CPU Overvoltage and Surge Protection error with un-overclocked system.

[theaterinterior]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For $0.00)

Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (Purchased For $0.00)

Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (Purchased For $0.00)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $0.00)

Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (Purchased For $405.00)

Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case (Purchased For $0.00)

Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (Purchased For $114.00)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 3-Pack (OEM) (64-bit) (Purchased For $0.00)

Total: $519.00 (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.) (Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-02 14:20 EST+1000)

 

I've recently updated my system with a new PSU, Graphics Card and Ram. Everything else in this list was happily running until a few days ago when it randomly shut off. I assumed it was my old PSU as I'd had some trouble with it before and it was due for an upgrade anyway. I tested that the PSU was powering on the system (minus the graphics card) before installing it and everything appeared to be fine. I didn't actually test it with a monitor though. After installing everything in the case except for the graphics card I decided to boot up the system to remove my old drivers before installing the 7970. However, the system restarted after less than a second. Upon showing something on the monitor I was informed that there was a CPU over voltage error and was given the option to go to the bios to change my settings. I reset everything to defaults and tried again. This time the computer restarted roughly twelve times before I switched it off manually. I tried again only to be told that in addition to there being a CPU over voltage error that Surge Protection had been enabled to protect my motherboard from a faulty PSU. So far I've considered that either the CPU, motherboard, PSU or some combination of all of them is at fault and that I will have to return something or everything. What am I looking at here? Is everything dead or can I salvage something? Thank you for your help, I'm kind of freaking out here. I really appreciate any thoughts you may have, even if you're not 100% sure.

Edited June 2, 2013 by theaterinterior

[Braegnok]

Lets hope your only issue is your old HCG-620 Bronze PSU,  and not a direct short.

I would start by pulling your motherboard and carefully checking for shorts, connections, stand offs, etc... if no signs of a short are found then replacing your power supply, with a certified platinum or gold model, then recheck all connections twice and give it a try.  Good Luck

Edited June 3, 2013 by Braegnok

[theaterinterior]

The 620W is actually the new PSU. The old one was a 750w Thermaltake rebrand. How would I be checking for any shorts on the board? If its visually there may be issues with the fact that this motherboard has a plastic dust shroud covering almost the entire motherboard. I do not believe that it removable.

 

Thank you for your reply!

[SpikeSoprano]

Did you do  a complete reset of the bios after installing the new psu, by this I mean unplugging system and removing cmos battery.Sometimes the mb won't reset itself unless you do this. Also are you sure the new psu is not faulty ? To check mb for shorts you have to remove it and look at the back of the board very carefully to check for any burn marks or broken solder line connections.

[theaterinterior]

I reset the BIOS via the settings menu, but I actually couldn't see a CMOS battery. :/ I think there is a clear BIOS switch on the back and I can move the jumper on the motherboard. But if I went to default settings and saved them it should be the same thing, right?

 

I'll take the motherboard out and examine for damage, I do think the new PSU could be at fault though, especially with the error message about the surge protection from a faulty PSU. I just want to be sure before I go through the lengthy return process.

 

Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to my post!

[SpikeSoprano]

It's usually better to use the jumpers to reset bios to default if you can't get to the battery, just doing it threw the bios a lot of times don't do the trick. Would be good if you had another known good psu to test it out. Hope it works out for you.

[Braegnok]

After you pull your motherboard, the thermal armor is vary easy to remove, only 8 little screws, with the thermal armor removed you can see if any loose screws, etc have fallen in under armor causing a short. Then like Spike said use a known working PSU to post your board while it's on the bench, start installing hardware, testing,.. confirm everything works without the error codes.

before reinstalling board check & count your stand offs to insure they are in correct location and you do not have any extra from old install. photo of your board with thermal armor removed,..cmos battery is just below top X16 slot.

 

More than likely you have a faulty PSU, the HCG-620 seems to have a high failure rate with mediocre DC output quality,.. Good Luck,..

 

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2013 by Braegnok

[wevsspot]

Theater, put your old video card back in.

 

Confirm that you are running the latest BIOS for your motherboard.  If not flash to the latest BIOS.  Often times new GPU technology requires motherboard support only provided by the latest and greatest BIOS released from the m/b manufacturer.

 

Also, before you swapped the video cards, did you remove the previous gpu driver installation?

[theaterinterior]

The new graphics card has not been opened. I'm running off of the onboard graphics. As mentioned in the original post, I was booting up with the intention of removing my old drivers when this problem took place.

 

I took the motherboard out of the case, removed the 'thermal armour' and believe that there are no burns or broken connections. I have a picture of some whitish dust that was on the back of the motherboard. I believe that it is just dust, as any burns would surely be blackish in colour? I will upload the picture shortly, but I'm quite sure nothing is wrong with the motherboard.

[wevsspot]

Any recent bad weather (i.e. lightning, brownout, blackout, power surge)?  Are you running off a UPS or other surge protector?  Have you tried a different power outlet in the room?

 

Did you disassemble everything from the case when you were doing your other upgrades?  If so, when you re-assembled everything are you sure that there aren't any shorts between the motherboard and the motherboard tray?

 

If I were you;

 

1. Pull everything out of the case

2. Move CMOS jumper to clear position

3. Remove m/b battery

4. Minimal hardware build outside the case (motherboard, cpu, gpu, memory, power supply)

5. Install motherboard battery

6. Move CMOS jumper to save position

7. Attempt to boot

[theaterinterior]

Still waiting to be able to get the pictures off of my camera, but I managed to test my setup with a friends power supply. Unfortunately, it produced the same results. Now there was an incident where a screw fell into the PSU while it was off, but I don't think that could cause the same problems to occur, could it?

 

If I'm right, what am I looking at? New CPU, motherboard or both?

[wevsspot]

Hard to tell.  Even if a power supply is "off" it still has stored energy unless it was unplugged from the wall socket and de-energized.  Guess it's possible that the screw that fell into your power supply could have shorted something, then when you powered the system back up that short caused damage to some other component.

 

I'm just speculating now though.  If you have to start replacing stuff I'd begin with the board since it is less expensive than the CPU, keep your fingers crossed and hope for the best.

 

Did you try all of the other things suggested in this thread?