Mining rig keeps restarting.

I

InternetSwag

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Hi guys, been scratching my head over this one now.

I have a mining rig, that I been running for about 3 months.

Two weeks ago when I restarted it, it suddenly wouldn't boot into windows. It would start up, the orange light on the mobo would light up, then it would just switch off. This started happening randomly, for no reason.

It would just loop like this endlessly, nothing on display, nothing on my monitor showing.

Here a vid of the problem;

https://imgur.com/dn2n5wL

So I took my PC to a friend who works for a mining company;
-Took out all GPU's and hooked up vga cable to mobo - no difference
-Unplugged one PSU, hooked up the other PSU to the CPU and mobo - no difference
-Then switched those PSU's around, to make sure one of my mining PSU's isn't faulty - no difference.
-Tried a different CPU - no difference

Conclusion was it had to be mobo - but we didn't test a new one.

So I took the mobo back to place of purchase. It was replaced under warranty yesterday. I received no info as in, 'capacitor was faulty or dead vrm' or whatever. Simply 'replaced under warranty'.

So that's fine, even though I would have liked to know what was wrong with the old one.

I plug everything in today and... Same issue. Exactly the same issue.

Something is not right here. Could the chassis be causing a short? It's a conventional mining rig like this;

(picture for reference not my rig)

qajc8zi3909q.jpg

With rubber standoffs under the board.

The only things I didn't 'test' was the SSD and the CPU fan. But the PC doesn't even give any signal input so there's not even a bios screen.

I'm scratching my head here to the point where I just want to pay someone to resolve this for me.
 
Equipment that I am using;

-Mining Chassis made of aluminium
-H110 D3-A Gigabyte
-Antec HCG 620w + Antec VP 500PC
-DualPSU Connector (also removed and tested)
-R 9290
-GTX 1060 x 2
-1050 Ti
-Pentium CPU (I think it's a 4600 or something I can't remember)
-PC switch connected to Power ON on mobo header
 
Had a similar issue with a PC recently, ended up being a power cable ... check all you cables!
 
InternetSwag said:
With rubber standoffs under the board.
Click to expand...

In a normal pc the psu receives an earth via via the power cable, the chassis gets it's earth via physical contact with the the psu, the MB mounting holes in turn make contact withe the standoffs that are screwed into the chassis so everything is basically earthed. Not saying this is the issue but something that came to mind.
 
ponder said:
In a normal pc the psu receives an earth via via the power cable, the chassis gets it's earth via physical contact with the the psu, the MB mounting holes in turn make contact withe the standoffs that are screwed into the chassis so everything is basically earthed. Not saying this is the issue but something that came to mind.
Click to expand...
Had a similar issue once. Tore my hair out trying to figure it out. Eventually took it to a PC shop after checking pretty much everything. Removed the motherboard and found a screw had lodged itself between the mobo and case and was shorting it... **** knows how the screw even got there!
 
lucifir said:
Had a similar issue with a PC recently, ended up being a power cable ... check all you cables!
Click to expand...
I tested these yesterday. Changed both PSU cables for ones from my gaming pc, same result
ponder said:
In a normal pc the psu receives an earth via via the power cable, the chassis gets it's earth via physical contact with the the psu, the MB mounting holes in turn make contact withe the standoffs that are screwed into the chassis so everything is basically earthed. Not saying this is the issue but something that came to mind.
Click to expand...
Well, the rubber standoffs look like this;
41EZxy-0%2BgL._AC_UL160_SR160,160_.jpg

With a screw going through the mobo into the standoff, into the chassis. Wouldn't that ground it? Maybe they're more plastic than rubber? Probably.
Im working today, but tomorrow I'll test the motherboard in my gaming PC with a third PSU and see the results.
The Voice said:
Had a similar issue once. Tore my hair out trying to figure it out. Eventually took it to a PC shop after checking pretty much everything. Removed the motherboard and found a screw had lodged itself between the mobo and case and was shorting it... **** knows how the screw even got there!
Click to expand...
Glad you got it resolved. Though that's weird, I didn't know a screw could short a mobo just by touching the case and the mobo at the same time. I am using these long industrial screws, they're not dedicated PC screws lol, but doubt it matters.
skeptic_SA said:
Have you tried turning it off and on again?
Click to expand...
Many times :P
Messugga said:
You don't mention testing memory.
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention that, it has 2 x 4gb RAM sticks. If I remove either RAM stick and swap around RAM slots etc.

No difference, unless both RAM sticks are busted?
 
But this is weird. For a mobo to work fine and suddenly do this, then the replacement sent does it as well.

I'm thinking I got sent the same board back? There's no serial number on the board to actually confirm. I don't know, that's maybe just the pessimist in me?
 
try new memory sticks .... faulty memory can also cause this issue.
Hopefully you got some spare lying around :)
 
I got myself one of those beeper speakers for diagnosing mobo issues.

Long beep, long beep, long beep - pc restart.

RAM.

Both RAM sticks.

Faulty.
What are the odds? I've never had RAM fail on me especially not expensive RAM >.>
 
glad you sorted it out.
Although for both memory sticks to go faulty at the same time, probably means there is something else wrong as well.
Possibly something wrong with the motherboard, but more likely something to do with the PSU.
Mining rigs draw a lot of power, and even though your PSU may be spec'd to handle that draw, it may still be too much for it to handle constantly. Did you ever get a burning smell from the PC? Maybe check you connectors for any shorts,etc.
 
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