PC keeps freezing and shutting off randomly after motherboard RMA, New PSU, new Heatsink, and new graphics card

[omenGuard]

Hi everyone,
I have been having a problem with my PC for some time now and I cannot seem to figure out what is going on.

Problem Description
My PC shuts down randomly during use. This could be doing things as simple as using Chrome or listening to music.

My PC also shuts down or freezes during intensive use (ie gaming). I thought this was a temperature issue so I monitored my temps using NZXT CAM and HW Monitor and saw that my motherboard gives 5 temperature readings. The fourth and fifth temperatures were the highest averaging 40°C idle and 55° C respectively. The other three temperatures were at 27°-30­°C idle. Under load, when I started gaming, temp 5 of the motherboard jumped up to 113°C.

All my other temperatures did not jump up much from their idle temps and my graphics card only jumped up 10°C.

I dialed down my graphics to medium and I am still experiencing the same issue.

The freezing happens when I am playing Wolfenstein The New Order and the shutting down happens either regularly or while I am gaming.

I have RMA'd my motherboard in the past because the freezing issue was an issue that I was having in the past and ASUS said that nothing was wrong.

I bought a new graphics card and the problem still persists, and I have a new case, PSU, fans, and heatsink.

Are there any tools that I can run for either a burn test or something that can give me a report of temps over a period of time?

PC Components
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zXsH8d
OS: Windows 8.1
Case: Fractal Design Arc Mini R2
PSU: EVGA 600B
Voltage Average: 3.31
Vcore Average: 0.032
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500k
Graphics Card: EVGA 750ti FTW (fans are exhausting air to the top of the case.)
MB: ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport Low Profile 16GB (8GB x 2)
Heatsink: Noctua NH-U12S with two 120mm fans. (Exhausting to the top of the case.)
Fan Orientation: (2x 120mm Gentle Typhoons as intake at the front of the case, 2x 120mm Gentle Typhoons as exhaust at the top of the case, 1x 120mm Noctua fan as intake from the bottom of the case, 1x 140mm Akasa Viper as exhaust from the rear of the case)

http://imgur.com/ptgUEJI


Other tidbits
I came from having an ASUS 560ti to the current card that I have. The card was giving me a lot of artifacts in game.

I came from a Kraken X40 to the current cooler I have due to cable management.

I came from a Bitfenix Phenom and a Fractal Design Node 304 before that due to cable management issues.

Images

I loaded my task manager upon each reboot I did yesterday night and this morning and found that when Chrome or Firefox was launched, the CPU usage would spike to 100% then fluctuate between 1--35% then spike up again. I would only have one of the apps open at a time and at most 3 tabs open. Dropbox running in the background displayed the same issue.

I performed a virus scan with Windows Defender, Super Anti Spyware, and IOBit's Anti-virus tool and IOBit detected one piece of malware and removed it. This did not resolve the issue.

I went to my event logger and pulled the following critical message:
Event 41, Kernel Power
The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

After flashing the latest BIOS, I thought I had the issue resolved, but I started seeing some artificating in gaming, then while gaming, my power just cut off again..

When the power cuts in my PC, I cannot power it back on using my PC's power button. I have to manually shut off my PSU, press the power button repeatedly to do a full power drain, wait a few seconds, and then I can flip back on my PSU's switch to then boot my PC using my PC's power button.

Many thanks for any assistance or advice in advance.

[UberFiend]

Are you overclocking?

Is Intel Turbo Boost Disabled in BIOS' CPU Clock Frequency Settings?

Is Load Line Calibration On?

[_I_]

the atx mobo only has 1x pci-e x16 slot
you have a gpu and a pci-e nic in the build list
there is no room for the pci-e nic

as for the powering down/rebooting issue
it could be overheating make sure the cpu cooler is installed correctly, and a small dot thermal paste is applied between the cpu and cooler

[omenGuard]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von UberFiend:

Are you overclocking?

Is Intel Turbo Boost Disabled in BIOS' CPU Clock Frequency Settings?

Is Load Line Calibration On?

I was overclocking before, but when I flashed my latest BIOS, I lost my settings so I reverted to stock settings.

Turbo Boost is set to AUTO in the CPU Power Management, and Load Line Calibration is set to Auto as well.

Should the turbo boost be disabled in the CPU Power Management?

[omenGuard]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von _I_:

the atx mobo only has 1x pci-e x16 slot
you have a gpu and a pci-e nic in the build list
there is no room for the pci-e nic

as for the powering down/rebooting issue
it could be overheating make sure the cpu cooler is installed correctly, and a small dot thermal paste is applied between the cpu and cooler

Hi I currently have a mini-itx board and it does have a slot for PCI-e NICs in which I placed my intel 7260.

As for my CPU I have cleaned it with Arctic Silver's cleaning compound and properly applied thermal paste and reseated both the CPU and the heatsink.

I was experiencing this same issue when I was using my nzxt kraken x60.

Also, a note that I forgot to mention, when the power cuts in my PC, I cannot power it back on using my PC's power button. I have to manually shut off my PSU, press the power button repeatedly to do a full power drain, wait a few seconds, and then I can flip back on my PSU's switch to then boot my PC using my PC's power button.

[UberFiend]

LLC should be On.

Turbo Boost can be On/Auto at stock clocks, but Disable when o/c.

[chiefputsilao✖️ping]

1. if you have a spare quality power supply unit (seasonic or antec), swap it with your current psu and see what happens.
afaik, psu failure is the most common cause of random shut offs when all the temps are within normal limits (cpu, hdd, ram, gpu).
2. if psu replacement results in same problem, remove spare and insert current psu.
at this time, remove one 8-gb memory module and test if the problem persist.

if the problem is still there, remove the last remaining 8-gb memory module and re-insert the other 8-gb memory module and test if the problem persist.

if using one memory module fixes the problem, then the other memory module must be the culprit. solution is to find another memory module kit.

if you had not performed checkdisk operation on your hard drive, maybe it's time to do it.

