A most puzzling PC issue

Measurement is your friend --- Get a good multimeter and then you will know what is going on!
Or
Spend the money and put in a power management system to monitor and report on usage, voltage, and frequency.
 
Thank you everyone, some in-depth insights and suggestions. I'll be starting with the power issue and work my way to the motherboard and such as/if needed ....... always makes me feel better about a problem when I have feedback at MyBB ;)
 
Little bit of report back -

Electrician is only coming this week sometime so that hasn't been tested as yet but the PC has run all weekend without any hiccup whatsoever. I'm leaning to the house power being the issue at play here, haven't dared power down to test until I absolutely have to ..... I mean, can mobo's run faultless for days being faulty, I truly don't know? Guess I'll find out on Tuesday which it is, heh.
 
Mephisto_Helix said:
Little bit of report back -

Electrician is only coming this week sometime so that hasn't been tested as yet but the PC has run all weekend without any hiccup whatsoever. I'm leaning to the house power being the issue at play here, haven't dared power down to test until I absolutely have to ..... I mean, can mobo's run faultless for days being faulty, I truly don't know? Guess I'll find out on Tuesday which it is, heh.
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Yes, it can. Consider something like a dry joint. Cold, intermittent contact. If you manage to get it to go, it warms up, expands, good contact. I'm not saying this is it, just a stupid/simple example of how start-up differs vs run-time environments.
 
Mephisto_Helix said:
Ok this is a long one but it has me stumped big time ......

So loadshedding (and a blown transformer in the area) had my PC dead, I couldn't make it back in time to unplug like I usually do :/ I took it to the local tech shop, told them what happened and left it at that. Later that day, I go back and erm, guy says it's working there no problem, weird. He says they replaced cmos battery so off I go home. I plug in and it's dead, sigh. Next morning I take it back and true story it comes on in the shop (wtf) and I'm standing there totally puzzled. Anyway, tech guy mentions he's using a thicker cable (260V) so I can take that home and try it. I get home and bam, it comes on and I use it all night to game and whatnot. Next morning I shut down and unplug for loadshedding the next morning, afterwards plug it back in and it's dead as hell all over again, even with the cable
1f615.png
Tried different plug points around the house, even got the neighbor to toss over an extension but nada.

Once more, next day off to the shop where the guy says ok leave it here for the whole day. Gets back to and says he's tested the PSU and it's working but just to make me feel better, he's put in his 650W and it's fine, take it home. True as bob, I plug it in and nothing. So I think no man, I'm lost ..... I reset the DB on a whim thinking hey the microwave is acting less powerful after the loadshedding so maybe it's related. Back to the study and I see the motherboard light is on and the PC starts up :unsure:.

Can't be a dead PSU if that's been changed out, surely it can't be the mobo (can it?) so is it possible that the area has lost some amps or volts and that's why my monster won't turn on? I give up trying to work it out and am hoping some of you more knowledgeable guys can give your input ;)
Click to expand...

The AC: If that is suspected, and not a plug.
1-Voltage at times-?
2-The frequency at times..50Hz..-?
 
No 1 would be the power. Secondly check the CBs. I know it sounds strange but it's possible. Our geyser CB started giving problems so I swapped it with the stove thinking if we can get in on it will stay on. As soon as I switched on the stove it started smoking underneath. So definitely a possibility there.
 
Swa said:
No 1 would be the power. Secondly check the CBs. I know it sounds strange but it's possible. Our geyser CB started giving problems so I swapped it with the stove thinking if we can get in on it will stay on. As soon as I switched on the stove it started smoking underneath. So definitely a possibility there.
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Presumably the CB started smoking? Or the stove?
 
BTW, in my book of good practice, both a geyser and a stove should always be fed via a double pole CB in the main board.
Any reason why this is a bad idea?
 
Geoff.D said:
Presumably the CB started smoking? Or the stove?
Click to expand...
Stove

Geoff.D said:
BTW, in my book of good practice, both a geyser and a stove should always be fed via a double pole CB in the main board.
Any reason why this is a bad idea?
Click to expand...
Double pole is what caused the issue. Now reverted so less chance of failure.
 
Swa said:
Stove

Double pole is what caused the issue. Now reverted so less chance of failure.
Click to expand...
A double pole is a double switch. Statistically, the chances of anything going wrong with it is twice as high, but even so very low. But where you work with water, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Even a neutral can cause issues with a current leakage. Yes, a single pole will cause less issues on that switch, but shift the problem to a tripping earth leakage or like. However the convenience of rather switching off a stove vs the whole house would rather see me have a double pole. Further, as far as I know, it's also law.
 
