[SOLVED] PC keeps crashing when waking up

Lv 88 Mog

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Jan 25, 2016
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Hi, I've recently started encountering this problem on my desktop. When I try to wake it up from sleep (either by mouse or keyboard), the computer tries to wake but then instantly goes completely silent (shuts down)...then it tries to start up again by itself after a brief pause, then almost immediately goes dead again...then repeats, and then finally on the third try it is able to reboot and it starts up the computer as if it had been restarted.

It doesn't happen all the time, I've wondered if it wasn't getting enough juice and I opened it up to make sure all the cables were connected properly and usually that "fixes" it (I say that, but I have no idea if it actually fixes it or if it's just coincidence...and I'm slightly suspicious that it is has no effect really). It might goes for many days without any problems...and then suddenly it starts up again. It had been several weeks without a problem until it suddenly crashed on me tonight again, and the symptoms are always exactly the same.

I'm guessing the problem is hardware related. I don't have much knowledge....would this problem be a power issue? Is my PSU going bad? Is the motherboard going bad? Is there any way I can diagnose the problem without just actually replacing parts?
 
Solution
The High voltage caps I mentioned are part of the power supply. and they can slowly go bad due to heating but usually they last for years. I would suggest that you disconnect the computer from the AC power and then unplug each power supply connector one at a time and check the pins and reconnect. Just pushing on connectors is not good enough. I'm surprised at the power supply costs there, probably high taxes. I just checked the price on the EVGA G3 and its $100 (USA) but I got it less than that (probably Trump's tariff on China raised it). Power supplies also have a power ok signal (gray wire on 24 pin connector) which could have a problem.

Computers are complex and even though I'm a retired electronics engineer (power supplies)...
I'm leaning on that it's the PSU and here's why I lean this way.

When your PC wakes from sleep it draws a surge of current from the PSU. Surges of current generally cause PSU voltages to drop. If this surge of current causes the voltage to drop too low....your PC can crash.
 

Lv 88 Mog

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Jan 25, 2016
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Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I had the exact same thought - and even wishlisted a few PSU's on Amazon the last time this problem happened...but I'm not too knowledgeable, so I didn't want to just upgrade without getting a more educated opinion. I'm using a 600 corsair right now, but I remember when I upgraded my GPU (MSI GTX970) and other components a few years ago that I wasn't sure if even 600 would be enough. Well, it turned out that I was able to run the PC without any problems on the 600, but I did notice last year that my Thermaltake Commander Fan Controller touch screen was getting WAY dimmer than it was when I first bought it, and that was actually when I first started wondering about the PSU. So, if in fact I was just running barely enough for the past 2-3 years, then any drop in the PSU performance would cause this problem? Do PSU's just gradually start losing juice like that?

By the way, I checked my event viewer and found that the crash was listed as error status 0xC0000411. Then there are several "Critical" entries after that that are described as, "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly."
 
" So, if in fact I was just running barely enough for the past 2-3 years, then any drop in the PSU performance would cause this problem?"

That is very possible.

" Do PSU's just gradually start losing juice like that? "

This is also very possible.

I think this is normal>>>
"By the way, I checked my event viewer and found that the crash was listed as error status 0xC0000411. Then there are several "Critical" entries after that that are described as, "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly." "

I would advise against using sleep mode in the future as it has caused me lots of problems...and I'm going back decades.

If you decide to replace the PSU....which is what I would do....I wouldn't buy crap. I would buy a Seasonic or a Corsair (not the CX or VS series).

 

Lv 88 Mog

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Jan 25, 2016
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Wow, so I actually am using a CX600 right now. Haha. So I guess I blindly trusted the Corsair name. Well, and it was all I could afford at the time after buying the GTX970.

I'm actually looking at the Thermaltake Tough Power Grand RGB -850W 80+GOLD. It's highly reviewed where I live (Japan) and 850 should be a sufficient upgrade from 600, I think? What do you think about Thermaltake (I've become a bit of a fan, since my tower and touchscreen and fans are all Thermaltake). I know the review on Tomshardware says that the Corsair RM850x and Seasonic Focus Plus Gold 850 are better performance wise, but both of those are about $40 more over here.
 
From what I've read...Thermaltake has good and bad.

Lately I've purchased 3 Corsair RM series and they are running good for me...if you decide to go that route....but I would read this.

It's authored by someone else on this site. I think it's very well written and after you read it I think you will be able to decide much better as to what to buy. It's a little long but very good.


