Seemingly Random Restarts without BSODs

[JVassie]

Below is my spec:

Case
COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Core™i7-3770k Quad Core (3.50GHz @ max 4.60GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® SABERTOOTH Z77: USB 3.0, SATA 6.0GB/s, THERMAL ARMOR
Memory (RAM)
16GB KINGSTON HYPERX BEAST DUAL-DDR3 2400MHz X.M.P (4 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
2nd Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
1st Hard Disk
240GB INTEL® 520 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W PRO SERIES™ HX750-80 PLUS® GOLD MODULAR (£119)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H60 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler (£59)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)

Which I bought from PCS end of April last year.

Starting a few days ago, I have started having seeminly random computer crashes, the system will literally just 'die' the same way if power was lost (I assume), and then a few seconds later the system will restart itself.

When I check the event viewer, the only issues that come up are Event ID 41, Critical Kernel-Power, but these seem to be rather generic and I think are generated after the reboot anyway, so not likely to be the cause of whatever is happening.

I've run Windows Memory Diagnostic which din't report any issues.
I've run the Intel Processor Diagnostic tool which again didn't report any issues.
In the BIOS, I've made sure all the recommended defaults are set.
I've disabled most things from the starup list, everything except Intel, Nvidia, Realtek and my Anti Virus.

I'm kind of at a loss as to what could be causing these issues, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

[steaky360]

I guess it could be your PSU? Not certain how to diagnose it further really though. Only thing that popped into my mind was to maybe try and remove a graphics card and see if it makes any difference (less power draw from PSU). But it might not mean anything if it doesn't.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Perhaps start in safe mode, see if it's still triggered...

Also see if you can load the memory.dmp file in c:/windows, have a Google search on how to read it or provide a link and I'll have a look for you.

 

[JVassie]

I guess it could be your PSU? Not certain how to diagnose it further really though. Only thing that popped into my mind was to maybe try and remove a graphics card and see if it makes any difference (less power draw from PSU). But it might not mean anything if it doesn't.

What's the best way of going about doing that please? Just remove the bridge and then either one of the cards? Never done any mods to a dual GPU setup before.

 

[JVassie]

Perhaps start in safe mode, see if it's still triggered...

Also see if you can load the memory.dmp file in c:/windows, have a Google search on how to read it or provide a link and I'll have a look for you.

Problem with it being an intermittent issue is there is no real way to confirm if that will help or not. I've had the issue happen half a dozen times or so within 30 minutes this morning. Followed by an hour plus of gaming with no issues, and then poff, gone again. It doesn't seem related to any particular activity either, even just browsing the internet, or even restarting the computer can cause it.

I don't appear to have a memory.dmp file located there (I have hidden files/folders visible too)

 

[JVassie]

Also, one thing I noticed when in the BIOS on the Monitor page, two of the case fans were displaying in red, with RPMs around the 4-500 mark. Unfortunately I'm not sure if that is a new occurence or has always been like that - I've had no need to go into the BIOS before now.

 

[steaky360]

I wouldn't worry too much about the fans, case fans wouldn't cause a random restart like you've described. I guess it could be another symptom of something funny occurring in the BIOS...

I'd literally remove one of the two GPU's - take off the bridge, remove the power connectors and take it out of your case.

 

[JVassie]

Just had it happen again, this time when it rebooted, it got stuck on the POST screen saying ASUS Anti-Surge had restarted the computer to prevent damage during a surge. As far as I can tell, there hasn't been a surge, nothing else in the flat has been affected once during all these reboots.

 

[JVassie]

I wouldn't worry too much about the fans, case fans wouldn't cause a random restart like you've described. I guess it could be another symptom of something funny occurring in the BIOS...

I'd literally remove one of the two GPU's - take off the bridge, remove the power connectors and take it out of your case.

Have taken one of the GPUs out, will keep PC running and see if it helps.

Will call up tech support tomorrow, do you think it likely this could be a PSU issue?

 

[JVassie]

Have taken one of the GPUs out, will keep PC running and see if it helps.

Will call up tech support tomorrow, do you think it likely this could be a PSU issue?

And unfortunately, it seems that did not help. The computer died again, and again got the message from ASUS Anti-Surge when the PC rebooted.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Ah, good old asus anti-surge... In my experience, the asus mobo bolt-ons are problematic at best... See thread below:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1865008/disable-asus-anti-surge.html

I would uninstall it and I'm pretty sure the problem will disappear. This goes for their Ai suite also which causes some issues... It's actually asus who recommend a complete uninstall and even offer tools to uninstall properly.

 

[JVassie]

Ah, good old asus anti-surge... In my experience, the asus mobo bolt-ons are problematic at best... See thread below:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1865008/disable-asus-anti-surge.html

I would uninstall it and I'm pretty sure the problem will disappear. This goes for their Ai suite also which causes some issues... It's actually asus who recommend a complete uninstall and even offer tools to uninstall properly.

Will I void my warranty by disabling it?

 

[JVassie]

Will I void my warranty by disabling it?

After lots of googling, it seems that people who disabled ASUS Anti-Surge found it fixed similar sounding issues to my own, so yeah, confirmation that disabling it won't void the warranty would be very welcome!

 

[steaky360]

Will I void my warranty by disabling it?

Its an odd one - If you disable it, and everything else is fine then no it wont void your warranty. If you disable it and something breaks because you've disabled it then yes it will.

For 100% confirmation, I'd get in touch with PCS directly and ask them, they might well tell you to switch it off

 

[JVassie]

Its an odd one - If you disable it, and everything else is fine then no it wont void your warranty. If you disable it and something breaks because you've disabled it then yes it will.

For 100% confirmation, I'd get in touch with PCS directly and ask them, they might well tell you to switch it off

Feared it would be like that

I wouldn't normally be in such a 'state' about these issues, they happen I know, and it normally ends up with a component being RMA'd. Problem is though, a game releasing next weekend that I've been waiting for for about 1.5 years now, and have got several weeks booked off work to play it, leaves me a little desperate about having a functional PC!

 

[JVassie]

Next thought, my current BIOS is version 1805 (19/12/2012), and the ASUS website says version 2104 (16/9/2013), should I update it? Again, is this within warranty? Only if it doesn't break something?

 

[steaky360]

Best get in touch with PCS today, see what they say. At least you can get the ball rolling in that case... Sorry I can't give a more positive answer, I'd hate to advise you to just do it and then something go wrong...

 

[JVassie]

Best get in touch with PCS today, see what they say. At least you can get the ball rolling in that case... Sorry I can't give a more positive answer, I'd hate to advise you to just do it and then something go wrong...

Bank holiday, lines are closed!

Yeah, no worries, appreciate your help and advice so far