Possible aging, underpowered or BROKEN PSU, NEED HELP...

alth0triplemadang · Jan 30, 2017

Hi.

I need advices and opinions here to replace my aging PSU.

Long story short, I get random freeze without BSODs/any reports on my PC when playing some games, watching vids or listening to music, surfing the web, and even just idling! (I don't open any programs/apps and just leave my PC with an empty desktop running. When I checked it after having a lunch, it freezes and doesn't respond to anything).
Before this problem happens, this PC has been stored in my warehouse (which is very damp) for 2 months due to my vacation. When I put it back in my room, plugging in some cables into it (like DVIs, PSU power cables and some USB peripherals), turned it on, after 1.5 hours working with my school tasks BOOM! it FREEZES! and forcing me to hard reboot by holding power button.
Heck, even numlock and scrolllock doesn't even responding, and i didn't get weird buzzing or looping sounds like R-R-R-R-R-R-R-R that indicates GPU driver trying to recover or RAM error. Just a silence with some little noise like s-s-s sometimes heard during the freeze.

Then I start to think a faulty audio driver cause the issue, updated the driver still can't fix it. I tried to update GPU driver and SATA driver also, but no luck.
Memtest x86 running 5hrs loop= PASSED NO ERRORS
Prime 95 3.5hrs blend test= NO FREEZE OCCURRED

And after that testing, I started to point that my 400W FSP HEXA+ PSU is losing it's power. I bought this PSU 4yrs ago, and maybe it loses some of its power due to component aging.
Or maybe a high humidity kills my MOBO or any other components?
Or I'm pushing my PSU to its limit by putting a GTX960 on it?

Full specs:
MOBO: ASUS P5Q PRO TURBO
CPU: Intel q9400 @ 2.66
RAM: 2x2GB and 2x1GB DDR2 800 Samsung M-3
GPU: MSI GTX 960 2GB Armor N960GTX2GD5-OC
Storage: ADATA SP900 64GB SSD, WD 3200LPVX and WD 3200AAJS HDD
ODD: LG DVD RW+
Case: ghetto

LAN: 1 PCI NIC One Port ethernet and onboard
PSU: FSP HEXA+ 400W

No ridiculous amount LEDs and Fans, just 2LED strips (it has 3 leds each strips) and 1 120mm fans.

I brought the PSU to local computer store and tells my friend who work at there to test it, and he said to me that "your PSU is normal"... that's kinda confusing...

idk what should I do now.
Buying same 400w PSU again but in different brand? (be quiet or seasonic)
Or go more than 550w?
Or use that ill FSP and get an i5 without GTX 960 Installed? (since I focused myself on school lessons, I don't game very much now, and i'm okay with onboard intel HD)

Any Advices and Opinions are appreciated.

clarkjd · Jan 30, 2017

In general, freezes tend to be memory related, while crashes tend to be power related. You might try taking out your ram, cleaning the contacts with a pencil eraser(the old Pink kind works well) and re-seating it. Make sure you have the matched pairs of ram in the matching slots to enable dual channel.

alth0triplemadang · Jan 30, 2017

clarkjd :

I have already done that, but the problem still there.

Can you explain it in detail what kind of "crashes" that are power related?

Or a mixed 2x2GB + 2x1GB RAM setup causes this problem?

I'm confused and desperate now

clarkjd · Jan 30, 2017

Crashes are when the PC re-boots without notice while you are doing something that puts your system under stress, like gaming. BSODs can fall in this catagory, also.

Your motherboard supports dual channel memory access., but you have to put the matching sticks in the matching slots in order to enable it. Most MBs have ram slots in different colors to make this easier. you put the 2 gb sticks in one color ram slot and the 1 gb sticks in the other.color. Did you have all four sticks before you put your machine in storage?

alth0triplemadang · Jan 30, 2017

clarkjd :

My PC never reboots itself when under stress or something like that, just plain crash with no BSODs.
But sometimes before it reached BIOS it does restarting itself 2times after a blank screen and POST.

alth0triplemadang · Jan 30, 2017

clarkjd :

Yes I do place the paired ram in same colored slot.
And I don't take it out from my PC when i stored it.

clarkjd · Jan 30, 2017

alth0triplemadang :

clarkjd :

Yes I do place the paired ram in same colored slot.
And I don't take it out from my PC when i stored it.

