Well, I've reached the edge of my know-how. Hopefully someone can steer me in the right direction (or make recommendations for what to tell the professionals at a repair shop)! Thanks!
Rig:
Antec 183 v3 case, CP-850 power supply
Asus p8p67 pro motherboard
Intel i7 2600k chip, Cooler Master 212+ HSF
EVGA Superclocked GTX570
16g (4x4) G.Skill Ripjaw RAM
LG Optical drive
OCZ Vertex 3 SSD (OS/art applications)
WD Caviar Black HDD
Speakers, mouse keyboard etc
Acer monitor + Wacom Cintiq 21UX
Problems:
Common: Hard resets without warning or bluescreen or writing a minidump file. Error 41 "kernel power - computer was shut down without warning" written to event viewer.
When it happens: Seemingly randomly. Zero to three times a day. Only ever seems to happen to wife, remaining stable even as I use the machine all day or stay up late playing games. Still, doesn't seem to be tied to any set of programs - happens to her as she is using it to draw or animate with a variety of programs or even just as she watches Netflix with nothing else going.
Uncommon, unsure if related: Computer turns on but has no display from any port. Red "VGA" led on Motherboard is lit up.
When it happens: VERY occasionally - perhaps once or twice a month of regular use. Turning off and on doesn't necessarily fix the problem, but rain dances such as taking out and reseating the graphics card, blowing out all the dust filters, etc has made the problem magically disappear in the past.
---
Steps taken:
1) Reformat, installing same programs after. Virus scans, driver updates, etc.
2) MEMtest pass
3) ASUS onboard diagnostics - heat is consistently in low 20s/low 30s. ASUS utility stress tests to RAM, HDD, GPU etc all come up good. Voltages are reading within good ranges.
4) Set up kernel or minidumps, which have not written.
5) Thorough cleaning / checking connections in machine.
6) Moving USB devices in case of bad ports.
7) Turning off all overclocking.
8) Trying to recreate conditions by running very heavy memory loads on all the programs wife uses regularly when it restarts - have never been able to make it restart.
9) Running in safe mode for extended periods of time, no resets. But running normally with games and a variety programs for extended periods of time also sometimes means no resets, so I'm not sure if safe mode proves anything.
----
No idea what to try next. Feels like a hardware issue, but a fairly new machine built with quality parts, and its ability to run for days with no ill effects, make serious hardware problems feel unlikely.
If you have any ideas, please toss 'em out! If this needs to go to a professional so they can do hardware testing, can you recommend what I should tell them to point them in the same direction so I don't accrue huge labor costs on tests that turn up nothing?
Thanks!
Ken K
Rig:
Antec 183 v3 case, CP-850 power supply
Asus p8p67 pro motherboard
Intel i7 2600k chip, Cooler Master 212+ HSF
EVGA Superclocked GTX570
16g (4x4) G.Skill Ripjaw RAM
LG Optical drive
OCZ Vertex 3 SSD (OS/art applications)
WD Caviar Black HDD
Speakers, mouse keyboard etc
Acer monitor + Wacom Cintiq 21UX
Problems:
Common: Hard resets without warning or bluescreen or writing a minidump file. Error 41 "kernel power - computer was shut down without warning" written to event viewer.
When it happens: Seemingly randomly. Zero to three times a day. Only ever seems to happen to wife, remaining stable even as I use the machine all day or stay up late playing games. Still, doesn't seem to be tied to any set of programs - happens to her as she is using it to draw or animate with a variety of programs or even just as she watches Netflix with nothing else going.
Uncommon, unsure if related: Computer turns on but has no display from any port. Red "VGA" led on Motherboard is lit up.
When it happens: VERY occasionally - perhaps once or twice a month of regular use. Turning off and on doesn't necessarily fix the problem, but rain dances such as taking out and reseating the graphics card, blowing out all the dust filters, etc has made the problem magically disappear in the past.
---
Steps taken:
1) Reformat, installing same programs after. Virus scans, driver updates, etc.
2) MEMtest pass
3) ASUS onboard diagnostics - heat is consistently in low 20s/low 30s. ASUS utility stress tests to RAM, HDD, GPU etc all come up good. Voltages are reading within good ranges.
4) Set up kernel or minidumps, which have not written.
5) Thorough cleaning / checking connections in machine.
6) Moving USB devices in case of bad ports.
7) Turning off all overclocking.
8) Trying to recreate conditions by running very heavy memory loads on all the programs wife uses regularly when it restarts - have never been able to make it restart.
9) Running in safe mode for extended periods of time, no resets. But running normally with games and a variety programs for extended periods of time also sometimes means no resets, so I'm not sure if safe mode proves anything.
----
No idea what to try next. Feels like a hardware issue, but a fairly new machine built with quality parts, and its ability to run for days with no ill effects, make serious hardware problems feel unlikely.
If you have any ideas, please toss 'em out! If this needs to go to a professional so they can do hardware testing, can you recommend what I should tell them to point them in the same direction so I don't accrue huge labor costs on tests that turn up nothing?
Thanks!
Ken K
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