"Random reboots" with a veteran Biostar A85S3 mobo w/Win10-X64...

Dear TenForums users:

DaveC here...over the late summer and continuing "right through today", my Biostar Hi-Fi A85S3 motherboarded, AMD A8-6600K-CPUed Win 10 X64, just updated to "version 20H2" within a week ago) desktop PC has developed an occasional, "whenever-it-wants-to" habit of unexpectedly re-booting even before the "20H2" update, which always seems to occur with no warning whatsoever.

I HAD thought that a past, unidentifiable Win10 X64 update COULD be causing the "random reboots", and possibly my potentially inappropriate use of a Dell USB keyboard, instead of the Das Keyboard twin-USB connection keyboard it's got the drivers installed for (and which I'm using right now to type this message) could also have been a potential problem...

...well, it "just had it happen again" within the last 30 minutes WITH the Das Keyboard fully connected, and I'm wondering if the MB is starting to get "a little long in the tooth" since I first starting using it five YEARS ago.

As I usually prefer to have a particular "in-use motherboard's replacement" awaiting its OWN replacement, that HAS been recently achieved...a new Biostar Racing B550GTA mobo w/32 GB of Crucial PC4 21300 RAM (two sticks of memory, 32 GB total), along with an AMD Ryzen 7 3700X eight-core CPU chip, with an upgraded DeepCool "Gammaxx" triple-heatpipe CPU heatsink unit, with potentially an AMD Radeon WX 4100 4 GB workstation video card for a future upgrade from the nearly-AS-"ancient" Nvidia Quadro K620 2 GB video card that I MAY have to keep using through the end of the year on either the old Biostar OR new Biostar MBs, with a tight budget from having to move out from my late mother's home by winter's end for public access housing - I'm simply hoping to KEEP everything running, and not having to upgrade anything unless my main desktop DOES quit working. I also already have a brand-new, in-box Enermax 850 watt Revolution D-F power supply "ready-to-go" for the upgrade (the 1st thing I get got it, before anything else) in thinking that it COULD be the power supply causing the "reboots", and if it was, I could simply replace IT and keep the A85S3 going until I moved out of the house, and into public housing early next year.

At least, I DO have most everything here for the upgrade, which I'd like to be able to do, if needed, before the Holidays arrive - but are the sorts of "random reboots", which always allow me to sign-in in the normal manner w/Win10, that I've described a
"normal thing" to have happen with a "geriatric mobo", or is "something else possibly going on", that I should know about?

Thanks in advance, DaveC

Double-posted...WHOOPS!

- - - Updated - - -

Dear EdTittel:

DaveC here again - I managed to find the "reliability monitor" after a bit of searching-around... I first found it on the Control Panel under "System & Security", then "Security and Maintenance" - the "maintenance record" under the Reliability Monitor showed a record going back to mid-September (Sep. 25th), after clicking on the "View reliability history" text-item, with "Windows was not properly shut down" on a number of occasions going back to at least September 25th of this year.

I've managed to get a pair of screenshots OF the Reliability Monitor through my CorelDRAW X7's Capture and Photo-Paint applications, and those are attached just below this paragraph for your examination.




They "overlap" a slight bit in early October, but otherwise, they cover the last month's worth of activity.

Hope these "reliability monitor" records can help in getting assistance from someone here at TenForums!

Thanks again (in advance) and Yours Sincerely,
DaveC

Dear 10Forums Helpers:

Dave C here again - the past few days have "been a bit busy" with lawn maintenance (mowing leaves from the front yard before any rain hits later this week) with the backyard due to get the same at midweek...

...in the meantime, noting SteveC's advisory to "keep an eye on CPU & system temperatures", by clicking on my "temperature monitor" app that came with my Biostar A85S3 mobo, I HAD noticed CPU temps as high as 35ºC/95ºF, with "system temps" actually hitting 38ºC/100ºF...which means, that it's time to check for dust-clogging on the trio of fans I've got.

The NZXT H230 case I'm currently using for my desktop PC, is my best-ever system case - it's the first one I've ever had with a "lower-rear location" for the power supply, allowing IT to have its very own cooling path from the rear of the case's ventral/bottom surface, out the lowest part of the back panel, manages to NOT "increase" the in-case temperature due to that "separate" cooling path.

There's four locations for 120mm-size fans in the H230 - two in front (with one stock NZXT fan in front, a lower-flow 24mm deep fan) with a matching one "loose" as the case was shipped to me new some five years ago, which took the third, "ventral intake" position. I'm using a Noctua fan for the upper-rear "exhaust fan" (the "fourth" position), of which model it is "precisely" I can't exactly remember. An AnandTech review on the H230 case is viewable "here" for those who might have never seen it before.

Way back in 2007-8 I had a Circo Tech "full-height" tower case, which had seen a lot of use through 2014, and from the days before "dedicated" PC cooling fans that connected to motherboards even existed. I used general "cooling fans" that provided quite a bit of airflow (100 CFM+) around a case, and it's still possible to do this, even with the H230 case...

...and thanks to vendors like Mouser Electronics, I MAY be doing so again - but for only one or two of the fans, mostly either the "ventral" position, or the "upper-rear" position.