Remove one pair of ram. see if you still have the freezes.

alth0triplemadang · Jan 30, 2017

clarkjd :

alth0triplemadang :

Remove one pair of ram. see if you still have the freezes.

Ok, I'll try.

But my PC was already dismantled for long term storage, and I need to rebulid it again from scratch.

clarkjd · Jan 30, 2017

alth0triplemadang :

clarkjd :

Ok, I'll try.

But my PC was already dismantled for long term storage, and I need to rebulid it again from scratch.

In that case, you may want to just wait until you get it out of long term storage before you get into any troubleshooting. Re assembly at that time may solve your issues. If you "fix" it now, and the store it, then other issues might show up.

alth0triplemadang · Jan 31, 2017

But it is still can be a PSU related issues?
Because I'm not very sure about my PSU health. I don't want this thing explode and catch fire later.

http://outervision.com/b/yGSKdQ
It counts 354w load wattage and 406w recommended wattage. It's 6w over my PSU specification?

clarkjd · Jan 31, 2017

alth0triplemadang :

At this point I am still leaning toward the ram as the main issue, as the symptoms are the way it would behave if the two kits of ram don't match. Getting 4 sticks of ram to work ( especially if they are different brand/make/model/capacity/ or timings) is problematical at best and impossible at worst. I think you need to sort out the ram issues, then worry about the PSU. ,
That PSU calculator is conservative in that it recommends a higher wattage than is necessary, in order to allow for poor quality PSUs that don't deliver their rated wattage.
That being said, PSUs tend to be most efficient when running at 50% of their rated output, so I tend to get a stronger PSU than I need, just to allow headroom for future expansion or updates and to keep it in that 50% +/- window..

alth0triplemadang · Feb 1, 2017

clarkjd :

Before my PC was taken apart and stored, I have done that troubleshooting method. Swapping some pairs of RAM into another slot. But I did not run each pairs of ram individually.

With 2x2GB and 2x1GB configuration, it passed memtest x86.
5hrs test without errors. But it still freezes.

I'll try to test 2x2GB and 2x1GB individually to see if its still freezes.

And for my PSU, does my current system specs pushing it way too hard? Over wattage?

clarkjd · Feb 1, 2017

alth0triplemadang :

clarkjd :

Before my PC was taken apart and stored, I have done that troubleshooting method. Swapping some pairs of RAM into another slot. But I did not run each pairs of ram individually.

With 2x2GB and 2x1GB configuration, it passed memtest x86.
5hrs test without errors. But it still freezes.

I'll try to test 2x2GB and 2x1GB individually to see if its still freezes.

And for my PSU, does my current system specs pushing it way too hard? Over wattage?

At this point it is hard to say.. I'm thinking that you are borderline on the PSU. As I said before, freezes are NOT an indication of problems with the PSU. If you were having PSU issues, there would be different symptoms.

alth0triplemadang · Feb 2, 2017

I'll rebulid my pc and check for any RAM issues.

alth0triplemadang · Feb 3, 2017

After reassembling my PC and do some prime95 and gaming test, I think its time to report the results

I did two different test:
-Test 1: With 2x2GB and 2x1GB RAM installed.
-Test 2: Only 2x2GB RAM installed.

Both are tested with prime95 "blend" and CS:GO.

Test 1 lasts 45mins before freeze without BSOD.
Test 2 lasts 46mins 36secs before the same thing happens.

So, any hardware should I check again besides RAM?

