PhilB Posted May 9, 2020 Share Posted May 9, 2020 I recently bought AIDA64 Extreme, version 6.25.400, dated 4/6/2020, latest available. I am hoping that AIDA64 can help pinpoint the source of instability that has caused my new system to shut down twice now, weeks apart, without any warning. In between shutdowns, it has worked perfectly normally. I have no understanding of AIDA64, so I need step by step instructions here to record power supply voltages and power output, (or other aspects of the hardware) so I can spot any issues that might lead to a system shutdown. The issue is that twice now my new system has shut down suddenly, (Windows 10 Pro, no BSOD), and I'm wondering if the power supply is at fault here, or there is some other hardware issue. The power supply is a Corsair AX850, purchased around 2014, and has been rock solid, trouble free with the prior motherboard/CPU/RAM. If the power supply is at fault, then I will replace it, but I don't want to go to the trouble and expense of a new power supply without some reason to do so. Or if the motherboard itself is the problem, I don't want to go through the hassle of doing an RMA without a reason. With the Covid crisis, it's anyone's guess how long before I would get a repaired/replaced motherboard. Aside from the motherboard/CPU/RAM and graphics card, my system contains 1 SSD and 3 7200 RPM HDDs, in other words well under 50 watts max power draw. At 850 watts output, I know my PSU is overspecified for my system, but that gives me peace of mind. My newly rebuilt my system consists of an ASUS Strix-E X570 motherboard with AMD 3900X CPU and 2 x 16 GB Crucial 3600-speed RAM. After building this system I flashed the BIOS to latest available for this board. So far, I am running at default-BIOS stock settings. I have changed nothing in the BIOS except the date, so I can be sure that the system is stable. I have not yet updated my video card, which is an old nVidia GTX 660, and which has been trouble-free since purchase. For a week, the system ran fine, and I liked the improved performance. One week after building this system, it shut down suddenly, and I could not restart it even by pressing the power button. The fans would spin for 1-2 seconds and then stop. I tore apart the system and rebuilt it piece by piece, doing reboots along the way. Before re-installing the motherboard, I used a power supply tester to verify that all voltages were within spec and that the Power Good signal was within spec. I also removed the CMOS battery and left it out overnight, so that I had to "re-initialize" BIOS values when I first powered up the system after rebuilding it. I rebuilt the system and it was absolutely stable for three weeks, no Windows crashes, nothing, until last night when it suddenly shut down again. This time, however, I was able to restart the system and run Windows normally. Right now the system is running normally. But I am concerned that there is instability in this system that I need to eliminate. So I suspect that it might be a power supply issue, but I have no firm evidence of that. That's why I want to use AIDA64 to check power supply performance. I'm open to any and all suggestions here. In general I am an experienced system builder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilB Posted May 11, 2020 Author Share Posted May 11, 2020 The system has crashed two more times since my original post. I really need some good advice here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 On 5/11/2020 at 10:37 PM, PhilB said: The system has crashed two more times since my original post. I really need some good advice here. Try to run the AIDA64 System Stability Test twice. First, enable only the FPU subtest so you can put the maximum stress on your system when it comes to power draw and thermals ("heating it up"). Watch the Statistics tab for any abnormalities, and check if the system can stand the pressure for several hours. Meanwhile you can also enable Logging (in AIDA64 / main menu / File / Preferences / Hardware Monitoring / Logging) in case you want to analyze the data later on. When you're done with that, run it again, now with all subtests enabled. If and when you have a crash, check back the logs and see which voltages look abnormally low or high. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Christopher Posted February 8, 2021 Share Posted February 8, 2021 I hope PhilB has figured out his problem- I am having the same issue as I'M sure many do from time to time- especially by installing super powerful GPU's into boxes that never had them. What I think is obvious which is not being explored rather than what is being suggested: Use this tool (or another tool) to monitor and GRAPH the power supply's health (watt output and voltage, etc) over TIME so that when we see a catastrophic failure, we can actually look at the logs to see what the voltage etc was when it happened. Can we do this with AIDA64 Extreme (or one of the other variants)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fiery Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 20 hours ago, Greg Christopher said: I hope PhilB has figured out his problem- I am having the same issue as I'M sure many do from time to time- especially by installing super powerful GPU's into boxes that never had them. What I think is obvious which is not being explored rather than what is being suggested: Use this tool (or another tool) to monitor and GRAPH the power supply's health (watt output and voltage, etc) over TIME so that when we see a catastrophic failure, we can actually look at the logs to see what the voltage etc was when it happened. Can we do this with AIDA64 Extreme (or one of the other variants)? Yes, for such PSU's that are capable of monitoring their own power output and reporting it in a way that AIDA64 can pick up the measurements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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