PC Crashes Unpredictably – "Asus Anti-Surge Activated" Alert, Voltage Rail Problems
PC Crashes Unpredictably – "Asus Anti-Surge Activated" Alert, Voltage Rail Problems
PC specifications: CPU – Intel Core i7-3930K, Motherboard – Asus X79 Deluxe, CPU cooler – Corsair H115i, RAM – 2x 8GB G.Skill Ripjaws X 1600MHz DDR3, Power supply – Corsair AX1200 GPU, Graphics card – Asus ROG Strix RTX 2080, 8GB GDDR6, Case – Cooler Master Cosmos II, Storage – SSD – Crucial 500GB SATA drives, HDDs – multiple brands with varying capacities (details optional), Power setup – UPS – APC Back-UPS Pro BR1500G-IN, Surge protector – Belkin 6-socket universal BIOS Version 4805 (available on Asus site), Overclock – default settings, OS – Windows 10 Pro (latest major release, exact version uncertain), BIOS – connected via wall socket, PC & monitor linked to surge device, which in turn connects to UPS.**
Issue: The system frequently powers off and restarts, displaying the warning “Asus Anti-Surge was triggered.” This has persisted for over a year, worsening recently. The problem appears even during BIOS checks.
Previous fixes: Restarting resolved it temporarily; disconnecting and reconnecting the 24-pin and CPU cables helped. BIOS logs showed a voltage drop from 5V rail to 4.3–4.5V. After reconnecting the 24-pin, the rail stabilized. Recently, the 5V rail has risen to 5.6–5.8V.
Tried: Deep cleaning, power cycle, tested RAM individually, ran PC with minimal hardware (just GPU and no storage), checked motherboard outside case, swapped GPU on and off, reseated CPU, verified PSU voltages with multimeter.
Questions: Might the motherboard be misinterpreting voltage signals? Should I disable Asus Anti-Surge for other parts? Are there further tests needed to isolate the fault? Could the PSU be faulty despite normal readings? Additional details: I lack a spare PSU or motherboard for testing. Some sources suggest Asus Anti-Surge isn’t always reliable—disabling it isn’t advised. Any guidance would be appreciated! Thanks ahead! Edited for clarity.**
No one I know has one. I asked around for PC technicians and when I mentioned I have an ax1200, they were confused about what it meant. I figured I should order one to test it out. That’s why I wanted to figure out what was causing the problem before buying anything. I’ll keep looking for a cheaper temporary PSU in the meantime.
I found a functional power supply but the problem remains. The PC restarts during boot or in BIOS, and the 5V rail keeps shifting between 5.638V and 5.753V. Using another PSU doesn’t fix it, so the issue likely lies elsewhere—perhaps with the motherboard or connections.
I checked with another working PSU from someone, and I'm still facing the same problem. I've decided to upgrade my setup... It's time, I think. Thanks!