UPDATE:
I ran same tests, but in SAFE MODE.
Test 1 lasts 1hr 20mins.
Test 2 lasts 1hr 15mins.
BOTH TESTS ENDS WITHOUT FREEZES/BSOD

OS problem possible?

clarkjd · Feb 3, 2017

alth0triplemadang :

You might check your CPU cooling solution. Also, you might check the motherboard's QVL to make sure that your memory is, indeed, tested to work with that MB. A(very) low probability is that the memory controller on the CPU is going out, but I know of no way to test that without trying a new CPU.

alth0triplemadang · Feb 3, 2017

I just updated my second test

Doing both test in safe mode doesn't give any freezes or bsods

OS problem?

clarkjd · Feb 3, 2017

alth0triplemadang :

We haven't discussed what, exactly your OS is, but The only things different between normal windows and windows safe mode is only the absolute minimum drivers are loaded in safe mode, the base OS doesn't change. That leads me to believe that you may have a driver issue. Are all of your drivers up-to-date?

alth0triplemadang · Feb 3, 2017

clarkjd :

I don't think the memory controller on the CPU is faulty, since Intel P45 series chipset MCH is located on the chipset itself.

My CPU coolers are in good condition, 31 on idle 45 on full load.
My CPU cooler is a deepcool gammaxx 400.

alth0triplemadang · Feb 3, 2017

clarkjd :

alth0triplemadang :

We haven't discussed what, exactly your OS is, but The only things different between normal windows and windows safe mode is only the absolute minimum drivers are loaded in safe mode, the base OS doesn't change. That leads me to believe that you may have a driver issue. Are all of your drivers up-to-date?

My OS is Win 10 10586.
Not all drivers are up to date... It's a hard time to find a appropriate driver for an old hardware, also sometimes windows update breaks it!

The only driver I was updated recently are: NVIDIA driver, audio driver, and intel sata ahci driver.

clarkjd · Feb 3, 2017

alth0triplemadang :

clarkjd :

My OS is Win 10 10586.
Not all drivers are up to date... It's a hard time to find a appropriate driver for an old hardware, also sometimes windows update breaks it!

The only driver I was updated recently are: NVIDIA driver, audio driver, and intel sata ahci driver.

Can you check the MB manufacturer's website for any updated drivers (Drivers newer than what you have installed)?

alth0triplemadang · Feb 3, 2017

clarkjd :

alth0triplemadang :

Can you check the MB manufacturer's website for any updated drivers (Drivers newer than what you have installed)?

Already checked, all are older driver and doesn't support win 10.
My drivers are newer than in the ASUS website.

Will fresh reinstalling windows 10 and installing the latest driver fixes this problem?

clarkjd · Feb 3, 2017

alth0triplemadang :

At this point, We eliminate all possible non-hardware causes, so yes, it is time to try a fresh install of Windows. After that, if the issue still remains, we are down to a hardware issue, and that means the motherboard.

I don't recommend trying to find a new same make/model motherboard. That may not even be possible. It is time to re-asses the whole situation, looking towards a new, current tech, build. Anything less would be spending money on equipment that would have no future value in a new build.

alth0triplemadang · Feb 4, 2017

clarkjd :

Okay then...
I'll reinstall windows 10 fresh, with latest driver possible.

Actually, this old rig I built in 2010 still serves me well.
I upgrade its graphics card (originally, it has GTX460SE) and give it an SSD to make it keep up with today's standard.
Until this time, its still decent for me and I don't plan to upgrade. But if its broke, I'm looking for 6th/3rd gen i5 to couple it with my modern GTX960.

alth0triplemadang · Feb 4, 2017

UPDATE:
It freezes when installing windows...
Cursor doesn't want to move and keyboard (including LED indicator) doesn't responding.

I think its hardware related now.

UPDATE 2:

Now, I can install windows but it freezes in first attempt, then I blow the PCI-E slot and on the second attempt it successfully installed win 10 but freezes when it comes to desktop.
I did all this on a temporary test 315w PSU with Geforce 7600GT as a GPU.

Possible aging, underpowered or BROKEN PSU, NEED HELP...

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