Weird Power On Issue... Maybe mobo battery(?)

HoboMoboKing

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Jun 5, 2014
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Hey all, (and sorry if this is a long read but I can't work this out to any certainty for the life of me)

So I built a new PC a couple weeks ago (first time builder, great experience by the way... partially thanks to my previous thread here when I ran into a hitch fitting the mobo in case) and it's been running rock solid stable with ALMOST zero issues... with the exception of an incident 9 days ago and an incident this morning.

So 9 days ago I shut the computer off with zero issues, pressed the power switch a few hours later, the power switch would not work. The system just wouldn't respond. I tried flipping the PSU on and off, unplugging etc. to no avail. So before I started freaking out as I tend to do sometimes :p I did the obvious thing and opened up the case, everything looked ok and I thought hmmm... I connected the reset switch header to power pins, wired the beast up again (yeah, I probably should've done only the necessities first but...) and BOOM! Success.

Ok so no problems since then... UNTIL this morning. I wake up, hit the reset switch and it doesn't turn on. So I grumbled, rubbed sleep from my eyes and tried flipping the PSU switch, unplugging, new power strip socket, etc. etc. NOTHING.

So I was a little upset as I figured the reset switch had broken. However, I also checked the back of the case and the ethernet light was not lit as it usually is (unfortunately, I didn't check before taking all the steps in the previous paragraph of unplugging, replugging etc.) That made me start to worry as (and please correct me if I'm mistaken) that wouldn't have anything to do with electricity going to the power switch pins, but rather the board receiving power from the PSU.

So I figure I'll wake up and take a breath and clear my head before dealing with it. I go to grab some brunch with a friend, come back, try again. Nothing, and the ethernet light was still not on (again, I haven't opened the case at this point mainly because the doors are a pain in the ass to get back on properly without another person helping). So I figured, what the hell, I'll unplug all my USB, speakers, displays, etc, and bring the computer to a nice open space in the other room where I can take a look.

For whatever reason, just a stroke of fate/luck/whatever, I decided eh... what the hell, I'll attempt power on with nothing connected but my VGA display (I have one display on DVI, one on HDMI, and one on VGA through the VGA to DVI adapter that came with my graphics card) and USB keyboard.

I hit the reset switch and what do you know? Success. Everything is totally back to normal. I shut it down from Windows again, replugged everything from before and... powered right back on without a hitch. Now the ethernet light is on, and still on (blinking) when I tried shutting the computer down to check.

SO! What I'm wondering is... what the hell was the problem? Do I need to be concerned? Also, I've been reading around here and elsewhere a little bit and I'm wondering if this could have anything at all to do with the internal backup battery or whatever it's called on the motherboard. I thought it might be some of my wiring inside the case, but I'm not so keen on that since it wasn't moved, opened, or shifted in any manner throughout this whole incident, and now power is back. I also don't think it was simply the switch itself this time, due to the ethernet light like I was saying.

A couple of (possibly) related factors worth considering:

Since the incident 9 days ago, my poor system has suffered two short (as in 30 seconds to 2 minutes) power outages in the area (probably due to the increased load from air conditioners around here). Neither incident effected the actual operation of the computer in any noticeable manner. I am plugged into a surge protector, but I realize that doesn't protect against anything except surges (which I'm pretty sure neither of those incidents were although I don't know too much about electricity and power). So it doesn't include voltage sags etc.

Also, I had my air conditioner (small window unit) off while I went out to brunch and it was on all night before. I keep the room nice and cool (almost cold) as I feel much more comfortable that way. That probably isn't related, but I'm trying to give as much as possible.

So what I do/fix/deal with/worry about? Or should I be worried at all? Thanks for your help (and if you actually read that word for word... wow, time too), I appreciate it.

Copy paste of system specs just in case (no pun intended):

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K @ Stock (for now)
COOLER: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO (TC: Arctic Silver 5)
RAM: 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance LP DDR3 1600MHz Memory
GRAPHICS CARD: EVGA GeForce GTX770 SuperClocked with ACX Cooler (2GB VRAM)
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS Z97-A (ATX Size)
STORAGE: Samsung 840 EVO Series 250GB SSD
PSU: Corsair CX Series 600W Modular 80 PLUS Bronze Power Supply
CASE: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Mid-Tower Case (Non-Windowed)
OS: Windows 7 Professional x64
 
Solution

harry_r_s

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Mar 28, 2013
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Hyper 212 evo, so no heating issue !
It is something related to power.
Corsair cx600 W bronze is very unreliable PSU.. As you should know, corsair uses cheap quality capacitors! So it is hard to trust.
Still can't say exactly what is the problem.
For now keep track of the PSU.
Let it run and don't be worried, just keep the diagnostics on !
 

HoboMoboKing

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Jun 5, 2014
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Yeah sorry... I know, I know, I'm sort of long-winded and bit finnicky after this :)

I was under the impression that corsair PSUs are fine. Plenty of people use them and they are generally very well reviewed from what I've seen.
 

harry_r_s

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Mar 28, 2013
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Google this- " corsair CX series cheap capacitors "
and check the results !
 

HoboMoboKing

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Jun 5, 2014
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While a lot of results say you're correct, there are also plenty of people/results saying that they're "fine", just not "great", especially for things like overclocking (which frankly, I'm not that interested in at this point anyway). Plus, they're very well reviewed on sites like Amazon and Newegg... while that's not the end all be all, and I certainly wouldn't run a $2000+ system with SLI 780ti or something on that, I don't think it's too much of a problem for this. For instance, here's a thread from this site.:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html

The description for tier 3 (which CX is a part of) is: Tier three - Meets standard ATX specifications, though closer to the edges than Tier two units. These are still solid units, which still supply stable power to your system, though not ideal for serious overclocking.

All I need is that "stable power"... I don't need features like a smart fan or 80 plus gold/platinum anything... though that would be cool later down the line maybe.

Anyway, thanks for your help and I will definitely take what you say about them into account in any future builds.
 

harry_r_s

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Mar 28, 2013
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Never trust the amazon and newegg reviews, most of'em are those people who review just after buying them. They won't come back to review if they get a fault after 3 or 6 months. The forums are, where people go to discuss there problems. And I just showed you the links to those forums. Coz I never believe in newegg or amazon or ebay reviews.. :)
And when you're running a 200+ W GPU and powerful CPU and RAM, so costly, you don't want to mess with the power supply !
 
Solution

HoboMoboKing

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Jun 5, 2014
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Actually, point very well taken about the reviews. I've thought about that too and you're right, it's mostly immediate reviewing... why would someone remember to come back after x amount of months. However, they still do seem to do pretty well and be acceptable... like not nearly system crushingly bad. But thanks, and I will probably go with a higher end model in the future after this discussion :)