Tripping the circuit breaker...

[morowe]

Hi,

I have had my computer for a couple weeks now and I love it! Its had a few problems but they've been manageable until now. I've had the BSOD severall times with varying messages but all pointing to some dodgy ram. After talking to pc specialists (incredible) tech support i was guided into changing the Oc settings a little bit. changing first to XMP mode then increasing the voltage slightly. This didn't help so i was advised to take all sticks out but one and run a memory test repeating fro each stick until i found the problem one and then it could be replaced. This was fine and i have some competence in opening up a computer so felt safe to do so. There were no hiccups in removing the ram and the only thing strange was a random wire lying around, but it was labeled OC key so i figured it was for changing settings or something and left it alone.

So i didn't change anything apart from take the ram out. I then turned the power back on a it tripped the circuit breaker.... This is not anything totally new as it happened a couple times on my old computer and the first time i plugged this new one in. However now every time i plug it in it trips the breaker. I have re installed all the ram and unplugged everything in my room yet it still trips it. I rang pc specialist to check that the tripping wouldn't damage it and they assured me it would be fine but suggested it may be the computer until I pointed out it was a recurring problem).

I have asked the porter at my hall about it and he said the limit per outlet is 1200W. I know my power supply is 850W so is not over it. It is plugged into a surge protector extension (not a cheap extension cord) with nothing else plugged in.

just to reiterate the first time i plugged it in a couple weeks ago it tripped it but not the second time but i then left it plugged in and just turned the pc on and off (not the switch). (this is just plugging the pc in that trips it not even turning it on!)

any advice would be GREATLY appreciated as i have a lot of coursework and programming projects that i need to wrap up =(.

my specs are:

Case
NZXT PHANTOM WHITE GAMING CASE
Overclocked CPU
Overclocked Intel® Six Core i7-3930K (3.2GHz @ max 4.6GHz)
Motherboard
ASUS® RAMPAGE IV EXTREME: INTEL X79, SOCKET 2011, R.O.G
Memory (RAM)
32GB KINGSTON HYPERX GENESIS QUAD-DDR3 1600MHz X.M.P(8 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
3GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP - 3D Vision Ready
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
120GB INTEL® 510 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 450MB/sR | 210MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk
2TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD2002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
3rd 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
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
10x LG BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE
Processor Cooling
TITAN FENRIR EVO EXTREME HEATPIPE CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
Sound Blaster® X-Fi™ Titanium
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps PCI-E CARD

 

[vanthus]

Sounds more like a problem with either your wall socket,surge adaptor or the leads connecting these,from the wall socket to your computer.

 

[morowe]

yer i thought so because there's no way a 800W power supply would be generating over 400W more when its plugged in right? and i don think there's anything i could of done that would cause it to consume more power...

I think im being a little bit over precuatious but im worried about not using the surge protected just in case.

I think i will probably try a different plug with the surge protector and if not maybe just the mains (tho that means alot of moving it...

im also still a little dubious as to how healthy the circuit breaker is for my pc, even though its almost instant (from pluggin it in to ripping (<1 sec)).

 

[vanthus]

What size is the cct breaker thats tripping, I would have expected the RCD to trip out first.

 

[morowe]

Im not really sure sorry =( I don't know much about it, its just mandatory in every uni room. Theres only one thing and its above my door and its just a little switch and nothing else (sorry i know thats not too helpful)

 

[vanthus]

Sounds like an RCD,unplug the computer & try plugging something else in
to see if it trips,problem is it's an intermittent fault.
Dont you have maintenance guys at the uni.

 

[morowe]

well I've got all my other stuff plugged in now, including a screen... but there not anywhere near the wattage the computer is =/

The on hand maintenance guy said it was my computer and when i explained why i thought it wasn't he said that he would email the electrical guys but thought they'd probably just blame the computer too.

 

[vanthus]

Well,you could try plugging the computer into different outlets to see if
the problem still occurs,
if it does it could point to the computer,but it could be the power lead.
Cant see it overloading,but then again I dont know the size of the breaker
(it's got to be more than a 13amp fuse though) & it would depend on what else
you have plugged in.
Then there's the fact it happened with a previous computer.

