I Need Help - System Issues

R

RoGuE1230

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 25, 2006
Messages
464
Hi, I have a computer issue that I can't figure out. Please help!

Here is what happened:

Yesterday I turned on my computer and everything was normal for about 30 minutes. I was watching a YouTube video when it suddenly froze. The audio continued but the image was frozen, and the computer refused to respond to any keyboard or mouse input so I turned it off after a few minutes. After that it wouldn't boot up Windows again. It would get to first Windows splash screen and then my monitor turns off and nothing happens. After restarting it three times I tried Windows repairs, system restore to different points, nothing worked. Safe mode worked just fine. I figured since it just finished installing a Windows update maybe it corrupted something, so I backed up what I needed in safe mode and reinstalled Windows fresh from a USB drive.

I reinstall, everything goes normally for a few minutes until I start downloading and installing video drivers, Chrome, etc, and it just suddenly reboots. Once again it fails to load in to Windows at the same splash screen point, and the monitor turns off. Except now, it will just reboot at this point about 50% of the time.

I reset the BIOS to defaults, reseat all my cards and connections inside and clean out the small amount of dust. I ran Memtest for an hour, no issues. So I re-install Windows again. Download and install drivers, and reboot. Except now, it will boot in to Windows each time, but just restart after I try to do something. It seems like it is fine if I just leave it idle.

I am unsure what to try next. The last hardware change I made was a year ago when I added an SSD, it has not shown any issues whatsoever before all this.

The specs of my computer are in my signature, except for the added Samsung 850 Evo 250GB. Also, the BIOS reports all normal voltages with the power supply. And all temps seem normal, and all the fans are working.

And one other thing that I can't figure out. I tried booting up Linux Mint from a USB drive. I've done this plenty of times before, but each time after it completes the 10 second countdown, the monitor just goes in to standby, just like with Windows.
 
Take the undervolt off your GPU. It's more than likely a video or power issue. Either the GPU is going, it just doesn't "like" the undervolt anymore, or your PSU is going. There's a chance it's the motherboard, but that's unlikely.

So first step is take the GPU back up to stock voltage.

If that doesn't work you have 2 options -- swap in a spare GPU or spare PSU. To help narrow it down, if you have onboard video use that and run something like OCCT to stress the CPU and bring up the wattage load on the PSU. If it reboots with the GPU removed, it's likely the PSU. If it's stable under load without the GPU, it's likely the GPU.
 
silent-circuit said:
Take the undervolt off your GPU. It's more than likely a video or power issue. Either the GPU is going, it just doesn't "like" the undervolt anymore, or your PSU is going. There's a chance it's the motherboard, but that's unlikely.

So first step is take the GPU back up to stock voltage.

If that doesn't work you have 2 options -- swap in a spare GPU or spare PSU. To help narrow it down, if you have onboard video use that and run something like OCCT to stress the CPU and bring up the wattage load on the PSU. If it reboots with the GPU removed, it's likely the PSU. If it's stable under load without the GPU, it's likely the GPU.
Click to expand...

Sorry about that, the under volt went away a year ago when I installed Windows 10, I couldn't remember how I even did it all those years ago. Wouldn't the GPU show artifacts if it was failing?

I hope it's not the the motherboard. Back when this was new, I had to RMA my first mobo and they were known to have a high failure rate out of the box, but considering it's been stable for years now, it seems unlikely. All the caps look like they're solid and there is no leakage.

But I'll try to eliminate those points of failure later. I have a spare GPU but not a power supply.
 
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So far as artifacting, no, not necessarily. Seems like the reboot is happening when you get "proper" drivers installed; until then the GPU is just in a low power 2D only mode. Failure when it switches over to fully accelerated mode (windows 10 desktop uses some hardware acceleration for stuff like transparency and composition) leads me to suspect the GPU or PSU. Either the GPU itself is bad and the fault causes the reboot when it "turns on" fully, or the PSU is bad and can't supply enough wattage when the GPU "turns on". Make sense?