One fan there, a Delta Electronics "QFR1212GHE" design available from Mouser, is a design that flows a goodly 200+ CFM at full bore for 12 VDC power input, would be a very decent (but noisy, at some 64 dB) way to "start coolin' things off"...it DOES consume some 1.8 amperes apiece, but I'm quite certain my existing Enermax 530W supply can power ONE fan in that critical "upper-rear" location to draw-out that 100ºF heated air from the case, just by "free running" and NOT tied to the motherboard in any manner, simply from powering it with a spare Molex connector. I WILL be getting two of these fans, though, as the second one could easily go into the "ventral intake" position...

...for the purposes of the eventual AMD Ryzen 7 upgrade I've nearly got the components for here at home, due for the end of the year and intended for installation in the H230 case.

THAT will have an Enermax Revolution D-F (dust-removing fan) 850 watt power supply for its needs (that I've already acquired), which has more than enough power output on 12 VDC to handle a pair of the Delta fans - both in "free running mode" from Molex connectors the entire time the PC is turned on, and with 200+ CFM "drawing" from underneath, and 200+ CFM "blowing-out-the-back", the sort of "overheating issues" I COULD easily be flirting with, could soon be a thing of the past.

It WILL take a pair or three weeks to get all of the components together, both the fans and extensions for wiring and connectors, not to mention the soldering and "bolt-in work" that's involved...as I'm the last surviving member of my family (my 83-year old mother passed on last December) and living in her home for "shelter-in-place" safety through the pandemic - as the home went on sale back on the 11th of October - I DO want to at least get the "fan upgrade" done to run the desktop I've got - entirely brought together by yours truly, as I've been doing for ALL the desktop PCs I've had for nearly a generation (since an Am386-40 came home with me on Halloween 1992) - and save the Ryzen 7 "full upgrade" fir installation, until I'm in senior public housing (turned 62 last February, and on Social Security since then) by next spring.

Thanks for the help so far,
DaveC

Dear 10Forums:

DaveC here again - I managed to get a pair of the aforementioned 200+ CFM-flow Delta fans ordered this Tuesday morning, for the eventual fitment of just ONE, for the present, into my NZXT H230 case in the "upper-rear" position to remove all that 100ºF-warmed air potentially causing what now could well be "overheating-shutdown"-caused "random reboots"...

...with the new fan's 1.8 amp current draw just running on 12 VDC power from the existing Enermax 530W power supply, having the 200+ CFM fan constantly EXHAUSTING the warmer air out of the case shouldn't overtax the PS, and should provide a decent ventilation upgrade going forwards towards placing the Ryzen upgrade in the H230 case, with the 850W PS waiting for installation and placing the other 200+ CFM fan in the "ventral intake" location, to help cool things down in that case even more effectively.

Connection hardware (Molex connectors/pins & 20 gauge wire) to truly connect the fans up to my existing power supply can be walk-in-purchased from the most reliable "brick & mortar vendor" in the area for nearly anything electronic...a LOT of areas in the US simply don't have these any longer, and I'm just glad that the Boston, MA area still does.

I'm simply interested in seeing how well just ONE of those 200+ CFM-flow, 12 VDC "free-running" fans does in venting out all that overheated air from the H230 case...it WILL "howl" a fair bit @ some 64 dBA in the rear of the case, but that sort of "fan howl" CAN be reassuring, to be certain that overheated air IS being removed from the case's upper interior regions as quickly as possible.

Thanks again,
DaveC

Dear TenForums:

DaveC here once more - now that the US Election Day is past (and with it, the crazy Eastern Massachusettts traffic) I've managed to get the connector hardware for the new 12 VDC, 1.8 amps-apiece current case cooling fans (ventral intake & upper-rear exhaust) that can each flow some 200 CFM "into and out-of" the NZXT H230 case my system's in, and since I've never HAD to do this sort of "extensive upgrading of a desktop PC case's airflow" before, to avoid having "the random reboots" I first mentioned here not so long ago, I simply had a few questions.

First, there IS this annotated photo for a guide (original was from Wikipedia's "Molex connector" article, with Corel Photo-Paint performed text annotations)...



what I was able to get for the "fan connectors" at the brick & mortar electronics store, is the style of connectors like the actual "Molex" male-shell example at the lower-right. What's on the Y-splitter cable I'll be modifying the male-shell endS of, one branch each to connect to each new cooling fan, are actually a veteran-style of AMP brand connectors. As the store did NOT have the same "AMP-style" connectors in disassembled form (uncrimped pins/sockets with no wire, and "bare nylon connector blocks") but in the actual Molex-style, I'll be using those kits solely for the fan-connections to the Y-splitter's two end branches, while leaving the Y-splitter's original "AMP-style" female-shell w/pin-contacts intact for plugging into a spare 4-pin power connector.

What I'm perplexed about is...I know that the yellow wire is for the 12 VDC feed, and WILL need to go to each fan's red/plus wire for proper polarity...but on the black/GND connection, are both black wires actually connected together at the computer's power supply, so that "either black wire" can be used to feed the other connection to each fan - or does a particular black wire in the cable need to be chosen for a proper 12 VDC connection, to be made for powering each fan? I know that it DOES sound quite a bit like "a newbie question"; but as the only "bad question - is the one that never gets asked", are there truly "connected grounds" in the power supply, that would make connecting either black GND-wire in such a four-wire PC power connection design, a perfectly decent choice to use for the return connection for powering each fan?

If it's of any interest, quite some time ago I began using Enermax PC power supplies, and they've generally worked quite well for my needs.

So...is "any black wire" in such a four-wire cable going to be all right for the 12 VDC return-connection for the twin fans' power needs, or what should I watch for to choose the most appropriate one to use for such a connection?

Thanks in advance,
DaveC