PC restarts on power outtage despite having a UPS

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alex-sr

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Unfortunately where I live I do not have 24/7 electricity.

My new PC rig which is considered to be a high-end(gaming)
system is connected to a brand new APS/UPS that have these specs:

DC-AC Inverter-Pure Sine wave<br>
1600VA/12V<br>
5 AMP<br>
Charge 20A<br>
97% peak efficiency with power factor correction.<br>

According to the company's technical support, they say it
can provide stable 800 watt on 12V and even non-stable 1000 watt.

Of course I have a brand new Car battery (more-like truck
battery) "N200 12v 200ah" connected to the inverter.

And I'm using a tier 1 PSU considered-among-enthuasiats
that is Corsair AX860i — 860 Watt 80 PLUS® Platinum
Certified Fully-Modular PSU with over current and
undercurrent protection.

While I'm gaming, my computer restarts when a main power
cut occurs, the UPS does take over but while it does the
computer restarts.

Though, if I'm not gaming(low power consumption) it doesn't
restart. And the UPS would take over without any interruption.

Taking into consideration that my GPU is MSI 980 gtx GAMING 4g.

I calculated my RIG power consumption online and under load
it doesn't exceed 550 watt.

The only "non-high-quality" parts in this case I would think of, is the surge protector (or surge suppressor) that connects everything to everything! And there are two of them, one for UPS < main power and the other for UPS output < RIG.

What may be causing the restart when power cuts off while gaming? And is it going to shorten the life-span of my components or possibly cause damage? Also would you think it boils down to large switchover time?

Thanks.
 
Solution
Do you have any spec on the transfer time? It sounds like the transfer time is too long and there is a droop in voltage that causes the PC to shut down.

westom

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First off, what is this 'main power cutoff'? Define it electrically.

Another discussed the transfer time. Your symptoms identify that as one of many possibilities.

Meanwhile manufaturers quietly discuss never powering power strip protectors from a UPS or inverter. Reasons (ie 'dirty' power) should make those reasons obvious. That also might explain your symptoms.

Meanwhile, what do the computer's system event logs report?
 

alex-sr

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Their tech specs say 5ms and I tried turning off Anti-surge from the motherboard (Asus Bios) to no avail.
 

Tayonas

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Are you taking into account your monitors consumption? You might want to try rigging up another separate one for that. To test simply disconnect the monitor and while just the base is running switch off the power off (just to the socket the inverter is plugged into) and see if it restarts.

Or you could simply plug the monitor into another wall socket and kill the mains to the inverter (which would probably be better).

Another thing it might be is when the network goes down, I had a PC that restarted every single time my cable modem went down/restarted.
 

alex-sr

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Thanks I'll give it a try, speaking of which.. I noticed a weird thing. When I kill the main home power off that provides the inverter the power, and it's like a switch that you slide down, the pc doesn't restart even with heavy load!!

However, if a sudden main power failure occurs, and their's heavy load on the pc, it would restart.
 

alex-sr

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Tried removing keyboard, monitor, headphones and mouse. It still restarts. And it's restarting even on very light load (desktop only with no apps running).

Could it be a PSU issue?
 

Tayonas

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Try it with a different PSU/computer. Yours is energy efficient and has undercurrent protection. Maybe it's one of those features. That would be ironic. But to achieve energy efficiency x amount of power always has to be drawn from the PSU. So it could be that.
 

westom

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Computers have a power controller. It makes the decision when a PSU can power on, when it must power off, and even when the motherboard's CPU is permitted to operate. No useful recommendations can occur if information (ie numbers) on that power controller are unavailable.

Obviously, answers start by discussing the various inputs to that controller and what that controller is or should be doing with those inputs. For example, the power panel power button is one input.

Also not defined is the main power cutoff. It is a constantly open or closed switch? Is it an intermittent (ie push button) switch. What does it do electrically?

I am thinking at least 10 possible reasons for your symptoms. And could probably come up with another 20 more. Nobody can provide anything more than speculation without better facts. Not even provided are possible problems in the system 'event' logs.

Useful answers start with numbers from six wires that discuss the power 'system' - more than just the PSU. That means a meter, some requested instructions, and the resulting numbers posted here. Only then can the 'system' be defined as good or problematic ... without speculation. Defects in that power system (that also includes a power controller) can create numerous other anomalies. That is where data collection starts to first identify what is causing averse operations. Power 'system' is much more than a PSU.

 

alex-sr

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For anyone having this, I solved the issue, and it was with the UPS.

I just replaced the UPS with another one from another company, and sadly as it appears the first company were hyped(not pro) unlike their claims, the transfer time on that ups board was high more than 11ms. Tried programming it with its own board programmer to lower it under 11ms, and the ups wouldn't even work, then I confirmed this with the manufacture and they said it's designed to work like that, on 11ms only, and they suggested I should switch to their higher volt product which would be 24v and that would require two truck batteries or (two deep cycle batt) obviously with high power consumption which result in higher electricity bills, just to power up that almost 400 watt PC, I almost gone with their suggestion, although with a little luck and before doing, I got to try another 12v ups from another company and it worked perfectly and I'm now keeping it and harpy!

TL;DR, Transfer time on the UPS was more than 11ms. Which was causing this issue.
 
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westom

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Industry standards required no AC electricity for 17 milliseconds without interrupted operation. 11 ms would be more than fast enough for properly designed electronics - especially computers that conform to ATX standards.. An old CBEMA standards (long before the IBM PC existed) required hardware to suffer 20 msec without interruption.

Also possible that an old battery caused UPS transfer time to exceed 20 msec.
 
Feb 24, 2018
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I've an APC UPS (RS 1100)
I had done the following

In situations where the Back-UPS or connected
equipment appears too sensitive to input voltage, it
may be necessary to adjust the transfer voltage.
This is a very simple task that requires the use of an
ON/OFF push button. To adjust the transfer voltage,
perform the following steps:
1. Plug the Back-UPS into the utility power source.
The Back-UPS will be in “Standby mode” (no
indicators are lit).
2. Press the ON/OFF pushbutton fully in for 10
second. The LED will begin glowing in a cyclical
order: GREEN-AMBER-RED, indicating it is
going into “Program mode”.
3. The Back-UPS will then indicate the current
sensitivity, as shown in the Transfer Voltage and
Sensitivity Adjustment table.
4. To select the LOW sensitivity setting, press the
ON/OFF push button until the LED begins
flashing GREEN.
5. To select the MEDIUM sensitivity setting, press
the ON/OFF push button until the LED begins
flashing RED.
6. To select the HIGH sensitivity setting, press the
ON/OFF push button until the LED begins
flashing AMBER.
7. To exit programming mode, once sensitivity is
set, wait approximately 5 seconds, and all of the
LED indicators will be off (unlit).

http://www.apc.com/salestools/ASTE-6Z7VD2/ASTE-6Z7VD2_R0_EN.pdf

check out this link
 

crowbarstrike

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I faced this issue, and a PSU change solved it. I have an pure sine wave inverter at home but still my pc would restart during power transfer. This happened even in UPS mode of inverter. I had a 3 year old corsair VS 550 PSU. I upgraded it to a new corsair VS 650 PSU. Now the PC does not restart and even runs in inverter appliances mode. I have also checked the PC under full load and the PC did not restart.
 
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