Title say’s it, I’ve been talking with Marko about this for awhile now and it’s stumped us both, asking here because he is probably sick to death of me pestering him with this issue. The issue is somewhat strange in the sense that it has slightly changed from what causes the PC to crash, I’ll try fit everything in, if I remember.
It started out when I plugged a lamp into the same power circuit as my PC and turning on the lamp would make the PC crash, well now, the lamp sometimes does that still but it instead now happens everytime I plug my Sky TV box in the socket, this also only happens via HDMI signal and with a certain PSU & GPU, I’ve tested with another PSU & GPU for obvious reasons, all that changed was the PC wouldn’t crash it would just blank the screen for a second and then come back each time i plugged the Sky Box in or turned the lamp on, everything with the PC otherwise is fine, it is just with that PSU and GPU installed that crashes my PC, obviously there is still an issue, the screen shouldn’t even go blank for a second, some kind of HDMI surge I suspect but I also suspect there is more too.
By power circuit - do you mean same house circuit or same power strip board, or same wall socket?
From what you’ve described it sounds like a power supply issue that one PSU couldn’t handle. Likely a surge or mini brown out along the ac line that disrupts the PSU. Or a circuit grounding issue.
You say the screen goes blank - does this happen with any other type of output (DVI, VGA etc.?) also is the monitor itself resetting?
Just a couple of ideas that come to mind base don the info provided.
Sounds like the circuit breaker might not be pushing enough amps for the entire load. Causing a mini brown out. Check your circuit box. Could just be a 10 amp circuit needing a 15 amp fuse/breaker.
Whoops, by power ciircuit I mean from the same extension cable from the wall socket. I’ve tried a different extension cable too but didn’t change a thing. The screen itself if running via VGA doesn’t have any issues whatsoever when connecting other devices into the same power socket. The monitor in this case right now is a TV (we’re in the living room and the monitor gets used very little here).
I can’t actually check the amps on the circuit box as I don’t know how and presume it wouldn’t be safe for your average joe to do so lol.
I’ve also checked using this exact setup on a different circuit in the house, I used a long extension to do so with no change.
Techtu84 most are 10amps. You’ll prob need to change a breaker to a 15amp. Just.too much power draw for your beast. And right in circuit.box on the breakers it is.listed in white numbering. Usually 10amps per reg house breaker. Higher for appliance breakers.
Only0neKnight I dunno, I’ve had this particular setup as it is for around 6 months, all except the PSU that is, but that is also why I have tested with another PSU and even though it doesn’t give the exact same fault it does produce a similar fault that I already explained.
How long an extension cable? Adding a decent amount of length from the wall can cause a voltage drop across that distance, so then when you add in a lamp (which really doesn’t care about how much voltage it gets) the voltage at your PC sags which the PSU decides isn’t enough to power itself & shuts down. The other PSU would have a different set of components which the sagging voltage doesn’t affect as much. What are the two GPUs that you’ve experimented with? I’m assuming the one that causes the full shut down is the beefier card?
Also when switching any type of electrical device on there’s an in-rush current & when everything is attached that’s enough to affect your PC - could be a safety feature on the PSU or it could be the PSU being unable to handle that short spike in current, remember that your PC is your most sensitive piece of equipment & you’ll see gross effects due to electrical issues on this before you see it on other appliances.
Sgt_T8ie Erm it probably is around 25ft, my PC doesn’t shut down as such, just a black screen, Marko had a look at some event logs and couldn’t see any issue’s there regarding the PSU having a problem, your right the beefer card is the one causing these black screens with no return until I hit the power switch and restart manually. So you’re saying this is an infrastructure issue too? That seems likely with all that has been said with this issue, I’m borrowing a multimeter from a friend a over the weekend, I’m hoping I can get to the route of the issue with that and go from there.
Techtu84 OK, 25ft isn’t as bad as I was envisaging XD but it’d still be a bit flakey if you’re running a full PC, monitor & then a lamp or decoder box at the end. The affect of the extension cable would be that the extra length is added resistance which increases the current.
If nothing else on your circuit is showing effects then it’s less likely an infrastruture issue & instead your PSU not handling the current change when you turn another device on in the same circuit.
Assuming it’s an incandescent bulb in your lamp, what you’re seeing is a huge current instantaneously placed on the circuit when switching the lamp on (when the filament is cold it has very high resistance that drops as it heats up), this inrush current isn’t all being placed on your PC but there will be some form of transient effect from the massive current change in the circuit. So in the case of the both PCs there’s likely some form of current protection happening in the PSUs, in the most dramatic case it switches off to prevent harm & in the lesser case it may be dropping some internal activity (ie to the GPU) to prevent over current. Overall, if it does turn out to be the cause, it’s not something you want your PC to be going through on a semi-regular basis. Fluoro lights work differently as they have a trickle current through their ballast & likewise LED lamps have their own trickle current. Instead these types of lighting cause different issues when they aren’t working correctly.
I’d look at placing some form of external safety protection between your PC & the rest of the circuit. A decent IT-specific (or AV - I have a Belkin one designed for HiFi) powerstrip will likely have some form of internal current limiting to suppress those inrush currents. An UPS would also provide similar protection (but is expensive). A RCD (residual current device) style switch is probably not going to help as it may not have a lower inrush current “trip” point as your PSU and if it does will simply shut your system down hard, causing its own issues.
Simplest way to remedy, may be running a separate cable for PC components & another for everythibng else & seeing if that fixes the issue.
So it’s been awhile since I’ve posted here about this, I moved my PC back into the bedroom (away from the child) so not had to deal with the issues I had previously… That’s not to say they are solved though, infact I have a new issue! Once every now and again my PC crashes for no reason, weather I’m in game or desktop it doesn’t really matter, the screen is so strange though, not even a BSOD, black screen, etc, looks rather fuzzy, I’d say like a snowey digital signal, just like that on the old analog ariels but with some straight lines lol. I have to reset at the on/off switch on the the chassis for a normal reset and the same thing in event viewer - kernel power event 41 task 63. Still unable to test the system long term on another PSU as I just don’t have one with enough power to run it. Can’t see how it’s the PSU though but from previous issue’s it does keep it at the front of my mind. I’m leaning towards my GPU but the issue doesn’t go away with another GPU so yea… I hate tech and it hates me. (Y)