 

[morowe]

yer, i did try another socket and same problem.

I think your right tho as I've had the problem with my old computer and a couple of other incidents =/

Thanks a lot for your ideas =)

 

[vanthus]

One way to find out for sure if the computer or power lead is the cause of the fault
is to plug the computer straight into a wall socket,if the fault still occurs you can at least rule out the surge adaptor,(you may have already done that)
then if at all possible do the same in a friends room,(still without the surge protector)
if the fault is still apparent then it does point to the computer or power lead,if the fault doesn't occur in the other room it would point to faulty electrics in your room,
possibly a weak breaker or RCD,(whichever it is)
you could of course try another power lead first to rule that out of the equation.

 

[c-hri-s]

If it doesn't happen in your friends room, I'd swap your RCD for theirs

 

[morowe]

Haha or just move in to there room .

 

[morowe]

Ok, just tried it directly in the mains with no surge protector and it still tripped so its definatley my comp or te circuit breaker and not the surge protector.

I guess either way im buggered, i now just have an expensive uni decoration....at least i bought a nice case to look at? lol

 

[Xoil]

The first thing that comes to my mind is the fuse, if it is too little for whats needed it will blow. See what fuse in the the plug and get a new one then try it. All i can think of.

 

[vanthus]

Ok, just tried it directly in the mains with no surge protector and it still tripped so its definatley my comp or te circuit breaker and not the surge protector.

Could also still be the power lead.If it still happens with another power lead
the obvious conclusion is a fault with the computer,but as you say it's happened before with another computer & other instances it could be faulty electrics in your room.
One way to confirm this as I said, would be to try the computer somewhere else.

 

[Xoil]

Just looking on the internet the circuit breaker could be a bit wore down, if your at university your best bet is to ask to get a electrician to check the breakers.

 

[vanthus]

Just looking on the internet the circuit breaker could be a bit wore down, if your at university your best bet is to ask to get a electrician to check the breakers.

Well, I've already suggested that,hence the idea of trying the computer somewhere else,
point being If it works ok then he can argue it's not the computer causing the fault.

 

[[email protected]]

Ok, just tried it directly in the mains with no surge protector and it still tripped

Nothing on the AC mains is defective. You have BSODs because the computer is defective.

All computers work normal and ideal even when AC mains dip so low that incandescent bulbs dim to 40% intensity. How often are your mains sagging that much? Never?

You have a defective computer. Numbers in that BSOD are pointing to what is failing. Fix the problem. Throw out that surge protector that is doing nothing useful. Nothing on AC mains is causing your problem.

 

[Rakk]

Nothing on the AC mains is defective. You have BSODs because the computer is defective.

BSOD's can be caused by faulty drivers and/or software as well, so its doesn't mean that the PC is defective, it could be, but its not guaranteed

All computers work normal and ideal even when AC mains dip so low that incandescent bulbs dim to 40% intensity. How often are your mains sagging that much? Never?

You have a defective computer. Numbers in that BSOD are pointing to what is failing. Fix the problem. Throw out that surge protector that is doing nothing useful. Nothing on AC mains is causing your problem.

However, nothing in the thread points to the mains issue causing the BSOD's - and noone suggested the power supply to be the reason for the BSOD's, people were just trying to suggest reasons why the trip switch was tripping, which could easily be something to do with the power supply in the room, especially since it happened with an older PC as well.

 

[vanthus]

Nothing on the AC mains is defective. You have BSODs because the computer is defective.

All computers work normal and ideal even when AC mains dip so low that incandescent bulbs dim to 40% intensity. How often are your mains sagging that much? Never?

You have a defective computer. Numbers in that BSOD are pointing to what is failing. Fix the problem. Throw out that surge protector that is doing nothing useful. Nothing on AC mains is causing your problem.

Sorry westom,but that makes no sense to me whatsoever,
I was trying to give advice to the OP as an electrician, whose forte just happens to be fault finding,
I dont claim to be a computer expert but I do know a bit &
one thing I'm pretty certain of is that a BSOD has absolutely nothing to do with a breaker tripping out.