Help with power surges

[Nathan Bumgarner]

Hi. I'm having trouble with power surges. I built my PC in 2014 so it's fairly new. In May I upgraded to Windows 10 and started getting random power surges. It would shut down then start back up with an Asus error saying the motherboard detected surges in the power supply. I disabled the Asus power surge protector thing in the bios. Now I'm still getting them but instead of the error screen popping up on the restart, it just reboots. I also replaced my old cheap surge protector with a high end surge protector. I have also tried other outlets. I read on one forum that a usb device could be causing this but I stripped all my devices to bare minimum and used other ones to test that with no change. So my question is how do I trace the power surges? Should the voltage readings from HWmonitor tell me where the issue is? Is there any other software made more specifically towards this. Could it be anything aside from faulty psu or MB. Is it possible it's not faulty hardware at all but something in Windows 10 since it didn't happen until I switched? Thanks in advance

 

[Nathan Bumgarner]

Sorry I left out a lot of info, trying to write this on break at work.
MB Asus Z-97e
Cpu I7 4790k
Gpu Asus strix 970
Memory 16 gskill rip-jaw
Psu corsair hx 850

 

[Chugalug_]

Your power supply is very high quality, and given you have a good surge protector that shouldn't be an issue.
Is it potentially the wall socket you're using for your PC?
Try plugging it into a different outlet and see if you get the same issue.
If this is the case it is most likely a faulty PSU.

 

[Nathan Bumgarner]

Yeah I have tried different outlets. That was my first thought (hope). And if it was my house power surging, then I imagine once it did it it would stay off much like it does when there is a lightning storm. In this case it restarts. Any insight on the Windows 10 thing?

 

[Flying Head]

An on-line double-conversion UPS would supply a perfect AC source. Are there any industrial power users nearby? Large power devices can affect power quality.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Even though it's a high quality PSU it still could be unstable.

 

[Nathan Bumgarner]

Flying head. Do you mean large appliances in my house. And I do need to get a ups but if it's faulty hardware then I don't think that would help as the surges would be happening past that

 

[Nathan Bumgarner]

I definitely agree blackbird. But I need to know if there is a way to make sure it's the psu before I buy another one. I wish I had another to test out. This is actually a common problem in these forums, I just haven't been able to find a common solution in any of them. All of them have varying hardware and triggers. Mine happens at a variety of times. Others have it happen when pushing their PC in games and what not. I've only seen one other start having the issue after updating to Windows 10

 

[Nathan Bumgarner]

Come to think of it, most of the forums had Asus motherboards...

 

[Flying Head]

I was referring to very large industrial power users where devices turning on and off could create surges. I don't think any home devices would be that disruptive. I am assuming that a surge is an overvoltage condition and was truthfully reported. If your PSU were regulating poorly then there could be an overvoltage that would trigger a surge detector. The PSU ''power good' line could signal if a power disruption of a few cycles length occurred and cause a shutdown, but that would not be a surge. The fault detector on the MB being too sensitive and triggering on minor fluctuations could be defective too.

What time of day does this occur? Does it happen often? Do your house lights flicker?

My Asus has its surge protector enabled and have never known that it worked or not. I had thought it was passive and didn't know it would shut down the system or create a message. I don't think HWmonitor would sense a swift or brief anomaly. It likely does some sampling and averaging.

I am guessing it would be the PSU. To confirm you would need to monitor for glitches with an oscilloscope. A good tool to have, but not for everyone!

 

[Nathan Bumgarner]

Oh wow so I'm not going to lie. Your knowledge is definitely beyond mine so I'm going to try to keep up with you lol. As far as industrial power users, do you mean like a company or something in my area that would have equipment that powerful? If so then no, I live in a small town with lots of corn fields. Surge truthfully reported? By me? Just what the error said. Or are you wondering if it's my system not reporting it correctly? It happens any time of day. I'm usually on late night early morning but I was on this past weekend during the day and got it one or twice. At first it wasn't that frequent. I could run a couple of days fine and then some days it might happen a couple of times. Now I think it's getting more frequent. I just booted up and within 5 minutes I was down again. My dumbass shouldn't have ignored it for as long as I did. Yes I do get an occasional flicker in my lights. But again I've been here well over a year and didn't have any issues at all til May when I upgraded to Windows 10

 

[Chugalug_]

If you live in a rural town it is more than likely just power surges, does it only affect your PC?
Does your whole house flicker when this happens, or does that happen separately?