Does that board have video out? Can you pull the GPU and try with onboard?
 
You might try stripping the machine down to the base essentials, mobo, ram and a hd, and try out the on-board video to see if you are getting the same behavior as mentioned above. You might try grabbing the ultimate boot cd / usb and booting through some stress tests. Also while you were cleaning / check again for any kind of damages capacitors on the devices you have in there.
 
silent-circuit said:
So far as artifacting, no, not necessarily. Seems like the reboot is happening when you get "proper" drivers installed; until then the GPU is just in a low power 2D only mode. Failure when it switches over to fully accelerated mode (windows 10 desktop uses some hardware acceleration for stuff like transparency and composition) leads me to suspect the GPU or PSU. Either the GPU itself is bad and the fault causes the reboot when it "turns on" fully, or the PSU is bad and can't supply enough wattage when the GPU "turns on". Make sense?

Does that board have video out? Can you pull the GPU and try with onboard?
Click to expand...

I couldn't even get far enough to fully install the driver when it happened. It would get maybe 25% in to installation and restart. Or maybe it had installed enough components to trigger the restart.

rhansen5_99 said:
You might try stripping the machine down to the base essentials, mobo, ram and a hd, and try out the on-board video to see if you are getting the same behavior as mentioned above. You might try grabbing the ultimate boot cd / usb and booting through some stress tests. Also while you were cleaning / check again for any kind of damages capacitors on the devices you have in there.
Click to expand...

All caps looked fine, but they are all solid on this motherbard, so I don't know what else to check for.
 
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You need to pull the GPU and try onboard video if that's an option. Run a test like OCCT Linpack that'll stress the CPU and RAM a lot and create a high wattage load. If the machine reboots under the test, it's probably the PSU that is bad.

If you don't have onboard video, boot in to safemode (since you said that was working before) and run OCCT Linpack to check stability. If it reboots then, probably the PSU, but this is less certain than the first method since the GPU is still in the machine, just not fully enabled.

If you can't / won't do either of the above you need to get / borrow a spare GPU and swap it out, or get / borrow a spare PSU and swap that out. Really the only way forward at this point.
 
silent-circuit said:
You need to pull the GPU and try onboard video if that's an option. Run a test like OCCT Linpack that'll stress the CPU and RAM a lot and create a high wattage load. If the machine reboots under the test, it's probably the PSU that is bad.

If you don't have onboard video, boot in to safemode (since you said that was working before) and run OCCT Linpack to check stability. If it reboots then, probably the PSU, but this is less certain than the first method since the GPU is still in the machine, just not fully enabled.

If you can't / won't do either of the above you need to get / borrow a spare GPU and swap it out, or get / borrow a spare PSU and swap that out. Really the only way forward at this point.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I have onboard video and a spare GPU. I'll give it a try when I get home later.
 
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Well here are my findings:

I confirmed it once more. When the graphics driver attempts to install, the monitor loses the signal and the PC reboots. I pulled the card and ran OCCT Linpack for one hour and had no issues.

Also, the only spare GPU I have is a GT 430, so not nearly the same as far as testing goes. But...I popped it in, powered up and within seconds of booting it installed the drivers and everything was working.

Is it pretty safe to say at this point that the video card is the culprit?
 
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>>Is it pretty safe to say at this point that the video card is the culprit?

Sure looks that way.

silent-circuit gave you great advice on troubleshooting this.
 
Thank you everyone for all the help. It still makes me wonder what could have failed on the card, but I'm glad I now know the cause of the system instability. I guess it isn't too bad considering it probably had about 17,000 hours on it (number taken from smart data of hard drive installed at the same time). I'll probably be going for a GTX 960 next.
 
Use your on-board video for 60 days or so until the new Nvidia cards are out.
Prices on current top end cards will plummet.
 
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