>>>>>>

Let's start with the biggest misconception out there, which is that if a unit has high watts it will be ok or is good. No. Just, no.

There are plenty of 750-1000w units out there that I wouldn't trust to power a light bulb and might in fact be more dangerous due to their supposedly high capacity due to poor or non-existent protections inside the unit.

If the platform isn't good to begin with, how many watts or amps it says it can support is irrelevant.

Higher 80plus certification doesn't mean anything, UNLESS it's on an already known to be high quality PSU platform. For example, a Seasonic Prime platinum unit is going to be a better product than a Seasonic Prime Gold unit, because we already know the Prime platform is very good, and platinum efficiency along with it shows there are some improvements internally to account for the higher efficiency.

In a case like that, it might be worth it. It's likely the unit will create less heat, it will probably have better performance in regard to ripple, noise and voltage regulation. It might shave a few pennies, or dollars, off the electric bill over the course of a year.

Other than that, it is not going to perform any better than the same platform with Gold efficiency. On the other hand, just because a unit has Titanium 80plus ratings doesn't mean the unit is any good at all. For example, there are Raidmax units with Titanium efficiency and I wouldn't trust one of those to power a light bulb. There are a lot of units like this out there.

If the platform isn't good to begin with, whether or not it has an 80plus certification or not is irrelevant.

Whatever you do, don't EVER buy a power supply based on whether it has RGB or lighting, or looks like it might be a quality unit. Some of the biggest hunks of junk out there look just as good as a Seasonic Prime Ultra Titanium, but I assure you, they are not. So far as I've seen there are really no excellent units out there that have RGB built in. Maybe one or two models, but rest assured you'll be be paying for the lighting, not for the quality of the power supply.

I don't know what country you reside in, and I know that sometimes it's hard to come by good units in some regions, but when possible, when it comes time to get that PSU, I'd stick to the following if you can.

Seasonic. Seasonic isn't just a brand, they are a PSU manufacturer, unlike many of the PSU brands you see they make their own power supply platforms AND a great many of the very good PSU models out there from other brands like Antec, Corsair and older XFX are made by Seasonic.

Just about anything made by Seasonic is good quality for the most part. There are really no bad Seasonic units and only a very few that are even somewhat mediocre. They do make a few less-good quality OEM style units, but mostly those are not going to be units you come across at most vendors, and they are still not bad. Also, the S12II and M12II 520 and 620w units are older, group regulated models. At one time they were among the best units you could buy. Now, they are outdated and not as good as almost any other Seasonic models. They are however still better than a LOT of newer designs by other manufacturers.

The Seasonic 520w and 620w S12II/M12II units CAN be used on newer Intel platforms, if you turn off C6/C7 in the bios, but I'd really recommend a newer platform whenever possible. Prices are usually pretty good on those though, so sometimes it's worth accepting the lack of DC-DC on the internal platform. Higher capacity versions of the High current gamer are not based on that platform, so they are fine. Those being the 750w and higher versions.

Most common currently, in order of preference, would be the Seasonic Focus series, then Focus plus, then Prime, then Prime ultra. It's worth mentioning that there are generally Gold, Platinum and Titanium versions within each, or most, of those series, but that does not necessarily mean that a Focus plus Platinum is necessarily better than a Prime Gold. It only means that it scored better in the 80plus efficiency testing, not that the platform is better.

Again, don't let yourself get tangled up in the idea that a higher 80plus rating specifically means that it is a better unit than another one with a lower rating, unless you know that it is a good platform from the start. All these Focus and Prime units are pretty good so you can somewhat focus on the 80plus rating when deciding which of them to choose.

Super Flower Super Flower is another PSU manufacturer. They also make most of the good units sold by EVGA like the G2, G3, P2 and T2 models.

Super Flower doesn't have a very broad availability for the units with their own brand name on them, and are not available in a lot of countries but for those where there is availability you want to look at the Leadex and Leadex II models. The Golden green platform is fairly decent too but is getting rather long in the tooth as a platform AND I've seen some reviews indicating a few shortcomings on units based on this platform.

Even so, it's a great deal better than a lot of other platforms out there so you could certainly do worse than a Golden green model. Units based on the Leadex and Leadex II platforms are much better though.

Corsair. The CX and CXm units are ok as a budget option, but I do not recommend pairing them with gaming cards. The newer 2017 models of CX and CXm are better than the older ones, but still not what we'd call terrific, so if it specifically says 2017 model, or it has a capacity other than an even 100, like 550w, 650w, 750w, etc., then it's likely at least better than those older ones. Aside from that, any of the TX, RMx, RMi, HX, HXi, AX or AXi units are good. Those are listed from best to worst, with the best being the AX and AXi units.

