PC starts, stops and then starts normally

[Jauregui427]

Hello guys, I have an issue that's gotten me confused and thought of asking to see if anyone had the problem before and know how to solve/troubleshoot it

First the background, I have a build with RIVE MoBo, 64GB RAM, GTX680 SLI and Corsair AX1200 PSU (I can provide more specifics if you think helps), I just recently (yesterday) upgraded to Titan X's SLI and after starting the computer for the first time after the upg, it went on for a second (fans spinning, etc.) then shutdown and then started again normally going all the way to windows.

Now, when it first did it, I thought there's got to be something wrong with the new cards, shorted or something, but then almost immediately it kept going, so I thought, oh well, this is a one time thing... but the after shutting it down again and, very important, turning off the PSU and unplugging from the wall, it did it again (it does NOT do this when I simply shut it down and turn it on again, not standby, but full shutdown, without removing the power from the PSU)

Obviously, another possibility would be the PSU, but it is relatively new (less than 2 years and hardly used, my PC can go weeks or months at a time without being used :-( , sad but true), the TDP in the Titan is obviously higher, 250W vs 195W per card, but I'd think a 1200W PSU should be able to handle it, no?

Any ideas are welcome! Thanks!

UPDATE: Just went over the MoBo manual and seems I don't have the PSU connected to the 4 pin 12V connection! Also, I didn't use the EZ plug connectors (One for DIMM the other PCIe), which I guess wouldn't hurt since all DIMM slots are used and also to increase power flow to the PCIe slots... This is killing me, I won't be able to try this until I get off work!

Any further comments / ideas will be greatly appreciated! Thanks again!

 

[RaDiKaL_]

I've seen this happen on three different scenarios:

1.- A failing PSU, not likely in your case but there's always a chance of a failed unit.

2.- A failing capacitor in mobo, sometimes you can physically detect it, other times you don't.

3.- A mixed Overclocking settings, say you turned off Speedstep/Cool n Quiet but left C6 state on.

Quite hard to diagnose, but I'd start checking your BIOS settings regarding OC, then taking a look at your mobo's capacitors and finally if possible test it with another PSU (powerful enough of course).

You could also try with only 1x GPU, if the PSU is failing it may not being able to handle 2x Titans as it was expected.

 

[Jauregui427]

I've seen this happen on three different scenarios:

1.- A failing PSU, not likely in your case but there's always a chance of a failed unit.

2.- A failing capacitor in mobo, sometimes you can physically detect it, other times you don't.

3.- A mixed Overclocking settings, say you turned off Speedstep/Cool n Quiet but left C6 state on.

Quite hard to diagnose, but I'd start checking your BIOS settings regarding OC, then taking a look at your mobo's capacitors and finally if possible test it with another PSU (powerful enough of course).

You could also try with only 1x GPU, if the PSU is failing it may not being able to handle 2x Titans as it was expected.

Thanks Radikal, good points, the CAP one in particular since it crossed my mind, given the fact it happens when totally unplugged, the caps get drained then, and then when starting again, they all get charged at the same time creating a high peak in current drawn, a faulty one could be causing the issue, I hope this is not the case as I'd hate to have to replace the MB, not sure I'd be able to justify one more purchase to the wife, as it is the two Titan's drained me much...

 

[dudeman509]

I've seen this happen when certain overclocking settings are played with. Turn them all off, see if it boots up normally.

 

[Jauregui427]

I've seen this happen when certain overclocking settings are played with. Turn them all off, see if it boots up normally.

Thanks Dudeman, I'll also check this as I have been tinkering with the default OC settings from the RIVE BIOS in the past couple of weeks (wasn't overclocked before), currently set to "gamers" overclock, I'll reset to normal settings and try again

 

[Jauregui427]

Thank you both, you were right regarding the OC settings, couldn't pick both as "best solution" so just picked the first answer, after resetting the OC profile back to normal (no oc) the problem went away, I wasn't overclocking before, so I guess I won't miss it much, the only thing is that while it lasted, my fire strike extreme score was 11,700 and after removing the OC went down to just above 10K, :-(