- Jan 14, 2016
- 14
- 0
- 4,520
Long story short I've been having a variety of strange and recurring problems with a fairly new custom PC. Some of them have been on and off from the beginning, others sprang up sometime afterwards. They're just bad enough to be a pain, but small enough that I can work around them for the time being. I can't afford to spend any more time troubleshooting- usually these issues cost me 10 minutes here, 15 minutes there... but there have been at least a dozen times when I had to spend an hour or more trying to get my computer to turn on at all. There are so many minor issues, I have no idea what might be connected so I'm just going to post them all here.
Before I get started, here's the most detailed description of my workstation that I can give...
*System*
OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
Motherboard: ASUS X99 Deluxe II (LGA 2011-v3 Socket)
CPU: Intel Core i7-5930k Haswell-E (6-Core 3.5GHz)
RAM: 32GB DDR4 Corsair Dominator Platinum (4x8GB - 3333MHz)
GPU: PNY NVIDIA Quadro M4000 (8GB 256-bit GDDR5)
PSU: Corsair CX850M (850w)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Stryker
Cooling: Corsair Hydro H100i-V2
Displays: Samsung U28E590D 28in 4k Monitor (x3 - All via Displayport)
Purpose: Video Editing, 3D Modeling, Visual Effects, Graphic Design, Photo Manipulation
*Internal Devices*
Boot Disk: Samsung 960 EVO 500GB M.2 (Connected directly to MB, not an add-on card)
SATA #1: Bluray Burner
SATA #2: WD Red 3TB (5400 RPM) (Originally a WD MyBook until I repurposed it)
SATA #3: WD Black 1TB (7200 RPM)
SATA #4: “X-Dock” (2.5in SATA III dock built into case)
PCIe #1: X99 Deluxe II Thunderbolt/USB 3.1 Card (PCIe x4 - TB Header disconnected)
USB 3.0 #1: Front Panel USB 3.0 ports (x2)
USB 2.0: Corsair Link 4 (via H100i-V2 pump)
RGB Header: NZXT 5.25in LED Controller (LED strip only powered by controller)
*External Devices* (rear panel)
USB 3.0 #1: FOSPOWER 10-Port Powered USB Hub (7 USB 3.0 Ports - 3 Charging)
USB 3.0 #2: LEXAR Multi-Card Reader
USB 3.0 #3: G-Technology 6TB External HDD
USB 3.0 #4: WD 16TB MyBook Duo
USB 3.1 #1: G-Technology 4TB External HDD
USB 2.0 #1: Logitech G910 Keyboard, G600 Mouse, & G13 Gamepad (via USB hub)
USB 2.0 #2: Pioneer DDJ-RB Controller
USB 2.0 #3: Logitech C922x Webcam
So the biggest problem I keep having is ANY change to internal or external devices almost always causes BIOS to fail, or if I’m lucky enough for that to work, Windows starts to load and never finishes. When this happens, I have to force the computer to shut down, unplug everything but my mouse and keyboard, and hope everything works when I turn it back on. Every now and then that doesn’t even work, so then I have to turn off the PSU and hold the power button for 10 seconds or so before turning everything back on.
I also have a strong feeling whatever is causing that is somehow tied into my USB problems. I constantly have to transfer files via flash drives, external HDD’s, and external SSD’s (all USB 3.0). When I first built this computer, I mostly did the smaller transfers through the FOSPOWER hub and everything worked fine. Lately though, the FOSPOWER hub is almost completely unreliable if I try to plug in more than 1 device. When I plug a second device in, one of two things usually happens: Either both devices disconnect immediately (only to reconnect again a few seconds later about 50%, otherwise they just stay disconnected), or the second device loads after a good 30-60 seconds- which sounds great, except I’ve found both devices to be extremely unstable at this point and often disconnect if I try to use them. As a result of these incidents, I’ve bricked at least a half dozen flash drives by now. I know it’s not the USB hub because it works beautifully on my Razer Blade Stealth (ultrabook) and a 5k iMac. So now I’m terrified to use the hub except for the most inconsequential transfers to USB drives. At this point, one might think this shouldn’t be a problem, all I have to do is use the USB 3.0 ports on the front panel… but not quite. Though the front panel USB ports USUALLY work without incident, there have been several instances in which the drives connected to the front panel disconnect and reconnect a second later.