Antec. The True power classic units are made by Seasonic, and are very good, but are not modular. The High current gamer 520w and 620w, or any other PSU you see on the market that is 520w or 620w, are also made by Seasonic, based on the S12II and M12II platform for modern versions, and are pretty good units but again they are an older platform that is group regulated so if you go with a Haswell or newer Intel configuration you will want to avoid those because they do not support the C6/C7 Intel low power states.

The Antec High current gamer 750w and 850w units are very good and are not the older design, which came in 520w and 620w capacities and were good for back then but again, are an aging Seasonic platform that is not the best choice most of the time these days. Occasionally, these older units MIGHT be the best unit available and you could do worse than one of them, but a newer DC-DC platform is desirable when possible if it doesn't mean sacrificing quality elsewhere in the platform. There are however older and newer HCG models, so exact model number will likely be a factor if choosing one of these however both the older models and the newer models are good.

Antec Edge units are ok too, but reviews indicate that they have noisy fan profiles. I'd only choose this model if it is on sale or the aesthetics match up with your color scheme or design. Still a good power supply but maybe a little aggressive on the fan profile. This may have been cured on newer Edge models so reading professional tear down reviews is still the best idea.

Antec Earthwatts Gold units are very good also.

BeQuiet. BeQuiet does have a few decent models, BUT, you must be VERY selective about which of their models you put your trust in. From model to model their are huge differences in both quality and performance, even with the same series. If you cannot find a review for a BeQuiet unit on HardOCP, JonnyGuru or Tom's hardware that SPECIFICALLY says it is a very good unit, and does not have any significant issues in the "cons" category, I would avoid it. In fact, I'd probably avoid it anyhow unless there is a very great sale on one that has good reviews, because their units are generally more expensive than MUCH better units from Antec, Seasonic, EVGA and Corsair.

Super Flower. They are like Seasonic and they make power supplies for a variety of other companies, like EVGA. Super Flower units are usually pretty good. I'd stick to the Leadex, Leadex II and Golden Green models.

EVGA. They have BOTH good and not very good models.

Not very good are the W1, N1, B1, B3 (All models except the 650w model), BQ, BR, BT and G1 NEX models.

Good models are the B2, B3 650w, G2, G2L, G3, GQ, P2 and T2 models.

FSP. They used to be very mediocre, and are a PSU manufacturer like Seasonic and Super Flower, although not as well trusted based on historical performance. Currently the FSP Hydro G and Hydro X units are pretty good.

I would avoid Thermaltake and Cooler Master. They do have a few good units, but most of the models they sell are either poor or mediocre, and the ones they have that ARE good are usually way overpriced.

This is just ONE example of why I say that. Very new and modern CM unit. One of the worst scores ever seen on JG for a well known brand name product. Doesn't look to be much better than a Raidmax unit. Sad.

Cooler Master Masterwatt Lite 600W review


And most of the models I have linked to the reviews of at the following link are at least good, with most of them being fantastic.

Power supply discussion thread


Certainly there ARE some good units out there that you won't see above among those I've listed, but they are few and far between, much as a hidden nugget of gold you find in a crevice among otherwise ordinary rocks and don't EVER assume a unit is good just because of the brand.

If you cannot find an IN DEPTH, REPUTABLE review on Tom's hardware, JonnyGuru, HardOCP, Hardware secrets (Old reviews by Gabe Torres), Kitguru (Only Aris reviews), TechPowerUP, SilentPC crew or a similar site that does much more than simply a review of the unboxing and basic tests that don't include reliable results for ripple, noise, voltage regulation and a complete teardown of the unit including identification of the internal platform, then the unit is a big fat question mark.

I recommend not trusting such units as companies generally always send out review samples of any unit they feel is going to get a good review, and don't send them out if they know they are going to get hammered by the reviewer. No review usually equals poor quality. Usually.

