PSU's Keep Tripping Out

[kenwaldmann]

I originally posted a problem about an Antec PSU that kept tripping out after the PC had been running anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks. I replaced the PSU and even changed to another brand, EVGA, to no avail. (The PSU's are all more than large enough to power my unit.) I even replaced the UPS to a pure sine wave unit without any improvement. I checked the CPU temps, they're well below being a problem. I've tried wiggling the cables and connections to see if there is a loose connection, none found. I'm beginning to wonder if I have a defective motherboard (GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3P.) I've flashed the BIOS to the latest available without improvement. Can anyone suggest where I should look for the source of the problem and/or how I can test without replacing a part at a time? Thank you.

 

[price_th]

When you say tripping out do you mean shutting down, rebooting, what?

 

[Eximo]

Short of 100% monitoring/logging of the voltages not sure we could pin it down to a PSU issue.

If the motherboard or other component has an intermittent problem it is going to be very difficult to detect.

I would certainly fire up some monitoring software and see if you can get chipset/board and other temperatures. If any seem high you might try a fan that blows directly onto the board.

 

[kenwaldmann]

When you say tripping out do you mean shutting down, rebooting, what?

The PSU shuts off, and its power switch needs to be moved to the off position and then back to the on position for it to be reset and power to be restored.

 

[kenwaldmann]

Short of 100% monitoring/logging of the voltages not sure we could pin it down to a PSU issue.

If the motherboard or other component has an intermittent problem it is going to be very difficult to detect.

I would certainly fire up some monitoring software and see if you can get chipset/board and other temperatures. If any seem high you might try a fan that blows directly onto the board.

 

[kenwaldmann]

Thanks. I've downloaded software to monitor temperatures, voltages, etc. and have not observed any problems so far. I'll continue to monitor, but frankly don't expect to see anything helpful.

 

[ko888]

Since you need to turn off the PSU's AC power switch to reset the PSU that indicates that a protection circuit in the PSU has been triggered.

Did you leave any extraneous motherboard standoffs on the motherboard tray that don't match up exactly to a mounting hole on the motherboard?

What are the complete system specifications?

 

[kenwaldmann]

Since you need to turn off the PSU's AC power switch to reset the PSU that indicates that a protection circuit in the PSU has been triggered.

Did you leave any extraneous motherboard standoffs on the motherboard tray that don't match up exactly to a mounting hole on the motherboard?

What are the complete system specifications?

 

[kenwaldmann]

I did not have any standoffs that did not match up to a mounting hole on the motherboard.

The system contains, in no particular order, the following components:

- ASUS GT610-SL-1GD3-L Silent 1GB DDR3 Low Profile Graphics Card

- Gigabyte AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gbps USB 3.0 ATX DDR3 1800 AMD Motherboard GA-970A-UD3P

- ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X – OEM

- AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W Six-Core Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX

- ZALMAN Z12 Plus Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

- G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB (4 x 4GB in two matched sets) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR

- Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit - OEM

- Crucial M500 240GB SATA 2.5" 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal Solid State Drive CT240M500SSD1

- TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 Dual Band Wireless N900 PCI Express Adapter,2.4GHz 450Mbps/5Ghz 450Mbps

- EVGA NEX750B 750W PSU (that replaced two Antec TP-650C 650W PSU's, all of which exhibited the same problem.)

 

[ko888]

It's definitely not a lack of power since even a 300 Watt PSU would have been sufficient for that system configuration.

One or more of the following protections is being triggered causing the PSU shutdown:

OVP (Over Voltage Protection)
UVP (Under Voltage Protection)
OCP (Over Current Protection)
OPP (Over Power Protection)
SCP (Short Circuit Protection)
OTP (Over Temperature Protection)

You need to determine which one and its cause.

 

[kenwaldmann]

It's definitely not a lack of power since even a 300 Watt PSU would have been sufficient for that system configuration.

One or more of the following protections is being triggered causing the PSU shutdown:

OVP (Over Voltage Protection)
UVP (Under Voltage Protection)
OCP (Over Current Protection)
OPP (Over Power Protection)
SCP (Short Circuit Protection)
OTP (Over Temperature Protection)

You need to determine which one and its cause.

 

[kenwaldmann]

I neglected to mention that I also have three HDD's installed that were taken from another machine.

Thank you. I agree. Do you have any suggestions as to how I can determine which of the conditions you list is the cause? The monitoring software I installed (CPU temps, voltages, etc.) does not seem to indicate any problems.