There have been several, far less critical issues as well. Here are a few, and I’ll post them as I remember them.
-In relation to the first problem, after I got my M.2 SSD and made it my boot disk, my computer would often load into the BIOS control panel when I would turn it on, and the M.2 SSD was nowhere to be seen in the boot options. This was solved the same way problem #1 was solved. It hasn’t happened in a couple weeks, and I have no idea what’s changed. (Note: this never happened when I restarted the PC, only when I turned it on after a full shutdown. I would say it happened about 50% of the time.)
-The option to ”Safely Remove Hardware” fails way more than it ever has in the past, even when I close every program and whatever background processes I recognize, which means I have to shutdown the computer to unplug the drive (and this seems to have a 50-50 chance of resulting in the first problem I listed)
-When I tried to plug in the TP Header on my Thunderbolt card, first Windows wouldn’t load at all, then I was finally able to sign in (after the whole turn off the PSU and hold the power button thing) to a black screen with a taskbar. None of my startup apps ran, and clicking on the desktop resulted in a message that said something along the lines of “The process ‘Windows.exe’ is not responding…” At first it seemed like Explorer froze, which can definitely result in black desktops with no icons. But the process definitely said “Windows” and not “Explorer”. After this painfully long cycle repeated itself 3 or 4 times, I forced the computer to shut down and unplugged the TP Header again. NOTE: I totally forgot to install the Thunderbolt driver before I did this, however I don’t feel like testing it again after that. At least until I have time to sit and troubleshoot.
Things I’ve tried so far:
-I’ve reinstalled Windows 3 or 4 times.
-Windows is currently completely up-to-date
-I’m using the latest BIOS
-I installed all the drivers (including USB) from the CD that came with the motherboard
-I installed any performance-based utilities that came with the motherboard (e.g. ASUS AI Suite 3, TurboLan, etc.)
-I’ve run virus scans with AVG & Malwarebytes
-I JUST disabled the power saving setting for the “USB Root Hub” devices (of which there are 3) in my device manager, not sure if that will help or not
I know I did other things but after dealing with these issues for so many months I forget most of it.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Before I get started, here's the most detailed description of my workstation that I can give...
*System*
OS: Windows 10 (64-bit)
Motherboard: ASUS X99 Deluxe II (LGA 2011-v3 Socket)
CPU: Intel Core i7-5930k Haswell-E (6-Core 3.5GHz)
RAM: 32GB DDR4 Corsair Dominator Platinum (4x8GB - 3333MHz)
GPU: PNY NVIDIA Quadro M4000 (8GB 256-bit GDDR5)
PSU: Corsair CX850M (850w)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Stryker
Cooling: Corsair Hydro H100i-V2
Displays: Samsung U28E590D 28in 4k Monitor (x3 - All via Displayport)
Purpose: Video Editing, 3D Modeling, Visual Effects, Graphic Design, Photo Manipulation
*Internal Devices*
Boot Disk: Samsung 960 EVO 500GB M.2 (Connected directly to MB, not an add-on card)
SATA #1: Bluray Burner
SATA #2: WD Red 3TB (5400 RPM) (Originally a WD MyBook until I repurposed it)
SATA #3: WD Black 1TB (7200 RPM)
SATA #4: “X-Dock” (2.5in SATA III dock built into case)
PCIe #1: X99 Deluxe II Thunderbolt/USB 3.1 Card (PCIe x4 - TB Header disconnected)
USB 3.0 #1: Front Panel USB 3.0 ports (x2)
USB 2.0: Corsair Link 4 (via H100i-V2 pump)
RGB Header: NZXT 5.25in LED Controller (LED strip only powered by controller)
*External Devices* (rear panel)
USB 3.0 #1: FOSPOWER 10-Port Powered USB Hub (7 USB 3.0 Ports - 3 Charging)
USB 3.0 #2: LEXAR Multi-Card Reader
USB 3.0 #3: G-Technology 6TB External HDD
USB 3.0 #4: WD 16TB MyBook Duo
USB 3.1 #1: G-Technology 4TB External HDD
USB 2.0 #1: Logitech G910 Keyboard, G600 Mouse, & G13 Gamepad (via USB hub)
USB 2.0 #2: Pioneer DDJ-RB Controller
USB 2.0 #3: Logitech C922x Webcam
So the biggest problem I keep having is ANY change to internal or external devices almost always causes BIOS to fail, or if I’m lucky enough for that to work, Windows starts to load and never finishes. When this happens, I have to force the computer to shut down, unplug everything but my mouse and keyboard, and hope everything works when I turn it back on. Every now and then that doesn’t even work, so then I have to turn off the PSU and hold the power button for 10 seconds or so before turning everything back on.
