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Meldonox
Jan 13, 2006

Hey, are you listening to a word I'm saying?
I've got a little bit of a head scratcher here. I haven't run into anything quite like it before, and I did high volume desktop break/fix work for several years. I'm leaning toward it being something hosed with the motherboard, but I figured I'd post here for a sanity check first.


Problem description: My PC is fairly new, about three months old now. I haven't had issues with it before. If I plug it directly into the wall, everything is just fine. Into a surge protector, though, and it doesn't always want to power on (as in the power switch does nothing; it never fails to POST when it comes on). There is definitely power running to it, as an indicator light on the video card lights anytime it's plugged in and the PSU is switched on. The problem can but doesn't necessarily go away after flipping the power switch on the PSU off and on and/or reseating the power cable.

Once I have it turned on when plugged into the surge protector, the following issues crop up:

The system time is also regularly getting off by an hour or two. If I turn the system off, it seems to retain the time it had when I turned it off unless manually changed, both within the BIOS and in the OS. Once corrected, within a couple hours it will revert to an hour or two previous. It does this abruptly; it will display the correct time for a while, then the hour and minute will suddenly change, rather than seconds counting too quickly or slowly like I may expect from a clock speed issue.

Two or three times now, when the clock loses time it will lose connection to the internet and Windows will say it does not detect such and such a networking protocol. This issue does not persist upon reboot.

Attempted fixes: Not much, because I'm simply struggling to come up with good ideas to try. I've tried running the system plugged directly into the wall, into the surge protector with nothing else plugged in, into a different surge protector, and I've run it with a different CMOS battery and without a CMOS battery at all to see what differences it makes.

Most interestingly, it doesn't appear to be a dead CMOS battery despite the erratic time and difficulties powering on. One thing I tested was going into UEFI to check the system clock with each battery and without one at all, unplugging the power cord for a couple minutes before each case. With either battery, the time picks up at exactly the same time it was when the system was powered off, and without a battery it reverts to sometime in 2014 or 2015 (I didn't pay much mind which, just that it was off).

I haven't taken a testing tool to my PSU yet since I don't have one on hand, but it's crossed my mind to do so.

Edit: It probably also bears mentioning that I've tried this with all peripherals unplugged too, and it doesn't seem to make any difference. I haven't stuck around long enough to see if the clock thing happens, but it certainly doesn't impact the powering on thing.

Recent changes: The system is only two or three months old, so I haven't changed out any hardware or anything. It stayed plugged into the wall for a while since I forgot to switch it back after setting up my old PC for a while. I am reasonably confident there wasn't any power fluctuation that would have affected it, since the microwave in the kitchen is the canary in the house and will lose its own time if anyone sneezes.

The most I've done is take it to a LAN party at the office a week ago, when everything still seemed normal. Nothing out of the ordinary happened there in terms of power or usage, so I'm inclined to believe it's not a cause of it, but rather the first recent opportunity my PC has had to be powered off long enough for me to notice the clock, plus the first time in a while it's been plugged into a surge protector.



--

Operating system: Windows 10 64-bit

System specs:
CPU: i5-4590
Mobo: H97M-ITX/AC
Memory: Some random G.Skill 16 GB kit
Storage: 850 EVO 500GB
Video card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX
Case: Corsaid 250D
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W

Location: USA

I have Googled and read the FAQ: Yep.

Meldonox fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Jan 24, 2016

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Rascallion
Feb 10, 2014
Beyond power supply and board: Have you tried different power outlets in your place or a new surge protector? If you have really messed up wiring your surge protectors could be burned out.

Meldonox
Jan 13, 2006

Hey, are you listening to a word I'm saying?
Yep, sorry if I didn't make that clear. I switched surge protectors right away. I guess I did fail to mention that I switched outlets and wound up moving it back after it changed nothing.

It's been well-behaved today, but I think my next move will be to swap PSUs. I was looking to avoid this, since the other one I have on hand isn't modular and would have to be disconnected from and pulled out of my old PC, but I guess it would be worth the hassle.

Zogo
Jul 29, 2003

Are you using the latest BIOS? http://www.asrock.com/feature/appshop/

Also, have you tried clearing CMOS using the jumper?

Meldonox
Jan 13, 2006

Hey, are you listening to a word I'm saying?
Yes, no. I'll give that a shot.

I'm taking my PC out for another office LAN party tomorrow, so I'll get to work switching stuff around afterward.

Meldonox
Jan 13, 2006

Hey, are you listening to a word I'm saying?
Welp, as an update I confirmed a little while ago that it isn't the battery or PSU. I contacted ASRock and they believe that the real time clock is hosed. Now I suppose I have to decide if I care enough to pay out of pocket to send it across the country to them just to get a lovely refurb back or if I should deal with it for now and get a better part to replace it when it shits the bed.

Alereon
Feb 6, 2004

Dehumanize yourself and face to Trumpshed
College Slice
Buy a good motherboard, RMA the ASRock, and ebay the replacement you receive. The deal with ASRock is that if you're bound and determined to buy a cheap lovely motherboard, ASRock will give you a better board than other manufacturers. However, it's always smarter to just buy a decent Asus motherboard. At the end of the day if you spend $100 on a motherboard it's probably not going to work no matter who you buy it from, because it costs more than that to build a motherboard.

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Meldonox
Jan 13, 2006

Hey, are you listening to a word I'm saying?
Yeah, lesson learned. I'm tempted to sell it as it is since it would be okay for a simple gaming rig or NAS or something. Something like $20 for shipping to an RMA department known for handing back broken poo poo and I figure in just throwing good money after bad.

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