 

[3ogdy]

The Antec PSU is better than the EVGA one you're currently using. I'd keep the Antec in the system until you find the problem.
You say you've checked CPU temps and none seemed too high. Have you tried manually setting CPU multiplier and voltage to stock speeds in the BIOS?

I would definitely remove the motherboard from the case, put it on a non-conductive material outside the case with the CPU, GPU and RAM connected and use the system like that for a few days to see if it still happens. If that's the case, you're probably looking at a motherboard power delivery problem.
Have you checked "Event Viewer" in Windows to see if there's anything listed at around the time your system suddenly shut down?
Make sure Spread Spectrum is disabled in BIOS.

 

[kenwaldmann]

The Antec PSU is better than the EVGA one you're currently using. I'd keep the Antec in the system until you find the problem.
You say you've checked CPU temps and none seemed too high. Have you tried manually setting CPU multiplier and voltage to stock speeds in the BIOS?

I would definitely remove the motherboard from the case, put it on a non-conductive material outside the case with the CPU, GPU and RAM connected and use the system like that for a few days to see if it still happens. If that's the case, you're probably looking at a motherboard power delivery problem.
Have you checked "Event Viewer" in Windows to see if there's anything listed at around the time your system suddenly shut down?
Make sure Spread Spectrum is disabled in BIOS.

 

[kenwaldmann]

Thanks. It might take some time until I can try your test configuration, but it sounds like an interesting idea. I'm curious why you think the Antec is better.

 

[ko888]

Since the PSU "kept tripping out after the PC had been running anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks" it could take some detective work to solve it.

What were you running on the system each time prior to the PSU's self-shutdown?

Is the PSU pulling in cooling air from outside of the case? If yes then you can pretty much eliminate triggering of OTP (Over Temperature Protection).

 

[kenwaldmann]

Since the PSU "kept tripping out after the PC had been running anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks" it could take some detective work to solve it.

What were you running on the system each time prior to the PSU's self-shutdown?

Is the PSU pulling in cooling air from outside of the case? If yes then you can pretty much eliminate triggering of OTP (Over Temperature Protection).

 

[kenwaldmann]

Thanks. Most of the time, nothing was running on the system. The PC was at idle, all programs closed. I only wanted to see how long it would run.

The PSU is pulling in cooling air from outside the case, and does not even feel warm, even when I run a heavy load CPU test.

 

[3ogdy]

Thanks. It might take some time until I can try your test configuration, but it sounds like an interesting idea. I'm curious why you think the Antec is better.

The per-rail current intensity provided by the Antec is (50%) higher. When hardware is reaching a RAIL's limits the PSU might trigger the system protections the PSU is equipped with (OVP, OCP, OPP and so on) at lower loads.

 

[kenwaldmann]

Thanks. It might take some time until I can try your test configuration, but it sounds like an interesting idea. I'm curious why you think the Antec is better.

The per-rail current intensity provided by the Antec is higher. When hardware is reaching a RAIL's limits the PSU might trigger the system protections the PSU is equipped with (OVP, OCP, OPP and so on) at lower loads.

 

[kenwaldmann]

Interesting. Thank you.

 

[ko888]

The CPU is the only component that draws the largest amount of power. The CPU at full load will draw around 77 Watts.

The graphics card draws less than 30 Watts at full load.

OVP (Over Voltage Protection) or UVP (Under Voltage Protection) would be the most likely suspects.

What power plan is set in the OS?

 

[kenwaldmann]

The CPU is the only component that draws the largest amount of power. The CPU at full load will draw around 77 Watts.

The graphics card draws less than 30 Watts at full load.

OVP (Over Voltage Protection) or UVP (Under Voltage Protection) would be the most likely suspects.

What power plan is set in the OS?

Sorry to take so long getting back to you. My power plan is "Balanced."

 

[ko888]

The only thing I can suggest at this time is to log the system voltages to a file so that when the next time it happens there may be an indication of what caused it.

 

[price_th]

I don't want to make any assumptions but when your system shuts down and you are forced to power off the PSU. I trust you have no power button function, not blinking LED's or no LED lights what so ever inside on the mother board? If something is tripping you PSU, I would lean toward a mother board issue be it grounding or just faulty. I would test with all excess hardware removed e.g. data drives, video cards if onboard is supported, CD's, even extra case fans to rule out any added hardware.