 

[Nathan Bumgarner]

WOW! So I checked out those oscilloscopes. Are to 300 to 500 dollar ones necessary or would an 80 dollar mini do just fine? Are they self explanatory? I'm not very electrically inclined

 

[Nathan Bumgarner]

No it's only my PC. I get the random little light flickers all the time like when the Ac kicks on

 

[Flying Head]

Yes, that kind of industry. And the motherboard, not you (of course you are truthful!) did see and respond to a voltage surge. And, very curious that it repeats.
Perhaps you could ask your power company to check things out in your neighborhood. Say something to them like you have light bulbs burning out frequently. That way they won't think you are techno-eccentric! The PSU tends to control such AC problems; and the MB sensed fluctuation of regulated voltage and caused a surge warning. That PSU has a seven year warranty... impressive and means the manufacturer tested it thoroughly. You would be out of a PC for several days (or weeks) if you sent it in for service. I think contacting them and explaining what happened would be productive. At best they would send another and asked you to return your old in the shipping box. If it helped then dandy, if not you would know your PSU is OK. They would probably send a re-conditioned PSU to you, which could be good because they fixed whatever weak component was used in production. You would be poorer by the shipping charges.
Unless you are interested in becoming an electronic technician hobbyist or ham radio operator, an oscilloscope is excessive. And it leads to a workbench stuffed with tools and equipment. A conversion of money to gadgets.
The list of possibilities goes on. Perhaps the CPU socket has a bad contact. If a power contact then the contact may be discolored from heat.
But, considering being rural with flickering lights I would go for a UPS that would protect from brownouts, over voltages and power loss. Preferably one with an excellent review. That would be a good step.

 

[Nathan Bumgarner]

Ok I think that is what I will do then. I may even buy a cheaper psu from Amazon while I wait on my corsair. It's really kinda ridiculous that I don't have spare parts for testing. When I did my first build as kid in 2006 I had boxes of stuff. I wouldn't mind having some spares. They do have little boxes you hook up to your psu to test the power. But all the ones I seen didn't put a load on it and just did a quick check. You can't keep it hooked up so I don't think it would help since I need it to read til I get the surge

 

[Flying Head]

A UPS is the preferred choice. I sent a private message about UPS brands. I like the teardowns by Daniel Sauvageau on this site.

A good practical load test is Intel Burn Test, Passmark Performance Test, and OCCT. It doesn't test the PSU at maximum but does create maximum current draw by the MB.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Your power supply is very high quality, and given you have a good surge protector that shouldn't be an issue.
Is it potentially the wall socket you're using for your PC?
Try plugging it into a different outlet and see if you get the same issue.
If this is the case it is most likely a faulty PSU.

Asus anti-surge typically has nothing to do with actual surges from the wall. Also, power flickering is not a surge. Surges are rare, brownouts are common.

 

[Flying Head]

A related thread: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1773912/asus-anti-surge-problems.html

 

[Nathan Bumgarner]

Yeah definitely ordering a ups tonight. I'm also going to check all of my connections as one of the guys in the forum said that was their issue. Several also said they replaced the power supply and the were good. As far as the ups, is 900 watt sufficient? If I upgraded to a 1000 watt psu in the future and had other things plugged in like monitor router and whatever else, will it protect everything? Do you have anything against cyberpower? When I looked a psu's a while back they seemed to be a crowd favorite. Some have several thousand good reviews

 

[Flying Head]

Cyperpower is popular. I usually look at Amazon user reviews from the unhappy folks. I tried PCParkPicker the other day and loaded all my hardware into it. It will give an estimated power usage. Give it a good margin like 120%-150% and it will be fine. I think 900W is a good margin. I've tested mine for half an hour and got bored. It is 250%. Compare the run times too, and the physical weight since they are mostly lead-acid sealed batteries. Personally I would take a lower power sinewave type if it is a cost concern. It just feels better (I've been shocked by both ha-ha) but not because of the shock value! Technically better. Check the reviews. I saw a lower rating sinewave at the same price, but rated 600W (don't know what your margin would be). There are a ton of choices aren't there!

 

[Nathan Bumgarner]

Yeah there is. I'm willing to spend what I need within reason. I would like to stay within a couple hundred but I will pay what I need to. I've got some money into my PC and I want to make sure it's properly protected. Most of them I've seen say they are sine wave. I don't know much about them or the technology they use so it's kinda hard to tell what they actually have better than others and what bs they are throwing in there for good advertising

 

[Flying Head]

I don't like to speak good or bad openly about manufacturers.
Yeah, ultimate value is important. There was a motorcycle helmet manufacturer that asked "is your head worth $5?" Its helmets cost much more.