HDD Startup Issues

[JulietBravo]

Here are the voltages from the mobo:

Vcore 1.316v
DDR18v 1.904v
+3.3v 3.360v
+12v 12.112v

Also, my computer just shut off on me twice now with only the one HDD plugged in. I'm beginning to think it is the PSU.

 

[ugoboom]

just a min. What is make and model of your ram? voltage might be too high on it, some boards will default to 1.9v even on ram that was designed for for 1.8v and that can cause shutdowns or reboots. It can also damage ram.

 

[JulietBravo]

All that's written on the side of them are PNY 64B0QITHE-HS. 2GB each.

 

[ugoboom]

Ok, yes those are 1.8v so you need to tell the motherboard to run that at 1.8v. It's quite possible that everything will work just fine after this. However, you need to check your ram for errors after you do this, do you know how to do that? If you have damaged the ram then unfortunately you'll need new ram.

and a question
Did you reset the cmos like I had suggested? (its possible they are running at 1.9 because you did, in which case this might not have been the initial problem)

 

[JulietBravo]

No I have not reset the CMOS. I do not know how to set the voltage nor do I know how to check the ram for errors. I've always wanted to learn!

 

[ugoboom]

Ok well here we go then give me a minute so I can find an example of your bios somewhere on the internets.

ok at the main menu of the bios, enter the first option: MB intelligent tweaker
scroll down until you see the *****motherboard voltage control***** section
at the very bottom of the whole page you will dram and dram voltage, most likely it's set at 1.9 currently, go ahead and change it to 1.8 and save and exit. That's it. Post back here and we'll get into testing your ram.

 

[JulietBravo]

Ok, I changed it from AUTO to 1.8. It's still shutting off tho. So hopefully it will stay on long enough to test the ram.

 

[ugoboom]

well if your still there lol go ahead in go to the start menu and type windows memory and the first thing in the list should say windows memory diagnostic, click that and run through the test. If you infact have MAJOR problems with the ram then the test will probably say something about it, however this ram test isn't thorough and thus misses less major problems. If it does fail than that's a big deal, if not you should still run a more intense memory tester. I like memtest86+. It only runs by booting the computer from say a cd/usb stick/floppy or pxe boot, you can't run it from within windows so it's kind of process. Easiest thing we can do is run it from a CD and let it run for at least 7 passes to be sure you don't have problem, it takes some time.

 

[JulietBravo]

Well I have a laptop I've been using for the forum as well. I waited until this morning to run the tests, letting the computer just sit. I would get about 10% in and it would shut off. I then started to run the tests one stick of ram at a time. I did each stick separately in each of the 4 memory slots on my mobo, all kinds of combinations. Each had the same result, shutting off a few mins into the test. While the computer was running, i made sure all the fans were running, no capacitors are leaking, and speed fan shows my cores at 47C and 50C, at idle. 60C and 67C with about a 35% load. I saw 70s while it was still loading some windows programs. It has been saying on for at least a half hour now at idle on the desktop. Could it be over heating?

 

[ugoboom]

Well I have a laptop I've been using for the forum as well. I waited until this morning to run the tests, letting the computer just sit. I would get about 10% in and it would shut off. I then started to run the tests one stick of ram at a time. I did each stick separately in each of the 4 memory slots on my mobo, all kinds of combinations. Each had the same result, shutting off a few mins into the test. While the computer was running, i made sure all the fans were running, no capacitors are leaking, and speed fan shows my cores at 47C and 50C, at idle. 60C and 67C with about a 35% load. I saw 70s while it was still loading some windows programs. It has been saying on for at least a half hour now at idle on the desktop. Could it be over heating?

Did you plug any case fans you might have disconnected back in? While those temps are pretty high, 70s shouldn't shut the computer off. It would be kind of hard to tell unless we knew the temp just before shutdown. The Memory diag probably heats the CPU a bit too so now I think its kind of a toss-up. The best thing to do now is get memtest86 going. Even with that though, an overheating CPU can cause memtest to show errors in the ram if the cpu gets too hot.

Also, I am wondering, over the years you have had this computer, did you ever go around in the bios and change any settings, not really knowing what you were doing? besides yesterday of course... There are a couple settings in there:

CPU Thermal Monitor 2 (TM2)
(Note)
Enables or disables Intel
®
CPU Thermal Monitor (TM2) function, a CPU overheating protection
function. When enabled, the CPU core frequency and voltage will be reduced when the CPU is
overheated. (Default: Enabled)
CPU EIST Function
(Note)
Enables or disables Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST). Depending on CPU loading,
Intel
®
EIST technology can dynamically and effectively lower the CPU voltage and core frequency
to decrease average power consumption and heat production. (Default: Enabled)

The default for these is enabled, and they should be still enabled to prevent overheating of the cpu. I'm pretty sure its safe to say if these are on, you wouldn't be overheating.

IF ANYONE HAS ANY INPUT ON THESE SETTINGS AND INTEL CPUS I WOULD APPRECIATE IF YOU COULD POST AND TELL ME IF THIS IS CORRECT. I don't work on many custom intel computers...

Regardless go check to make sure these are on, they are under Advanced Bios Features from the main menu.