• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Was this caused by a bad overclock?

M

masamune

Gawd
Joined
Mar 20, 2002
Messages
683
I just built this brand new computer 2 weeks ago. It's been running great so far so I tried a moderate overclock on Sunday and today I experienced a random shutdown like someone pulled the power out. On Sunday, I ran prime95 for a couple hours and even played some games and it seemed fine so when it shut down today (2 days later), I immediately went to the BIOS and just changed a few things back to Auto.

It kept shutting down after a few minutes of booting into Windows so I just reset the whole BIOS back to default. It was still shutting down! It even shut down twice when I was just staring at the BIOS wondering what to do. Anyway, after a couple more crashes, I left the side of the case off and currently it's been running for 3 hours fine. I put the side back on about 30 minutes ago. I'm scared :( Do bad overclocks cause computers to just shut down like that? Do those problems persist even after resetting the BIOS?

Details:
Intel i920
Corsair 6GB 1333 DDR3
Asus P6X58D Premium mobo
Nvidia 9800 GTX+
SeaSonic X750 Gold power supply

I had increased the BCLK from 133 to 167 and changed the RAM from 1066 to 1333. I didn't change any voltages, just left those at Auto.
Temps seemed fine during all the crashes. CPU was between 38-43C. I was only reading the internet. I wasn't doing anything heavy duty.
My power settings are set to Balanced in Windows so it should have been scaled down to 12x multiplier at the time.
I tried feeling around inside my case for anything that was hot, but it was only warm.

What do you think caused the crashes even after I reset everything, and even when I was in the BIOS? BTW, this is the first time I've actually tried to overclock so I don't know what happens when it goes bad.
 
You have to be doing something very silly to damage something while overclocking... it sounds you might have an actual hardware or software problem.

Do you get a blue screen or does the computer just power down? or restart?
 
I had that problem while running raid, =\ In fact im still having some stablility issues that I need to get worked out.
 
It's not likely a bad overclock does this unless you overvolted the CPU significantly to the point where it is now damaged.

In any case, sudden, random power downs point to either a bad power supply or bad motherboard. If you have spares, or can get known good ones to test then that would be the best course to take to rule out which it is. I would start with the power supply first. Seasonic is a great company, but occasionally bad ones do slip through - it happens from time to time.

Best of luck with everything! :)
 
sandyduff said:
You have to be doing something very silly to damage something while overclocking... it sounds you might have an actual hardware or software problem.

Do you get a blue screen or does the computer just power down? or restart?
Click to expand...

It shuts off like someone pulled the power out, then about 3 seconds later, it starts up again.
 
Sounds to me like a power supply problem...

Like covertash said, do you have another one you can test with...?
 
Yeah, I have another I can test with. If it crashes again, I'll switch it out.

I was hoping I wouldn't have to take it apart anymore. :( I cut my hand like 3 times when I was putting it together.
 
So I never did get around to testing with a different power supply.
After my last post, I left my computer at stock speeds and it was running fine for a week.
Yesterday, when I was playing a game it shut down again.

I thought maybe my processor actually is overheating. I ran prime95 for about 5 minutes while looking at HWMonitor to check temps. The processor went up to about 65C and then shut down again. This time, it kept shutting down, even before entering Windows and I was trying to get into the BIOS. I waited a minute, booted up, then went into the BIOS. The BIOS said my processor was at 36C, which I didn't believe because HWMonitor was just at 65C. I'm suspicious now.

Does 65C sound normal for a Thermalright ultra 120 extreme heatsink at full load?
I'm gonna take it off tonight and check to see that nothing's funky with the paste.
It's just a pain to install that thing because the springy-screws doesn't quite reach where it screws into so I have to apply pressure on the middle metal thing to bend it.
 
masamune, your processor temps are fine. You can run an i7 all day at 90C and have no issues. As others said, it could be a PSU issue. Do you have a multimeter on hand that you could use to test your rails? Also, are your voltages still on Auto? I would recommend setting everything (CPU/Mobo/RAM speeds, timings, and voltages) to its specified settings. By setting it to Auto, you're letting the motherboard do whatever the hell it wants, which sometimes causes issues.
 
I disassembled my computer and reapplied the thermal paste yesterday. I was thinking there was too much so I put on a little less this time, but the temps seem about the same. Oh well.

I was able to get through the rest of the night without a shutdown, but that's not any indication anyway since I was able to go a week last time.

I don't have a multimeter. :( I'll try setting the voltages tonight. Where would I find that information? The mobo instruction book? Or, which voltages should I set specifically? There are a lot of settings.
 
Sounds like a PSU issue. Make sure you have sufficient power feeding your 12v lines.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top