PinzaC55 Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Hi everybody, I have a weird problem with my PC and wondered if anybody could help? This has spanned a month so I cannot give all the details, just the basics. A month ago it was late at night and when I shut my rig down I got the usual message about "2 Windows Updates". I waited a couple of minutes while they did their stuff and until my rig was completely shut down then turned the juice off at the mains, as I want to save power. Next morning - nothing! Windows appeared to have either disappeared or been completely corrupted, and nothing I could do would get it to work again. Eventually I bought a second hand HDD from ebay and did a fresh install and managed to get it running, albeit slowly. However 4 days ago I got up for work, pressed the power button and found the PC got locked in an endless cycle of attempted boots - the fans spin up and the mobo LEDs came on for a few seconds then went off, etc. I found that the only way to get it to boot up properly was to flick the Power switch on my Corsair AX860i on/off every time it reboots and after 3 or 4 tries it powers up. I have updated the BIOS to the latest version, tested the RAM etc and everything seems perfect. The only thing I can think is that it is either the PSU or the CMOS battery, but nothing in my rig is older than seven months except the OCZ Vertex SSD. Any opinions? I have disconnected as many components as possible but at the moment it consists of MSI Big Bang Xpower II mobo i7 3930k CPU Geforce GTX 690 GPU 32GB (8 x 4) Gskill Trident X RAM OCZ Vector SSD Corsair AX860i PSU Lamptron FC5 V2 fan controller Netgear 6200 Wireless LAN adapter Custom watercooling loop USB mouse and keyboard. Note I use an external Samsung DVD drive and when I unplugged it yesterday I got a message "Power Surge on USB Port" which I have never seen before - could this be related Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geronimo427 Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 When you use the main power switch, instead of the normal shutdown sequence, you're subjecting your "cold" computer to a high power surge. During a normal shutdown, the low voltage circuits remain energized when your PC is off, dampening the initial power surge, and prolonging the life of your PC. Are the "peanuts" savings in utility costs worth the life span of your PC? http://www.thegeoexchange.org/standby-mode-power-consumption/index.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinzaC55 Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 When you use the main power switch, instead of the normal shutdown sequence, you're subjecting your "cold" computer to a high power surge. During a normal shutdown, the low voltage circuits remain energized when your PC is off, dampening the initial power surge, and prolonging the life of your PC. Are the "peanuts" savings in utility costs worth the life span of your PC? http://www.thegeoexchange.org/standby-mode-power-consumption/index.htm It was fully shut down before I hit the mains switch - at least the fans had stopped, LED's were off etc. I would never turn the juice off with the PC powered up! Obviously I will never turn it off at the mains again as I have no wish to repeat this experience which has cost me lots of wasted time and some money. But I need to resolve this problem first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted June 7, 2013 Corsair Employees Share Posted June 7, 2013 Do you have the BIOS set to Power on after A/C Power Loss? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinzaC55 Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 Do you have the BIOS set to Power on after A/C Power Loss? I checked that and found it set to "Power Off". I reset it to "Power On" and then "Last State" but neither of these had any effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geronimo427 Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Next time it happens look at Event Logs to see if a reason shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsair Employees RAM GUY Posted June 8, 2013 Corsair Employees Share Posted June 8, 2013 I checked that and found it set to "Power Off". I reset it to "Power On" And you want that disable/Power Off if its enabled it will power when the A/C is turned on If you have last state set to enabled it will also power on when A/C is restored Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinzaC55 Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Well, I thought about everything said here and I had resigned myself to trying everything possible including totally removing it and blowing compressed air through it in case it was somehow caused by a dust build up. On the way home it occurred to me that I hadn't used the Corsair Link cable since when I first built the rig I was using both internal USB headers. However one of them is now free, so on getting home I plugged it in AND................... IT WORKS! I pressed the power button and it sprang into life without a murmur and booted in seconds. I have no idea why this should be, but if it works I suppose it doesn't matter if Iunderstand it. Just one thing - the light on the Link is usually green but sometimes goes orange and theres no explanation of this in the manual. What does it mean? Thanks for all the replies and help :D: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wytnyt Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 you may still get a power surge from the usb,if so power that off. i had a power surge on my first build from the usb that did affect a power up and i cant recall the fix:roll: but if no answer is received ill post as soon as i see my son this evening as i got perturbed and let him fix it. but maybe itll come to me and ill post ok,im thinking it was a fault in the i/o board related to usb's,ill ask and confirm what case do you have? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinzaC55 Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 I have a HAF-X case and normally use the front USB 3.0 ports as first choice. The external DVD drive was plugged into one of these when I unplugged it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wytnyt Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 im talking from memory from last july but i feel almost sure this caused boot problems from the usb port, i just disabled that till i got a new i/o panel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinzaC55 Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 Its a total mystery. However I have my "new" PC perfectly organised now and I have set Windows to auto backup every single day! Here's a picture of my baby just before the excrement hit the revolving air conditioner. http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8547/8705321498_2e3f7661c3_b.jpg Computer Rebuild 2.5.13 by pinzac55, on Flickr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wytnyt Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 nice build,i wanted a 2k11 m/b but chunking out the coins for the 8 memory chips was a bit steep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinzaC55 Posted June 8, 2013 Author Share Posted June 8, 2013 You don't have to use 8. Prior to this I had 4 Ripjaws X but I sold them second hand on ebay for the same as it cost to buy 4 of these new sticks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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