[omenGuard]

I don't have another PSU to test this with, but I will run chkdsk

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Whenever u reinstall a replacement (in your case RMA'd) motherboard, make sure to first Reset the BIOS fully; via CMOS Jumper method. Then boot up and go directly into BIOS and ensure the settings are the way you had them before, or need them to be. For example if you had AHCI set for SATA Mode before and now it is IDE Mode (or vice-versa) that can pose problems within the OS.

Ensure the RAM value settings are correct for what you have installed. Such as Frequency/Timings/Voltage. If your board & ram support XMP, then enable this.

If the board in any way support UEFI, then the setting for this will need to also be what it was set to before, or u may run into issues, either booting into your OS, or problems once the OS starts.

[chiefputsilao✖️ping]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Woolongs:

I don't have another PSU to test this with, but I will run chkdsk

you didn't mention if you already run memory module test.
there are two ways to do it:

1. read some info and run memory test (memtest)

http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memtest

http://www.overclock.net/t/671967/memtest-for-64-bit

2. physically testing one memory module at a time, dimm 0 slot
remove one memory module, run pc, see what happens.
use the other memory module, run pc, see what happens.
(read motherboard manual, use dimm 0 slots, then dimm 1)

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von chiefputsi:

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Woolongs:

I don't have another PSU to test this with, but I will run chkdsk

you didn't mention if you already run memory module test.
there are two ways to do it:

1. read some info and run memory test (memtest)

http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memtest

http://www.overclock.net/t/671967/memtest-for-64-bit

2. physically testing one memory module at a time, dimm 0 slot
remove one memory module, run pc, see what happens.
use the other memory module, run pc, see what happens.
(read motherboard manual, use dimm 0 slots, then dimm 1)

Yes, while it can be a bit lengthy, this is the best means of testing.
As to not just test your physical RAM one at a time, but to also test each DIMM slot as well.

[omenGuard]

I apologize in advance for reviving a topic that is seemingly dead, but in the time I have been away I have tried the following:

I used Memtest to run a memory module test. I ran it for 20 hours which amounted ot 8 passes and no errors were dectected.

I bought a Thermaltake Doctor Power II PSU tester. I initially tested my EVGA 600B tester while it was in my case.

The first test was of the 24 pin connector and the CPU 8 pin connector with the SATA power and PCIe power from my PSU still connected to their respective components.

The DP2's screen turned red and showed "F" indicating that the PSU was faulty.

I did a second test but added the PCIe connector and still had the same result.

I went out and bought a Corsair HX650 PSU and I tested it before placing it in the case on a separate wall outlet. I received no errors.

I then removed my old EVGA 600b PSU from my case and tested it on the same outlet as the Corsair HX650 and I did not receive any errors.

I then tested both of my PSUs on the old outlet with the tester and I received no error messages. I was getting 12 volts and 12.1 volts for the Corsair and EVGA PSUs respectively on the 12V rail.

The only things I have not done is run a CPU stress test
So far the new PSU has not given me any problems, but I have only been using it for 3 hours tops as of this post. When I loaded NZXT CAM, it showed that my CPU voltage was low….it could be faulty reporting.
I checked all the capacitors on my motherboard and none of them looking like they are bulging.
I am left with the motherboard, which I RMAd in the past, which ASUS informed me that they fixed for a problem I was having when my PC was randomly hanging, but they never informed me what they did or what they fixed.
I think it might be the motherboard. Is this a good assumption or is there something else that is wrong?

[chiefputsilao✖️ping]

how low is the cpu voltage?
i wonder thought if this is the culprit of your random shutdown since you said that so far after changing psu, you have no problem for at least three hours.
do what you normally do: surf the net using our preferred internet browser and play games to see if the previous porblem of random shutdown can be duplicated again under the same usage.

---
software update issues:

your motherboard suppports lucid virtu technology. if you want to, you can install it.

Virtu is referred to as ‘virtual GPU’ software, as it allows you to install two disparate graphics drivers on one installation of Windows, and switch between them and their attendant hardware based on what you’re doing.

download/install update here:

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/utils/Lucid_Virtu_Win8_VER2122124927.zip

Description
Lucid Virtu Universal MVP Software V2.1.221.24927 for Windows 8 32bit & 64bit.
Lucid Virtu Universal MVP Software V2.1.221.24927 for Windows 8 32bit & 64bit.

Note 1:
The current build of Lucid Virtu Universal MVP software does not support Windows 8 Secure Boot function. Please ensure you have disabled Windows 8 Secure Boot functionality from under BIOS before starting this build of Lucid Virtu Universal MVP. Windows 8 Secure Boot Support is expected to be supported from the next release onwards.

Note 2:
The Lucid Virtu MVP requires the installation of Microsoft .NET 3.5 before its installation. Please kindly ensure Microsoft .NET 3.5 was installed prior the installation of Lucid Virtu MVP.

download gpu driver pack from intel and nvidia.
there are two school of thoughts in this regard.

many say that you must install latest driver pack from the gpu manufacturer.

http://www.intel.com/support/detect.htm?iid=dc_iduu
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Scan.aspx?lang=en-us

or you can go with computer manufacturer-provided intel and nvidia driver packs (which may be outdated).

as a last resort to correct certain issues, download/install latest bios update here:

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1155/P8Z77-I_DELUXE/P8Z77-I-DELUXE-SI-1103.zip