Rig just died on me...

[Rocky_53 1,594]

Apologies if this post is in the wrong forum as the issue is technically not a CTD. Anyway, I was more than a bit peed off about an hour ago, a great flight from KLAS to KLAX in the NGX, and then five miles out on approach, the computer just closed down. OK I thought, no great sweat, I guess there must be a lot of dust somewhere to cause overheating. However, on inspection, all the fans were working and there was no large amounts of dust that could have caused the problem, well at least I don't think so. I fired up the sim and straight away it worked as right as rain. The rig is only 18 months old and up till now it has been as stable as a rock and very reliable. Nothing has changed anywhere, so I am a little bemused. I guess it could be the power supply? Anyway, I thought I'd throw it out here to see if anyone else has any ideas. Thanks guys...

[Spook 96]

 the computer just closed down. I guess it could be the power supply?

Hi howard

How did it close down, did it just turn off like someone pulled the plug, or go thru the closing down seqence?

[Rocky_53 1,594]

Hi Luke, sure, just like someone had pulled the plug...

[VeryBumpy 272]

Could be just a digital glitch. Fly more and see if it continues to happen again. If it does, I'd start testing with not overclocking.

[Jim Young 2,356]

Hi Luke, sure, just like someone had pulled the plug...

Sounds like you had a BSOD.  You should download and run the Blue Screen Viewer - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html.  If you had a BSOD, a log would be generated.  Look for a STOP code, like 000124 (might show it something like 0x0124 in the Blue Screen View).  A bad overclock will cause these types of errors.  Too high or too low CPU voltage or the installed DRAM has the wrong frequency, timings or voltage (happens a lot if the setting is set to Auto).  It could be bad drivers for your HDD too.  If you had a BSOD, you can Google the STOP Code and get some suggestions for fixes.

 

Best regards,

Jim

[Bob Scott 7,756]

Hi Luke, sure, just like someone had pulled the plug...

Likely a power supply or power regulation problem. Make sure the power cable is secure in the back of the PC and where it plugs into the house supply. I'd also check internal cabling--I saw a loose plug into a modular power supply do this once. I had a Gigabyte mobo that did this to me some years ago and it turned out to be a bad MOSFET on the motherboard's power regulation circuit.

 

When it just goes black on you like this, it's a good idea to run chkdsk on all your drives as well.

 

Regards

[Rocky_53 1,594]

Could be just a digital glitch. Fly more and see if it continues to happen again. If it does, I'd start testing with not overclocking.

 

Thanks matey, I hope it is what you say, as the overclock has been absolutely rock solid since the day I got the rig 18 months ago.

 

 

Sounds like you had a BSOD.  You should download and run the Blue Screen Viewer - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html.  If you had a BSOD, a log would be generated.  Look for a STOP code, like 000124 (might show it something like 0x0124 in the Blue Screen View).  A bad overclock will cause these types of errors.  Too high or too low CPU voltage or the installed DRAM has the wrong frequency, timings or voltage (happens a lot if the setting is set to Auto).  It could be bad drivers for your HDD too.  If you had a BSOD, you can Google the STOP Code and get some suggestions for fixes.

 

Best regards,

Jim

 

Hi Jim, it wasn't a BSOD. The whole PC just shut down. I'll follow your advice though and let you know how I get on. BTW, I have Bluescreen viewer and when I opened it there were no logs in the windows.

 

Likely a power supply or power regulation problem. Make sure the power cable is secure in the back of the PC and where it plugs into the house supply. I'd also check internal cabling--I saw a loose plug into a modular power supply do this once. I had a Gigabyte mobo that did this to me some years ago and it turned out to be a bad MOSFET on the motherboard's power regulation circuit.

 

When it just goes black on you like this, it's a good idea to run chkdsk on all your drives as well.

 

Regards

 

Hi Bob, this is more or less my gut feeling, so I have checked all the cablng and connections. However, I guess all the suggestions may be true. I will do some investigating. cheers BTW, is it OK to run chdisk on an SSD?

[hs118 730]

Howard,

 

I work on a computer helpdesk most days and agree with Bob re: sounds like power supply or motherboard power regulator. A loose connector could cause a power surge when suddenly reconnecting. Also, be sure to have a 150-200 watt overspec on your powersupply beyond the highest power reqs of your equipment.

 

Some motherboard BIOS have their own log file separate from the operating system. Going into the BIOS and looking at this log if available could give you some addtnl hints as to what happened.

 

Chkdsk on SSD is ok. Defrag, not so much.

