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Help- New build shuts off randomly

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Hello,

I recently built my first computer and I'm having issues with it shutting off randomly-- no blue screen, Power cuts off entirely. For example, the last time it shut off I was transferring data over the network and playing Far Cry 2 (seeing what it'd look like at max settings). In the middle of my game, the power cuts out, the blue LED inside the case blinks once (something that happens every time it shuts off unintentionally...not sure if that's notable), and then won't turn back on. If I press the power button, it will remain unresponsive. Though if I unplug it and replug the power cable back in and try turning it back on, the LED will blink once and the fans will kick for less than a second. Only after a few minutes or so of trying to get it to start back up will it actually boot again (after not really doing anything except unplugging and double checking connections).

Here's a list of my current build: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx...

Case- Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Upgraded USB 3.0

Motherboard- GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-D3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Video Card- EVGA 02G-P4-2670-KR GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Power Supply- PSU-CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.2 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 ...

SSD- OCZ Vertex 4 VTX4-25SAT3-128G 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

RAM- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL I BOUGHT 2

HD- Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Bluray- ASUS Black Blu-ray Burner SATA BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS

The CPU I bought separately from Microcenter- Intel Core i5 3450 3.1GHz LGA 1155 Processor

I have a feeling it's the power supply, but being a new builder, I don't know if I'm missing a setting in the BIOS that could be doing this. My temperatures are running cool which you can see here:


Here is a picture of the inside:

Any advice on how to troubleshoot? I've heard of people having compatibility issues b/t gigabyte Motherboards and Corsair power supply's. I'm tempted to return the corsair psu for another brand. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

PS- sorry if this is in the wrong forum. Maybe it belongs in Power supplies? I really don't know...

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I would suspect the PSU as well, though Corsair TX series are a pretty good model, and it's plenty of power for your system, if it is the PSU it may just be a defective one; may be worth calling corsair to see how helpful they will be.
Here's a good list if you do want a different PSU though: http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx .

I really can't see how a motherboard would be incompatible with a power supply brand (it's just pushing out electricity) but that doesn't mean it isn't possible.

Can you confirm that your PSU fan is operating correctly? It could be it's going into thermal protection for some reason (which would explain why it will work after being idle for a few minutes).

Your scenario above seems like the system was being thoroughly taxed, does it only shut down while gaming, or will it do it at other times?

djscribbles said:

Can you confirm that your PSU fan is operating correctly? It could be it's going into thermal protection for some reason (which would explain why it will work after being idle for a few minutes).

Your scenario above seems like the system was being thoroughly taxed, does it only shut down while gaming, or will it do it at other times?

Thanks for your reply!

I was going to double check the PSU fan tonight (co-worker also mentioned to check that). I'm pretty sure it's working, but I can't say for certain without seeing it again.

It has shutdown twice while gaming, though that's certainly not the only time. The majority of shuts-offs are during regular use. For example, one time I was transferring about 2-300 GB of data over my network and it shut off only after transferring 5 GB. After getting it up and running again, it ran literally all night and into the afternoon completing the whole transfer process. Thus, making it hard to pinpoint what's causing the problem for me.

My co-worker also mentioned to try this process out, which is something mentioned on Corsairs website.
Q: How can I test my power supply?

A: You can easily test a power supply for functionality with a simple paperclip. First, disconnect all the cables from your motherboard and other devices, but leave the power supply plugged into the wall. Next, bend the paperclip until you have a U shape. Find the 24-pin ATX connector and plug one part of the paperclip into the socket where the green wire ends, and the other end into the socket where a black wire ends. Make sure the power switch on the back of the PSU is on, (should be the I symbol) and the fan should spin up. If it doesn’t, your power supply may be bad.

The paperclip test is useful for determining if a PSU is completely dead or if there is a motherboard/case problem preventing the computer from powering up. If you are able to see your shutdown by leaving this test running, you know it's the PSU, but you are testing it under very little load, it's a bit unlikely that it would actually fail for you.

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djscribbles said:
The paperclip test is useful for determining if a PSU is completely dead or if there is a motherboard/case problem preventing the computer from powering up. If you are able to see your shutdown by leaving this test running, you know it's the PSU, but you are testing it under very little load, it's a bit unlikely that it would actually fail for you.


Makes sense. It probably won't help then. Something to also note (kind of related) is that after the unintended shutdown, I do still see the LED for the Ethernet port blinking. I figure it takes very low power to keep that going, but electricity must be getting to it because it's only after I unplug the power completely that this Ethernet LED will go out.

A quick update. I called corsair and they suggested RMAing it. They said it sounded like a power problem. I'm just going to return it and choose a a different PSU altogether.

The PSU fan was running fine when I looked at it. Will update in a couple days when I have the new one.

That couldn't hurt, but I usually see Prime95 and MemTest86 recommended for stress testing; can't remember what app is used for GPUs though (maybe a playthrough of metro2033 on max?)

Good luck. It seems you're out of the woods, but post back if you run into any more trouble.
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