Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 problem

[argg]

Hi all,

I am trying to locate the problem my 7-year old PC has developed with no luck so far. The PC reboots without any warning at irregular intervals and at any state, ie. it may be in Windows, while trying to boot, at bios screen etc.
At first I though it had something to do with power supply so I went and bought a brand new Gigabyte 750W but I should have known better - after replacing the old one the pc continued to do the same again.
Things I have checked so far
- memory modules (4x4GB) are okay, they pass clean the mem86 test
- no overheating issues, no overclocking, everything runs cool
- BIOS is ok, I even reflashed the latest version
- no viruses or anything, after all the pc reboots even at the operating system selection screen or when booting with a live linux cd

As a last resort I think of disconnecting the motherboard in order to check one by one the small electrolytic caps (quite a few)

Do you think it is worth doing that, could the problem be due to a bad cap on the m/b?

As I have no much experience with pc repairs I would very much appreciate any suggestion or hint on what to look for

best

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 problem

Looks more like it keeps losing power briefly then the power comes back. Just like our utility power, when just a bit windy! I think our utility power company needs to check the power lines on our street!
(And of course, during those incidents, I would hear my UPS click, which I believe is a relay.)

If a problem on the motherboard, more likely to be a bad solder joint. Maybe bad caps.

[argg]

Re: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 problem

Looks more like it keeps losing power briefly then the power comes back.

yes, this is why I was almost certain it would be the p/s and harried to buy a new one, but to no avail

I will check all m/b caps and also look for a cold join, as you suggest

[momaka]

Re: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 problem

What hard drive do you have in that system? Regular "rust-spinner"? SSD?

Not that it should matter much. I've seen both regular HDDs and SSDs both cause system BSODs and/or restarts when they start to develop bad sectors.

Do a full HDD surface scan and see if that shows anything bad on the HDD(s).

Also try doing an OCCT CPU stress-test for a few hours (both Linpack and regular tests.)
If that passes, try the OCCT "power supply" test, which will run both the CPU(s) and the GPU(s) at their maximum.
(NOTE: be careful if your CPU or GPU have a stock/weak heatsink, as that will more than likely make them overheat and possibly go bad. Keep an eye on your temperatures when running these tests. Anything over 65C for the GPU and CPU is usually not good, no matter what manufacturers claim to be the maximum "safe" temperature.)

Finally, I find that a lot of my flakey systems usually have problems when they are neither fully loaded nor idle, but often in the middle of transitioning from one to the other. For this, I find that running a "YouTube test", where I let the PC play YT videos in 720/1080/2k/4k continuously, will typically make a "flakey" system crash rather quickly. If you do encounter this, look for any options in BIOS that mention "SPREAD SPECTRUM" and turn them OFF - particularly for CPU and RAM.

So try these, and let us know what you find.

There is also a possibility that the power in your house may be dropping just long enough to cause issues, as RJARRRPCGP suggested. But I usually find that to be a rare case.

[argg]

Re: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 problem

thank you so much for your input

What hard drive do you have in that system? Regular "rust-spinner"? SSD?

Not that it should matter much. I've seen both regular HDDs and SSDs both cause system BSODs and/or restarts when they start to develop bad sectors.

Do a full HDD surface scan and see if that shows anything bad on the HDD(s).

It's an SSD and have checked it thoroughly for SMART or other errors, no problem with it. Besides the restarts sometimes even happen while at the BIOS screen and before starting to read the hd. Even when booting with a live linux dvd

Also try doing an OCCT CPU stress-test for a few hours (both Linpack and regular tests.)
If that passes, try the OCCT "power supply" test, which will run both the CPU(s) and the GPU(s) at their maximum.
(NOTE: be careful if your CPU or GPU have a stock/weak heatsink, as that will more than likely make them overheat and possibly go bad. Keep an eye on your temperatures when running these tests. Anything over 65C for the GPU and CPU is usually not good, no matter what manufacturers claim to be the maximum "safe" temperature.)

I ran some stress tests included in hirren's dvd with no issues with temperatures or anything. Wasn't aware of OCCT, I will also give it a try

There is also a possibility that the power in your house may be dropping just long enough to cause issues, as RJARRRPCGP suggested. But I usually find that to be a rare case.

This is one of the first things I thought. The PC runs on a UPS and I suspected it might be faulty. However with the pc connected I checked the power at the ups output with a logging multimeter for 24h and it does not fluctuate. For piece of mind I also plugged the pc directly to a wall socket but no difference

So next thing to try is check all small electrolytics on the m/b. Can't think of anything else

[Aliencomputres]

Re: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 problem

Heloo,
clean the cpu old thermal paste,pull out the cpu and put back, change thermal paste.
Clean back surface of cpu whith alchool.
Be carefuly do not bent cpu pins of the motherboard!