 

One last post thought, we have seen this type of mysterious shutdown happen with old battery backups (UPS). At high levels of power demand, sometimes the old circuitry is suddenly overloaded and shuts down to prevent overheating etc.

Edited July 4, 2013 by Henry Street

[Rocky_53 1,594]

Howard,

 

I work on a computer helpdesk most days and agree with Bob re: sounds like power supply or motherboard power regulator. A loose connector could cause a power surge when suddenly reconnecting. Also, be sure to have a 150-200 watt overspec on your powersupply beyond the highest power reqs of your equipment.

 

Some motherboard BIOS have their own log file separate from the operating system. Going into the BIOS and looking at this log if available could give you some addtnl hints as to what happened.

 

Chkdsk on SSD is ok. Defrag, not so much.

 

One last post thought, we have seen this type of mysterious shutdown happen with old battery backups (UPS). At high levels of power demand, sometimes the old circuitry is suddenly overloaded and shuts down to prevent overheating etc.

 

Hi Henry, thanks for the feedback. I'm going to do some further investigations later today, so I'll report back with any findings. Cheers...

 

EDIT: I've just run a chdisk and it has returned a report of no errors. I've gone into the BIOS (Asus P8z86-V MB) but have been unable to locate any log file.

[Capt Richardo 12]

Hi Howard

 

Cirkey ... sorry to eare your haveinf issues.

 

Obviously it could be 1 of a 1,000,000 things ... check

 

All log reports for any pointers

 

RAM seating (could be chip creep)

 

Power supply failing

 

SSD failure

 

If you have any A2A load the newest accusim dll (1.51.1 from memory) earlier dll's crashed

 

Any additional mains power loading on your ring

 

Check any overclock ... sounds like a slow cooking CPU, remove overclock (set to default) and test

[lodestar 186]

What temps you have usually with FSX? If not heat:

 

- power supply

- HDD (check for errors)

- Corupted Windows / missing files (repair/reainstall)

- Malware

 

Most likely PSU...

[Rocky_53 1,594]

Hi Howard

 

Cirkey ... sorry to eare your haveinf issues.

 

Obviously it could be 1 of a 1,000,000 things ... check

 

All log reports for any pointers

 

RAM seating (could be chip creep)

 

Power supply failing

 

SSD failure

 

If you have any A2A load the newest accusim dll (1.51.1 from memory) earlier dll's crashed

 

Any additional mains power loading on your ring

 

Check any overclock ... sounds like a slow cooking CPU, remove overclock (set to default) and test

 

 

What temps you have usually with FSX? If not heat:

 

- power supply

- HDD (check for errors)

- Corupted Windows / missing files (repair/reainstall)

- Malware

 

Most likely PSU...

 

Hi Howard

 

Cirkey ... sorry to eare your haveinf issues.

 

Obviously it could be 1 of a 1,000,000 things ... check

 

All log reports for any pointers

 

RAM seating (could be chip creep)

 

Power supply failing

 

SSD failure

 

If you have any A2A load the newest accusim dll (1.51.1 from memory) earlier dll's crashed

 

Any additional mains power loading on your ring

 

Check any overclock ... sounds like a slow cooking CPU, remove overclock (set to default) and test

 

Hi Rich, mm, unsure. I need to ask this question... can a software issue result in this kind of shut down? I'll check out your A2A dll. suggestion, cheers...

 

What temps you have usually with FSX? If not heat:

 

- power supply

- HDD (check for errors)

- Corupted Windows / missing files (repair/reainstall)

- Malware

 

Most likely PSU...

 

 Zeljko, I tested the cpu heat during FSX and it rarely got above 62 degrees. Cheers

 

 

EDIT: I stupidly failed to mention, that immediately after the shut down, I rebooted again and things have been fine ever since (?) I will retrace the same flight later today and see how I get on.

 

 

EDIT EDIT: I have noticed on the desktop there has beena notepad file geerated 'App Crash View' on opening there is this info...

 

[Rocky_53 1,594]

Well, today I refitted all the connectors in the PC case, vacuumed the fans and reseated the RAM, went for a 2 hour test flight this afternoon and retraced the NGX KLAS to KLAX flight from yesterday, touch wood things seemed OK. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[hs118 730]

+1 good luck!

[ViperPilot 81]

Howard,

 

Hopefully it was just a one time occurrence, and things continue nice and steady.

 

I though it might have been a power surge at your home, but since you didn't report the clocks going out, lights, etc. I threw that one out, as well as excess dust.

 

Probably due to migrating Tarantulas, or a large celestial body passing through at near right angles to the plane of the Solar System... probably a Black Hole or something.

 

Good Luck!