11 days since it last happend now. It's so rare i dunno where to search really.

did u have the UPS connected again? when it went down?

 

[Svarog]

As Driver i'm using 285.38 at the moment, but as far as i can go back in the past it happend with any Driver. So it's not a Driver issue.

And yes the Back-UPS was connected but didn't take over. There wasn't a power outage. Something is simply shutdown the PC instantly like you flick a switch.

Windows Logs didn't show anything before it went down.

I do believe this issue started happening when i replaced my HD5970 with the GTX580. So that could make it a Videocard issue, but seeing how rarely it happens i highly doubt it's a defect. And yes, i did a fresh Install of Windows back then.

 

[yassarikhan786]

Are you sure it happened with the 280.26 WHQL drivers. My PC didn't shut down with the 285.27/285.36 drivers. I got a BSOD every now and then when browsing/idle.

Did you start having problems the first day you installed the Video Card?

 

[Svarog]

280.xx wasn't really stable for me.

And i'm not really sure it started happening when i installed the 580. As i can't really remember when it first started happening, but i'm pretty sure it was around that time.

I really doubt it's a defect with any of the hardware seeing how rarely it happens.

Ive been thinking about doing a BIOS reset by removing the battery aswell, but i'm not sure how much different that is from the Clear CMOS button. Another thing ive been thinking about is simply reflashing the BIOS. Doing all that can't hurt.

It's just impossible to reproduce the issue by doing something. It just happens randomly. Out of all the times it happend it was either Desktop Idle or Browsing. The one today happend ingame while i was playing WoW, but at that point i was alone in an Instance facing a wall so there was barely any load. So that rules out Heat or Overload issues.

But i swapped PCI-E devices around now, it's basicly a matter of waiting now untill it happens again and IF it happens.

 

[fcb]

280.xx wasn't really stable for me.

And i'm not really sure it started happening when i installed the 580. As i can't really remember when it first started happening, but i'm pretty sure it was around that time.

I really doubt it's a defect with any of the hardware seeing how rarely it happens.

Ive been thinking about doing a BIOS reset by removing the battery aswell, but i'm not sure how much different that is from the Clear CMOS button. Another thing ive been thinking about is simply reflashing the BIOS. Doing all that can't hurt.

It's just impossible to reproduce the issue by doing something. It just happens randomly. Out of all the times it happend it was either Desktop Idle or Browsing. The one today happend ingame while i was playing WoW, but at that point i was alone in an Instance facing a wall so there was barely any load. So that rules out Heat or Overload issues.

But i swapped PCI-E devices around now, it's basicly a matter of waiting now untill it happens again and IF it happens.

It may be a good idea to contact Gigabyte support to see what they may suggest doing.

 

[Svarog]

That crossed my mind earlier

They also got a Forum.

 

[SieB]

Sounds like it could be V-Droop to me, try raising the Vcore a bit or setting LLC higher.

 

[Svarog]

Sounds like it could be V-Droop to me, try raising the Vcore a bit or setting LLC higher.

I tried a lot with Voltages and such. And i been running flawless at 3.8 Ghz before the problem started. It happend pretty much a couple of weeks after i got my 580. I rule out a Hardware defect seeing how rare the issue is and i'm un able to reproduce it.

I placed this issue on the Gigabyte forum now and was advised to flash to BIOS FD9, wich a Beta. But it might help.

 

[Svarog]

Seems to be still happening every 10 days or so.

Seeing the issue pretty much started happening when i swapped from HD5970 to GTX580, it's clear i have to search there. I did rewire my PC as my PSU has 2 options to connect the CPU 8 Pin. I also swapped the two PCI-E connectors around. If that doesn't help i got some final tricks up my sleeve that "might" solve the problem.

- Up voltage from 1000 mV to 1025 mV (Perhaps a notch higher to 1038 mV).

- Force Constant voltage in MSI Afterburner so it doesn't go up and down while Adaptive Mode is enabled.

 

[marsey99]

have you got anything in the house that could be causing a power spike?

only in my old flat sometimes the lift would suck a load of juice and the lights would all dim, if i had an oc on the edge it would make it crash too.

 

[Svarog]

have you got anything in the house that could be causing a power spike?

only in my old flat sometimes the lift would suck a load of juice and the lights would all dim, if i had an oc on the edge it would make it crash too.

PC is behind a Backup UPS from APC. And it also happend without the UPS.