Solved PSU dying? (Video)

[blz]

Was more than a wild guess,that you own a Gigabyte x58!Did a bit of search under the terms "electric buzzes motherboard" and most of them were referring to that specific mobo.

I've found some threads about it, but most relate to whine instead of sparking sounds. Honestly, I don't know how my MoBo is still alive, I hear sparking sounds all the time but no strong smells or smoke, it may shut down or not, but as soon the CPU is stressed it definitely powers down, I was wondering if it was a permanent short circuit on the MoBo it wouldn't even post, what happens is that I can logon to windows and remain on for hours if the CPU is not stressed, totally weird. I can almost bet it has something to do with the VRM, it is either overheating or be overloaded and activating SC protection it makes sense since I can hear the sparking sound. OR it can happen that the new PSU may be faulty, but it is unlikely, I cannot hear any weird noises from the PSU. I wonder if my old PSU eventually damaged something on the MoBo, what I cannot understand is how the machine ran stable for days and suddenly the same problem returns, I haven't touched anything since the problem got fixed.

 

[TONSCHUH]

Hello again. I've got bad news. OK my PSU was emitting weird noises, but the problem remains. After installing new PSU, the GPU was not working, then I re seated the GPU board and it worked fine, however just before logging on to windows it had another sudden shutdown. I hear buzzing noises coming from CPU area, I can´t say if is MoBo or CPU. One thing I´ve noticed and is concerning me. My water pump is the Alphacool AGB-Eheim 600 Station II 12V, it uses a PCB to power the pump. On that PCB on of the capacitors was detached and I've glued it again, it seems that there is no contact problems as the pump is working fine, but I wonder if that may eventually cause any problems, I cannot test stability with the pump off, as I got no CPU fan to replace. Another aspect is that I often hear electric buzzes (not like coil whine, something stronger) coming from the MoBo, definitely there is some sort of electric problem and I feel real frustrated because I cannot locate it. Is there any possibility of bad CPU? I mean, I wonder if my old PSU eventually ruined any of the components...

Would be not the first crap PSU which killed / damaged some other hardware.

Disconnect any unnecessary components and check if the noise is still here. If not, start re-connecting single parts and test again.

 

[blz]

I only have CPU + 1 RAM stick + SSD, I will remove MoBo today and post the results but I'm expecting the worst...

 

[TONSCHUH]

I only have CPU + 1 RAM stick + SSD, I will remove MoBo today and post the results but I'm expecting the worst...

I wish you good luck with it !

Even I had a cheap PSU once and all the soldered spots inside came loose from the heat / crap quality etc.pp. and took out my MoBo + GPU + CPU and I was still lucky, that the bloody thing didn't start burning.

And when we OC'ed a mate's rig, flames came out of the PSU, which was crap as well and killed the whole rig, because even the RAM was melted. The PSU had no safety features at all and didn't even straight turn off.

Therefor if you are on a budget, then better save on another part, but never go for a cheapish PSU.

 

[CountMike]

I only have CPU + 1 RAM stick + SSD, I will remove MoBo today and post the results but I'm expecting the worst...

I wish you good luck with it !

Even I had a cheap PSU once and all the soldered spots inside came loose from the heat / crap quality etc.pp. and took out my MoBo + GPU + CPU and I was still lucky, that the bloody thing didn't start burning.

And when we OC'ed a mate's rig, flames came out of the PSU, which was crap as well and killed the whole rig, because even the RAM was melted. The PSU had no safety features at all and didn't even straight turn off.

Therefor if you are on a budget, then better save on another part, but never go for a cheapish PSU.

Very sound advice, oil is most important part of car engine and PSU is hart of computer. Recently got a Zito PSU, new from a store that blew up just after connecting to power, not even to computer. Good thing too because it burned output module on it and if it was connected to a computer it would send 220v thru MB and everything else.

 

[TONSCHUH]

I only have CPU + 1 RAM stick + SSD, I will remove MoBo today and post the results but I'm expecting the worst...

I wish you good luck with it !

Even I had a cheap PSU once and all the soldered spots inside came loose from the heat / crap quality etc.pp. and took out my MoBo + GPU + CPU and I was still lucky, that the bloody thing didn't start burning.

And when we OC'ed a mate's rig, flames came out of the PSU, which was crap as well and killed the whole rig, because even the RAM was melted. The PSU had no safety features at all and didn't even straight turn off.

Therefor if you are on a budget, then better save on another part, but never go for a cheapish PSU.

Very sound advice, oil is most important part of car engine and PSU is hart of computer. Recently got a Zito PSU, new from a store that blew up just after connecting to power, not even to computer. Good thing too because it burned output module on it and if it was connected to a computer it would send 220v thru MB and everything else.

I know a guy which worked for a PC-Shop-Chain and a chinese guy told him, that he can get the PSU labeled with the wattage he would like, without changing the actual PSU.

It can be very costly and dangerous to save on the wrong end.

Our PC's run 24/7 and I don't want to be worried all the time, when I leave the house or go to sleep, that something could go terrible wrong.

