Thanks to both of you! :)

well my system locked up today while idle, after 11 days on the new PSU. I think HWInfo logging was keeping it from going truly idle, because it locked up about 4 days after I turned that logging off. So I now know definitely that it's not bad RAM, it's not a bad mobo, and it's not a bad PSU. I guess SSD swap is next.

[QUOTE=s1riker;425361]well my system locked up today while idle, after 11 days on the new PSU. I think HWInfo logging was keeping it from going truly idle, because it locked up about 4 days after I turned that logging off. So I now know definitely that it's not bad RAM, it's not a bad mobo, and it's not a bad PSU. I guess SSD swap is next.[/QUOTE]

Damn! :sad:

Perhaps next try the BIOS update given to you by your motherboard provider. Your SSD is almost without question not the issue.

It is interesting, as you note, that your CPU seems to "hard freeze" randomly when truly idle for several hundred hours.

[QUOTE=s1riker;425361]well my system locked up today while idle, after 11 days on the new PSU. I think HWInfo logging was keeping it from going truly idle, because it locked up about 4 days after I turned that logging off. So I now know definitely that it's not bad RAM, it's not a bad mobo, and it's not a bad PSU. I guess SSD swap is next.[/QUOTE]

What would Yoda say? Time to RMA your CPU it is.

[QUOTE=s1riker;425361]well my system locked up today while idle, after 11 days on the new PSU. I think HWInfo logging was keeping it from going truly idle, because it locked up about 4 days after I turned that logging off. So I now know definitely that it's not bad RAM, it's not a bad mobo, and it's not a bad PSU. I guess SSD swap is next.[/QUOTE]

What kind of power savings settings do you have setup in the BIOS? Anything that you might consider tweaking to keep it from going into deep sleep modes that Windows (or whatever OS) could be choking on when it wakes up?

I'm assuming you don't have it going into standby or hibernation, so I'm talking more about the other low power states available for messing with.

[QUOTE=Madpoo;425385]What kind of power savings settings do you have setup in the BIOS? Anything that you might consider tweaking to keep it from going into deep sleep modes that Windows (or whatever OS) could be choking on when it wakes up?

I'm assuming you don't have it going into standby or hibernation, so I'm talking more about the other low power states available for messing with.[/QUOTE]

Yes, hibernation and standby disabled. The only power saving things I've tried changing from the defaults is to disable C8 and disable LPM. I had not tried C6/C7 yet because I was waiting to see if this new PSU would work or not. C6/C7 are next I guess, but I'm growing rather weary of changing one setting and then waiting a week .. I might just RMA the CPU soon, because even if C6/C7 do fix the problem, I should not have to disable them. The bleeping thing should work at the default settings in the BIOS and it clearly doesn't.

But maybe you can test c-states before RMAing? Would add more data to our knowledge base over at toms.

I know this means another week for you. I can full understand if you don't feel like it.

[QUOTE=pegnose;425524]But maybe you can test c-states before RMAing? Would add more data to our knowledge base over at toms.

I know this means another week for you. I can full understand if you don't feel like it.[/QUOTE]

Yeah I'm trying that now, I'll let you know how it goes.

[QUOTE=chalsall;425364]Your SSD is almost without question not the issue.[/QUOTE]
What makes you say that? As I believe I've mentioned previously in this thread, I had a very similar issue with my MacBook Air, where the system froze once every 2-4 months. Always during idle or very light load. There was no warning, just a complete freeze (including the mouse pointer). There were never any errors logged. It took almost 2 years for the drive to fail (it started giving SMART errors). The machine has never crashed again after getting a new drive.

[QUOTE=Brunnis;425648]What makes you say that? ... The machine has never crashed again after getting a new drive.[/QUOTE]

Perhaps I was wrong. :smile: I was speaking from the spike power load perspective, where SSDs don't tend to spike (much). Possibly it doesn't involve power.

But, to be perfectly honest, all the various different reports of Skylake instability (or, in other cases, no issues) really makes me wonder what is really going on.

Regardless, it definitely informs me that I'm not going to deploy any such kit until the reported issue(s) are well understood.

Edit: "(it started giving SMART errors)"... This is an excellent point! Is anyone seeing weird Skylake freezes seeing SMART errors in your logs?

[QUOTE=Brunnis;425648]What makes you say that? As I believe I've mentioned previously in this thread, I had a very similar issue with my MacBook Air, where the system froze once every 2-4 months. Always during idle or very light load. There was no warning, just a complete freeze (including the mouse pointer). There were never any errors logged. It took almost 2 years for the drive to fail (it started giving SMART errors). The machine has never crashed again after getting a new drive.[/QUOTE]

It seemed unlikely to me as well, but I haven't ruled it out. After I finish testing C6/C7/C8 disabled, if I still have the will, I'll try the drive next.