Other models that should never be trusted OR USED AT ALL, under any circumstances, include A-Top, Apevia, Apex (Supercase/Allied), Artic, Ace, Aerocool (There might be one model worth using, but I'd still avoid them.), Aspire (Turbocase), Atadc, Atrix, Broadway com corp, Chieftech, Circle, CIT, Coolmax, Deer, Diablotek, Dynapower, Dynex, Eagletech, Enlight, Evo labs, EZ cool, Feedtek, Foxconn, G7, HEC/Compucase Orion, HEDY, iBall, iStar computer co., Jeantec, JPac, Just PC, Kolink, LC Power, Linkworld electronics, Logisys, Macron, MSI, NmediaPC, Norwood Micro (CompUSA), Okia, Powercool, Powmax, Pulsepower, Q-tec, Raidmax, RaveRocketfish, Segotep, SFC, Sharkoon, Shuttle, Skyhawk, Spire, Startech, Storm, Sumvision, Tesla, Trust, Ultra, Wintech, Winpower, Xilence (Until I see a reputable review of a model showing different), xTreme (Cyberpower), Youngbear and Zebronics.​
 
Jan 17, 2019
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Your 600W power supply is working so the most likely failure mode is the high voltage input caps which may be failing and causing higher ripple. Other than electrolytic caps, most other devices don't slowly go bad. In your BIOS you can see the voltages which should be within +/- 5% of nominal (example 12V +/- 5%). I assume you have unplugged each connector (especially the 24 pin ATX and video card power) and reconnected them, if not do that first.

If you go with a new supply, choose one with power factor correction (PFC) which is usually used on higher efficiency supplies. I use an EVGA Supernova 750 G3 (80 plus gold) and it's very good.
 

Lv 88 Mog

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Jan 25, 2016
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Hi! Thanks for your input! Unfortunately, I didn't follow a lot of what you said - are you also suggesting that the PSU might be the most likely cause for my problem? The high voltage input caps that you mentioned might be failing - is that part of the PSU?

Yes, I have checked every single connection - BUT, I haven't actually UNPLUGGED them and reconnected, I just pushed each one to make sure it was fully connected..... So I'll give that a try. Although, the 24-pin scares me because when I first moved everything into my current tower, I had a REALLY hard time getting it disconnected/reconnected again because of a really huge safety lip/hook (not sure what it's officially called) on the connecter that keeps it from getting loose and I just about broke my motherboard. lol

And unfortunately, as much as I would love getting a Seasonic or EVGA as you and the other poster have mentioned, they are much more expensive here than Corsair or Thermaltake. Seasonic is about $170 and EVGA is over $200, while Thermaltake's tough power RGB is $120 and the Corsair RM850x is $140. For some strange reason, 850w is cheaper than 750w for all these options, so I would be going with a 850 either way it seems. Unfortunately, I'm on a very strict budget, so even saving $20 to get the Thermaltake would be awesome, but if it really is far inferior to the Corsair, then I'll go with the Corsair RM850x.

Anyway, so you also think that the problem has something to do with the PSU? Just a question - since you mentioned that other devices don't go slowly bad....then about my Thermaltake fan controller touch screen panel which has grown dimmer - do you think that is just the touchscreen itself going bad? (Actually, this is my second, the first one also grew dim and I told Thermaltake and they sent me a new one for free, but it has done the exact same thing). My initial thought was that the 600w that I'm using was sufficient to run the PC, but was just BARELY enough, so certain things like the touch screen were not getting enough power and therefore grew dimmer. But like I said, I know so little about PSU's, I don't know if that is even possible.

Thanks for your input!
 
Jan 17, 2019
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Jan 17, 2019
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The High voltage caps I mentioned are part of the power supply. and they can slowly go bad due to heating but usually they last for years. I would suggest that you disconnect the computer from the AC power and then unplug each power supply connector one at a time and check the pins and reconnect. Just pushing on connectors is not good enough. I'm surprised at the power supply costs there, probably high taxes. I just checked the price on the EVGA G3 and its $100 (USA) but I got it less than that (probably Trump's tariff on China raised it). Power supplies also have a power ok signal (gray wire on 24 pin connector) which could have a problem.

Computers are complex and even though I'm a retired electronics engineer (power supplies) I've had my share of hard problems. If you overclock your video card that could cause problems if it goes too far. Usually, the video card will reset to defaults after a failure so as long as you don't OC it again it probably is not the issue. Your fan controller seems to run on 12V and if that voltage dropped the panel would become dim. I don't suppose you have a digital voltmeter to check voltages on unused connectors?

To sum up, here are my suggestions:
1) Disconnect and re-connect all power connectors and check that pins look ok (one connector at a time). Computer off and no AC.
2) Test computer again to see if sleep mode recovers and fan control panel is brighter.
3) Check voltages in the BIOS if your BIOS has that function.
4) If voltages look ok and you still have the problem then replace the power supply. If you can borrow a known good supply that is 600W or more from a friend to try, then do that first.

Good luck!

 
Solution