 

[CountMike]

PSU power rating, as marked on it's sticker is only Maximum power that can't or should not be exceeded and not to be used at that power for long time. Even the best ones are rated to about 75 -80% of that power for continuous use. Some cheap, non-branded PSU can't deliver more than 50% of power marked. There are also many stages thru which PSU regulates and filters stray currents, the better ones have more of them. There's also the matter of safeties included in each stage of current regulation so any short in them would not transfer to it's output and so burn the heck out of the computer's components.

 

[TONSCHUH]

PSU power rating, as marked on it's sticker is only Maximum power that can't or should not be exceeded and not to be used at that power for long time. Even the best ones are rated to about 75 -80% of that power for continuous use. Some cheap, non-branded PSU can't deliver more than 50% of power marked. There are also many stages thru which PSU regulates and filters stray currents, the better ones have more of them. There's also the matter of safeties included in each stage of current regulation so any short in them would not transfer to it's output and so burn the heck out of the computer's components.

 

[blz]

UPDATE: Have removed MoBo and inspected it (I will post some pictures and video later). It looks in very good condition overall, no leaks, no blown capacitors, however I still have to remove the south bridge heatsink to check the capacitors underneath and clean it as well. Anyway I've just tried and it still comes up with electric sounds, same old same. It powers down during prime95 tests regardless of small, large or blended fft.
However, I have disabled all power saving features on BIOS (just left hyper threading ON and disabled 2 cores). I've performed all 3 prime95 tests and it ran stable, I've stopped it 5 mins after and have enabled all cores, performed the tests again, and it was stable for like 1 hour or so, it never crashed, I just had to stop because I had to go to sleep. But I've performed another test with the power saving settings ON, and it immediaately crashed right after logging onto windows. Looks like the voltage fluctuation is causing the problem, I believe that some choke/MOSFET is shorting but I can't find any physical evidence.

 

[proudtobegreek]

Tell me about it...http://www.eightforums.com/general-support/39113-fake-pfc-coil-psu.html
pure luck I skipped burning up my precious!

 

[blz]

Forget about the power saving settings disabled, it shuts down anyway, very unstable, it annoys me, sometimes it keeps up, and sometimes it shuts down immediately. BTW, I've just performed a RAM test using windows tool, and it shuts down on 50% approx.

 

[TONSCHUH]

Forget about the power saving settings disabled, it shuts down anyway, very unstable, it annoys me, sometimes it keeps up, and sometimes it shuts down immediately. BTW, I've just performed a RAM test using windows tool, and it shuts down on 50% approx.

I would download Hiren's Boot CD and run some further tests in DOS-Mode, like Memtest etc.pp.: Click

 

[blz]

Ok, now it shuts down when I'm doing any changes on BIOS, sometimes it shuts down right after POST, sometimes it never shuts down and passes intel and prime95 tests, it's driving me crazy, I think the VR is faulty, MOSFETS may be overheating/overvoltaged and protection kicks in. What is weird is that it only crashes under CPU load. Yesterday I've tried doing light OC, 3ghz performed the prime95 blended test for 10 minutes. It is definitely an intermittent problem. I think I'll get a multimeter, that's the only way to test things properly.

 

[CountMike]

A capacitor, coil in VRM section ? They like to make intermittent short.

 

[blz]

BTW, you can find some pictures here, can you notice anything unusual?

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ezb5ecdtkq3wnev/AADMkgD0T-r5rGWTNfhzzklla?dl=0

The X58 looks discoloured...

 

[CountMike]

Little blemishes like that on the back of MB you can find even on brand new, never used boards. What looks bad is contact between NB and it's cooler. Like it's not covering whole surface or is bent.

 

[blz]

The NB temperatures vary between 45 and 52º, I'm using the NZXT Sentry temperature sensors to monitor temps. BTW, I've just performed a memtest86, and it crashed before reaching 50%, if I use only 1 core, it crashes, but takes a bit longer than usual to crash. Another ridiculous thing is that I was on BIOS to disable C1E and it crashed anyway, not always has to do with CPU load. Now I just need to know if the problem is on the MB or the CPU.


UPDATE: It has passed a memtest86, however it crashed on a 2nd test...

 

[CountMike]

It all points out to PVR, if you ask me, or just maybe with CPU itself although it's probably most resilient part of all. Unfortunately without some sophisticated testing equipment, only part changing can tel you exactly what's happening. Memory controller is on the CPU so troubles with memory may start there.

 

[blz]

UPDATE: Video added to dropbox folder*, please check if voltages are correct, as you can see on video it crashes roughly 45s after starting the test. Now I've noticed that when it crashes the NB overvoltage LED indicator (red) blinks exactly when the MoBo is powered down. Green and yellow do not even come on.

*https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ezb5ecdtkq3wnev/AADMkgD0T-r5rGWTNfhzzklla?dl=0

 

[TONSCHUH]

Beside the blistery looking CPU it doesn't look too bad, even that the soldered spots on pic 3 are not very nice.

The temps and voltages look ok to me, but you should show us the voltages from the sensors part, because we can't see how the PSU-Voltages look like.

Without swapping parts it will be hard to pin-point it, but it still looks like PSU or CPU or MoBo.