The system is a home built Gigabyte tower with a Gigabyte GE-P610A-C2 PSU
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 motherboard with 4GB RAM
Winfast 256Mb PX7600GT Video card
6oGB SATA SSD on motherboard
3 SATA HDD
1 SATA DVD
2 case fans
Windows 7
No overclocking or alterations to the hardware
I started having a problem this Monday with my desktop system, running Win 7. The system's power just shuts off.
No warning, no blue screen, just as though the plug had been pulled out. The first time it happened after about 30/40 minutes after being turned on. Just on line doing some web research so nothing taxing. Then on Tuesday it happened randomly after 20/30 minutes at the longest or before the windows log on screen even comes up at the shortest time interval.
I opened the tower and cleaned everything. The fans were dusty but everything visually looked OK. When I switch on with the cover off, I could see all the fans operate.
I installed CPUID HWmonitor and was running it before the next time the system shut down. I got just 6 readings, two to three minutes apart saved before the power went and I have not been able to boot into Windows since.
I am not sure what, if anything, the HWmonitor figures are telling me. My initial thought was it was a PSU failure but after more testing this morning, I now suspect failure of the MB, but I don't have the experience to tell.
I removed the RAM SIM's and video card, then pressed the case start button. I got the correct POST beeps, then the system powered off. Did this a couple of times but the interval between on and off is getting shorter, suggesting some sort of progressive failure somewhere.
I have done a "breadboard" test and also started the PSU using the green wire. With the PSU disconnected from everything, I was able to start it by shorting out the green and a black wire. The PSU started and ran and didn't stop until I turned it off. This is of course without any load.
I then connected the SATA power leads to the 3 HDD's and the DVD to try a start with some load, but no MB. It doesn't say anywhere to try this, or NOT to try it! Again the PSU powered on and it kept running until I switched the power off. No cutting out.
Stripping everything off the MB including the CPU, then applying power and using the case start button, the PSU started then stopped after about two seconds. Not long enough to get the beep tests. This happened a couple of times.
I removed everything and tried to reinstall, but now cannot even get to the beeps. As soon as the case start button is pressed, the four PHASE LED lights illuminate, the fans start then 1 or 2 seconds later power goes off. After may be 5 seconds, the system tried to start again on its own, but fails. It will keep doing this until I turn power off on the PSU.
I don't have a 'spare' MB or PSU to test the two items with, and wonder if there is any other test I can do with the PSU or from my description if anyone recognises the fault?
On Tuesday when I could still run the system, I used HWMonitor and got these values just before the system stopped for the last time,
Hardware Monitors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hardware monitor ITE IT8728
Voltage 0 1.04 Volts [0x57] (CPU VTT)
Voltage 1 3.34 Volts [0xA9] (VCC3)
Voltage 2 12.02 Volts [0xF5] (+12V)
Voltage 3 5.08 Volts [0xF7] (+VCC)
Voltage 5 1.21 Volts [0x65] (CPU VCORE)
Voltage 6 1.50 Volts [0x7D] (DRAM)
Voltage 7 3.38 Volts [0x8D] (+3.3V)
Temperature 0 35°C (94°F) [0x23] (TMPIN0)
Temperature 1 25°C (76°F) [0x19] (TMPIN1)
Temperature 2 51°C (123°F) [0x33] (TMPIN2)
Fan 0 1758 RPM [0x180] (FANIN0)
Fan 3 1805 RPM [0x176] (FANIN3)
Fan PWM 0 0 pc [0x0] (FANPWM0)
Fan PWM 1 0 pc [0x0] (FANPWM1)
Fan PWM 2 0 pc [0x0] (FANPWM2)
Register space LPC, base address = 0x0290
Hardware monitor Gigabyte DES
Voltage 0 1.21 Volts [0x65] (CPU)
Register space LPC, base address = 0x0290
Hardware monitor Intel I/O
Clock Speed 0 6784.11 MHz [0x1A80] (Graphics)
Hardware monitor NVIDIA NVAPI
Temperature 0 48°C (118°F) [0x30] (TMPIN0)
Thanks for reading my long post
NW