It used to be common practice to put a two pole CB into the main board for feeding stoves and geysers. So it is acceptable as far as I know in the regulations. Then at the device itself (within a reasonable distance), a double pole isolator is also required. This is in the main for safety, as the person working on the geyser or stove will be able to isolate both the Live and Neutral from the DB board.
Nowadays, all sorts of cost cutting methods are used, which while within regulations, are still just bad practice.

If you have a Mains board split into two as I have, then a double pole CB is essential in my view.

My mainboard is as follows: Incoming Live, Neutral and Earth (earth bar) => Class II SPDs on live and Neutral => Mains double pole CB/Isolator => Live dist, Neutral bar => double pole CB stove => Double pole geyser CB => a few single pole power feeds used for Fridges and other devices not powered via EL ==> E/L ==> power dist for all E/L proteded devices with a separate neutral bar.

Even the earth bar is split but currently a common connection to the earth bar on the incoming side. This means that I could if required, even split the earth via contactor if ever needed.

Provides for maximum flexibility and is a reliable arrangement. Whether it complies fully with the new regulations I cannot say, and even if not, I don't care squat because everything is properly labelled and the cabling looks like it was done in a factory.

I have an emergency power distribution with a wall socket in each room and at other critical points which is completely isolated from the normal power distribution with its own E/L CB and neutral bar. All in preparation for connection to an emergency power source whenever required.
 
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I heard from a friend at work that their transformer broke with the loadshedding. When the new transformer was installed and started up, it damaged a lot of electronics for everyone on the street because it was outputting at 280v.
 
dews said:
I heard from a friend at work that their transformer broke with the loadshedding. When the new transformer was installed and started up, it damaged a lot of electronics for everyone on the street because it was outputting at 280v.
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Eish ....... sure it's the new transformer here too, except it's less power. Crazy how much incompetence is allowed
 
Going to relate the issue with my son’s PC. Pretty damn high end gaming rig with all the bells and whistles.

At some point we upgraded the Mobo, RAM and CPU. Few months after that he unplugged to go blow out the dust bunnies. Plugs it back in and it does not start up. Screw around with just about everything and at some point it fires up. Happy, we close up and he carries on gaming, shutting down etc, no issue. Have to mention it is on UPS.

Anyway, come next time to clean and bam, it does not fire up. So now we know it does this after being unplugged. Eventually got it going again, but still dunno how.

Next time this happened, me gatvol and having spent money on a new platinum PSU, I decide to reset the CMOS. Bam, it fires up. So now we have a solution, so we replicate. Every now and then, when unplugged, it would not fire up, but a reset fixes it.

I have mailed the mobo supplier for an answer, but no reply. For now, untill the next upgrade, I have wired the case reset button to CMOS reset jumpers. At least I don’t have to open the case anymore.

Tldr, try a CMOS reset next time it would not boot up. Maybe you have the same issue?
 
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Do you have an Asus MB by the way?
 
^^ Got a brand new Cmos battery put in and like I mentioned, for some reason, at the PC shop, it works every single time it's put on and off .... just here at home where the issue is.

@Swa - It's an Intel mobo, a (now old and discontinued) Intel P67BG Burrage Flat
 
Update (rant :laugh:)


So .... landlord was a dolt and didn't ok the electrician after all but the PC has been on and working since I last commented in here. The funny thing is, had to fetch a work PC today to get files off of and work on and I kid you not, the minute it was plugged in here at home, same issue as my PC was having! Stove is on, doing some baking and geyser too but the minute I killed them, the work PC came on and has stayed on. Has to 100% no doubt be a power issue then, either area or house so tomorrow the landlord will okay the electrician or I'll be getting them in myself and taking it off the rent :mad:
 
Mephisto_Helix said:
Update (rant :laugh:)


So .... landlord was a dolt and didn't ok the electrician after all but the PC has been on and working since I last commented in here. The funny thing is, had to fetch a work PC today to get files off of and work on and I kid you not, the minute it was plugged in here at home, same issue as my PC was having! Stove is on, doing some baking and geyser too but the minute I killed them, the work PC came on and has stayed on. Has to 100% no doubt be a power issue then, either area or house so tomorrow the landlord will okay the electrician or I'll be getting them in myself and taking it off the rent :mad:
Click to expand...

Looking forward to the report.

Got to be voltage shenanigans

When I had a UPS connected the GUI would show input and output voltage and I'd often see the input voltage dip quite low (when loadshedding was a regular thing)
 
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