I also have a strong feeling whatever is causing that is somehow tied into my USB problems. I constantly have to transfer files via flash drives, external HDD’s, and external SSD’s (all USB 3.0). When I first built this computer, I mostly did the smaller transfers through the FOSPOWER hub and everything worked fine. Lately though, the FOSPOWER hub is almost completely unreliable if I try to plug in more than 1 device. When I plug a second device in, one of two things usually happens: Either both devices disconnect immediately (only to reconnect again a few seconds later about 50%, otherwise they just stay disconnected), or the second device loads after a good 30-60 seconds- which sounds great, except I’ve found both devices to be extremely unstable at this point and often disconnect if I try to use them. As a result of these incidents, I’ve bricked at least a half dozen flash drives by now. I know it’s not the USB hub because it works beautifully on my Razer Blade Stealth (ultrabook) and a 5k iMac. So now I’m terrified to use the hub except for the most inconsequential transfers to USB drives. At this point, one might think this shouldn’t be a problem, all I have to do is use the USB 3.0 ports on the front panel… but not quite. Though the front panel USB ports USUALLY work without incident, there have been several instances in which the drives connected to the front panel disconnect and reconnect a second later.
There have been several, far less critical issues as well. Here are a few, and I’ll post them as I remember them.
-In relation to the first problem, after I got my M.2 SSD and made it my boot disk, my computer would often load into the BIOS control panel when I would turn it on, and the M.2 SSD was nowhere to be seen in the boot options. This was solved the same way problem #1 was solved. It hasn’t happened in a couple weeks, and I have no idea what’s changed. (Note: this never happened when I restarted the PC, only when I turned it on after a full shutdown. I would say it happened about 50% of the time.)
-The option to ”Safely Remove Hardware” fails way more than it ever has in the past, even when I close every program and whatever background processes I recognize, which means I have to shutdown the computer to unplug the drive (and this seems to have a 50-50 chance of resulting in the first problem I listed)
-When I tried to plug in the TP Header on my Thunderbolt card, first Windows wouldn’t load at all, then I was finally able to sign in (after the whole turn off the PSU and hold the power button thing) to a black screen with a taskbar. None of my startup apps ran, and clicking on the desktop resulted in a message that said something along the lines of “The process ‘Windows.exe’ is not responding…” At first it seemed like Explorer froze, which can definitely result in black desktops with no icons. But the process definitely said “Windows” and not “Explorer”. After this painfully long cycle repeated itself 3 or 4 times, I forced the computer to shut down and unplugged the TP Header again. NOTE: I totally forgot to install the Thunderbolt driver before I did this, however I don’t feel like testing it again after that. At least until I have time to sit and troubleshoot.
Things I’ve tried so far:
-I’ve reinstalled Windows 3 or 4 times.
-Windows is currently completely up-to-date
-I’m using the latest BIOS
-I installed all the drivers (including USB) from the CD that came with the motherboard
-I installed any performance-based utilities that came with the motherboard (e.g. ASUS AI Suite 3, TurboLan, etc.)
-I’ve run virus scans with AVG & Malwarebytes
-I JUST disabled the power saving setting for the “USB Root Hub” devices (of which there are 3) in my device manager, not sure if that will help or not
I know I did other things but after dealing with these issues for so many months I forget most of it.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
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