In September of 2019 the computer crashed and that’s when the madness began. It was emitting a series of beeps which my gut told me it was either power, CPU, motherboard or RAM related. I had been feeling the upgrade itch for a while and this just sent the itch into overdrive (that a bath in oatmeal couldn’t cure). I had purchased an i7-9700k CPU, a 512GB Western Digital M.2 SSD and an ASUS Z390 Prime-A. I swapped out my components, booted up and I was on my way. Playing Batman and Borderlands 2, editing videos, studying coding and practicing with simulated Cisco routers and switches. Just having a grand old time, until, suddenly a month later..fizzzle zooot. Computer shuts off and would not boot back up for anything.
Before I started troubleshooting, I purchased an identical motherboard(to save my R.A.I.D), a new PSU and a new CPU cooler. I swapped out PSU and nothing. I then swapped motherboard and kept everything else. I wanted the new PSU anyway, because the one I had prior was old and it wasn’t rated well. I pressed the power button and nothing happened. I pressed power again and it booted up and went into windows. Ahh problem solved right??… Nope, after a week, random shutdowns continued. It would stay on for 10 hours straight at one time, and three hours the next. I ran high intensity benchmark tests where the CPU would reach temps of 70 degrees,but would shut off just reading manga on Chrome with no other applications running. Not only that, regardless of how the computer shutdown( forced, graceful or random); in order to power the computer back on, I had to take off power going to the PSU and put it back on for it to boot. What the hell?
I wasn’t convinced that the new motherboard was the solution, so I decided that I would put the other one back in, along with the new CPU cooler. When I removed the motherboard from the case, I had a eureka moment. There was peg, that kept the first motherboard in place.It also looked like it was high enough where it would touch the motherboard. Maybe it was causing a short? I removed that beg and installed a riser to make sure my motherboard was secure and properly grounded. I then reinstalled the motherboard, with the new CPU cooler’s back-plate installed prior. Cleaned off the thermal compound off the CPU and installed the thermal cooler. Unfortunately I couldn’t mount the CPU cooler’s radiator and fan to my case, it was too small. So off to Micro Center to purchase a new case.
Acquired my new case and transferred the motherboard, along with everything else. However, the only thing connected was my M.2 NVMe drive. Pressed power and watched it worked it’s magic. It completed P.O.S.T. successfully and I entered BIOS setup, where I would just leave it loaded for a few hours to see if it would shut off. I slowly reconnected all the other components and left the computer on for an entire weekend to make sure. I then used it as normally for a week, which eventually became a month and I began to feel confident that the machine was stable. During my troubleshooting phase, I thought my CPU was overheating due to Intel Turbo boost. I disabled it to prevent the machine from auto overclocking, but that also didn’t help solve the problem. So I decided to revert those changes, since my computer was stable for a month, but that was a big mistake. Windows would freeze after log in and I would have to perform a forced shutdown. I disabled the settings again and thought, ehh.. Ill just be satisfied with this.
I went away for the weekend, and was anxious to do some work on the PC upon my return. My computer however, had other plans. BSODs at random times, and the error (according to Microsoft) pointed to faulty hardware. It could have been my CPU, RAM, or whatever else Google said. I don’t know what led me to my next decisions; but I removed two Crucial RAM sticks, I moved my CPU cooler fan/radiator to the top and placed another outtake fan in the back. I also plugged the radiator into my motherboard’s AIO_PUMP fan connector, because it would not be regulated by the Q-Fan Controller and be at the maximum speed. I also set my motherboard to load default settings, knowing this would enable Turbo boost. The computer is working and my CPU and Motherboard temperatures are cooler than before. I’m also taking advantage of a 4.7ghz speed instead of the default 3.6ghz.
So this concludes my story and I hope you found it humorous, informative and eventful. While I was researching, I had no luck in finding a permanent solution. I did come to an understanding that even though we may be experiencing similar symptoms, not all solutions are created equal. I hope that this story can help those who were struggling like I was. I’m also not confident everything is and will be copacetic moving forward, so I will give an update in a month’s time. However, I am certain that if anything else happens, I will not give up.
Posted in My Life, S.T.E.A.M.