Xeon Phi causing PC to freeze

[roger567]

For some time now, my PC has been freezing periodically - about once every 2 days, the screen looks normal, but mouse, keyboard etc. do not respond and I have to hold the power key in to restart.

By process of elimination, the culprit appears to be the Xeon Phi 3120A card - I just took the card out and ran the PC for a month without a freezing incident.
Put it back in and it froze the same day.

I have tried it in both possible expansion slots - froze with both.

It is not happening when the card is in use, mostly it happens when the PC is idle and I come back and find it frozen, so it is nothing to do with any Xeon Phi activity.

The motherboard is an Asus Z9 PE-D8 WS with 2 Xeon E5-2655 v2 processors.
It has the latest bios.

The OS is Windows 8.1 Pro.

There is also an NVidia NVS295 video card in slot 1.

I have taken all other cards out (part of my process of elimination).

The Xeon Phi works fine (when the system is not frozen).

What can be causing this and what can I do about it?

Many thanks

Roger

[Loc_N_Intel]

Hi Roger,

Sorry for my late response. I haven't had any problem since I tested the system with Windows 8.1. The system still behaves properly even though  I did not work with the coprocessor for a while.

[roger567]

Thanks for your efforts.

A while ago the motherboard died and I don't know if the coprocessor was the culprit (it had previously worked until I installed the Xeon Phi).

The replacement motherboard has run without problems (and without the coprocessor) for some months now and some day I hope to have the courage (and enough time to recover if it fails again) to put the coprocessor back in.

[jimdempseyatthecove]

Is your power supply sufficient for all the "stuff" you have?

If it is marginal, and the voltages drop a bit, then things can over heat.

Also, verify that the cooling is not an issue. Most motherboards now have a decent monitor that looks at the various temperature sensors and voltage sensors and fans. It wouldn't hurt you to keep this running, and in view, while you experiment with the Xeon Phi installed.

Also run the MPSS utility that monitors the Xeon Phi.

Jim Dempsey

[roger567]

Hi Jim,

Is your power supply sufficient for all the "stuff" you have?

It should be.

The power supply is 1500W and the output seems rock steady. The power supply manufacturer (EVGA) has its own monitoring utility and a USB connection to the MB. It mostly runs <30% capacity.

Cooling was also something I considered carefully in the build (big case, loads of fans, big CPU fans) and everything I can measure is fine. CPU temp is mostly <50C except when running intensively.

Originally I had in mind that I might get 3 of these coprocessors and so went overboard with the power supply and cooling, but I have never tried it with more than one, so it shouldn't be taxed.

[jimdempseyatthecove]

The only issue I've had with blown cards is the video card. I am not into gaming but I do use dual monitors. I chose the EVGA GEForce GT 610. The choice was primarily due to it being only a single height card and I wanted to stick it into the bottom slot. Under the bottom slot on my mother board are fan headers that get in the way of a double height card. I do have room between the two Xeon Phi's I have installed to insert a high end video card, but I have no need for such a card. The original card (same model) lasted 9 months. It is a $50 card, not worth the paperwork to file for a refund.

I do not use Windows 8.1 other than on a notebook I have. It is rumored the next Windows 8.2 upgrade will bring back the 7.x desktop (for desktop users). http://www.geek.com/microsoft/windows-8-2-could-bring-back-the-start-menu-this-august-1592050/

It may also be a re-dressed W7. Hopefully, you will also get back some of the controls and functionality they threw out. One of my personal gripes is from my Windows 7 desktop, with 4K monitor, that I cannot Remote Desktop connect to the Windows 8.1 Lenovo Yoga. Luckily VNC works. (My Xeon Phi's are in a different system.)

Jim Dempsey

[Robert_F_2]

ooops.