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Chasing down hard resets

styckx

styckx

Gawd
Joined
Aug 16, 2003
Messages
846
I've been chasing a hard reset issue for the past few weeks and I thought I nailed it but it seems not.

My previous symptoms were any time I plugged in anything into the front panel USB, or even touched my finger to the front USB port the computer would reset. Even moving the PC slightly would cause it to reboot. Hooked up a spare PSU.. Same problem. Replaced the power supply cord, unplugged, reseated a few things and it went away. Even reset my bios for good measure.

Things went fine for a week

Two days ago the front USB port reset started happening again. Tore down the entire PC and put it back together. Saw nothing unusual. Problem went away once back together. (and the front USB ports are fine as of posting this)

Things were fine until today my computer went into a hard reset infinite loop just while browsing the web. It wouldn't even get past the post screen.. Powered down. Yanked out one of my GTX 680's that has one bad fan and I'm up and running. For now.

On the surface this sounds like a PSU issue but the randomness of it tells me different and the weird USB port reboot thing also. (which is no longer happening) I've done gaming all week perfectly.. So it's been under stress

Could the one bad fan on the GTX 680 have been a catalyst to all this? I just discovered the bad fan yesterday.. It was holding temps fine on one fan which is why I kept it in (replacement fan set on the way). Other than that.. CPU temps are fine.. All other fans operating as normal etc.. Only thing I can think of is there is a bare wire something I'm not catching possibly shorting out on the case?
 
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Sounds like there may be something loose in the case that is causing a short somewhere. Tearing down and building back may cause the symptoms to go away for awhile until the something comes loose again and causes a short. I wouldn't think this would be a more serious issue with the GPU or PSU. But just to be sure I would eliminate the PSU as the problem by either trying it in another PC or trying a different PSU in your PC.
 
How does the PC run in safe mode? Are you certain it is a hardware problem?

If you suspect drivers may be the cause, try running slimdrivers to check all of your drivers for updates.
http://download.cnet.com/SlimDrivers-Free/3000-18513_4-75279940.html

These types of problems can be really frustrating so I sympathize. One other thing to consider is any firmware updates for your hardware. I had a hard to find firmware update on the Crucial ssd that caused reboots about once a day with a blue screen. I was ready to dump the entire rig up until I stumbled across this solution.
 
Definitely nothing driver related or even software.. It's something hardware wise tripping the hard reset.. When this first started I could trip a hard reset simply leaning the case over.

Either PSU.. But I don't suspect it's this. Mine is about 3-4 years old and has a MTBF of > 100,000 hours. I've seen them die before and this is following none of the normal symptoms. Like I said. It was hard reset looping at the post screen. Just posting over and over and over again as if the reset button was shorting out.

I just ripped my entire PC apart wire for wire, accessory for accessory and re-wired the entire thing.. Put my other GTX 680 back in and so far so good.

Only thing I suspected was possibly the jumper for the HDD LED/PWR/GROUND/RESET/GROUND pins was messed up. A few of the pins were bent a bit on the jumper itself. The plugs didn't feel firmly in place so I pulled off the jumper and just connected the plugs directly to the mobo bypassing the jumper.

I also left the front USB panel unplugged..

We'll see how we go.
 
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If they are bent. You could use a paper clip or tiny screw driver and try to straighten the offending pin. I had to break off the pin (it ruined the usb port but saved the machine). I then used black electrical tape to 'hide' the port.
 
Lastly, I would leave the reset button unhooked from the Mobo, when have your ever used it?
 
Welp an update. This is a weird grounding issue definitely.

Was good for a few days then in the middle of playing Kerbal.. Boom hard reset.. Coincidentally again the front USB ports were acting up again. Every time I touched the front USB ports whether it was just plugging in something or even touching it with my finger it would hard reboot the machine..

The Front USB panel was disconnected though. The only thing from that panel touching the case was the ground wire. I removed the entire panel as it is separate from the power and reset switch.

This is stumping me big time.
 
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Oh and my voltages seem fine. I can load up Far Cry 3 and get both my GPUs up to 99%/99% usage.. Stable. Furmark benchmarks are stable also. I can benchmark the CPU at 100% load also.. Stable.. Stressing the PC doesn't initiate it so I'm ruling out the PSU voltage wise.

3.3V / 5V and 12V rails are locked in solid. No fluctuation. Only CPU has a tiny bit of fluctuation but that's expected

1XwM8US.jpg


Like I said. The only KNOWN thing I know is wrong my PC one of the GTX 680's has a dead fan (replacement fan set will be here tomorrow and it's not overheating on one fan).. Is it possible that's causing random ground problems? I'm also going to switch out my surge protector.
 
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styckx said:
Definitely nothing driver related or even software.. It's something hardware wise tripping the hard reset.. When this first started I could trip a hard reset simply leaning the case over.

Either PSU.. But I don't suspect it's this. Mine is about 3-4 years old and has a MTBF of > 100,000 hours. I've seen them die before and this is following none of the normal symptoms. Like I said. It was hard reset looping at the post screen. Just posting over and over and over again as if the reset button was shorting out.

I just ripped my entire PC apart wire for wire, accessory for accessory and re-wired the entire thing.. Put my other GTX 680 back in and so far so good.

Only thing I suspected was possibly the jumper for the HDD LED/PWR/GROUND/RESET/GROUND pins was messed up. A few of the pins were bent a bit on the jumper itself. The plugs didn't feel firmly in place so I pulled off the jumper and just connected the plugs directly to the mobo bypassing the jumper.

I also left the front USB panel unplugged..

We'll see how we go.
Click to expand...

Can you just unplug the reset button? Is it necessary?

I've had to physically rewire the front panel on my beloved NZXT/Rosewill case because the power button would not work. If you touch those 2 leads together the computer will startup or shutdown. Same deal on the reset wires but I didn't have to redo that particular lead.
 
Bluesun311 said:
Can you just unplug the reset button? Is it necessary?

I've had to physically rewire the front panel on my beloved NZXT/Rosewill case because the power button would not work. If you touch those 2 leads together the computer will startup or shutdown. Same deal on the reset wires but I didn't have to redo that particular lead.
Click to expand...

I can.. Read my two new posts to get caught up though.. I've definitely narrowed it down to a ground problem.
 
styckx said:
The Front USB panel was disconnected though. The only thing from that panel touching the case was the ground wire. I removed the entire panel as it is separate from the power and reset switch.
Click to expand...
Yes I missed this important post!

This is a noobie type question but... what grounding wire?

Can remove entire panel from case but still need 1 wire attached or this was just experiment?
 
Bluesun311 said:
Yes I missed this important post!

This is a noobie type question but... what grounding wire?

Can remove entire panel from case but still need 1 wire attached or this was just experiment?
Click to expand...

The front panel on my case consists of a front USB panel that is made up of two USB ports, one esata and a mic and headphone jack. Coming off that was one black ground wire which had a end on it so it could be screwed into the metal chassis.

The power and reset buttons are completely separate items from that panel (not on the same board)

When this latest reset occurred the only thing attached from that front USB panel was the black ground wire. Touching those USB ports with my finger or even a USB plus could cause an instant hard reset. Now I just disconnected the ground and ripped out the panel just for process of elimination purposes.

I just got my Twin Frozr III fan replacement. So Im actually doing a complete tear down. Ripped out the mobo and rebuilding it from nothing.

Edit: Alright.. She's rebuilt. Left the reset button disconnected this time..
 
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