Nicolas Hanson April 9, 2017 Share April 9, 2017 I got some RED files that I have tried to render out from DaVinci several times, but every time the machine turns itself off. I've tried to load the material into different projects, rendered one file at a time etc, but the machine turns off every time. It runs on a z820 that is rock solid on every task I throw at it, so I find this pretty strange. Any idea what is happening? Link to comment Share on other sites
Evan Frystak April 9, 2017 Share April 9, 2017 (edited) What are your other specs? Edited April 9, 2017 by Evan Frystak Link to comment Share on other sites
Bruno Mansi April 10, 2017 Share April 10, 2017 Hi Nicolas, If this was purely a software crash you'd expect to see a message or the BSOD (blue screen of death). I had this on an HP Z series workstation and it turned out to be a failing power supply unit. The PSU is designed to shut down if it goes out of spec on its power rails and this was happening on this particular machine every time I tried to render out of After Effects - I'm guessing the extra demands on the Nvidia graphics card was causing the shut-down. This problem quickly got worse, until the machine would shut down during boot-up. This is not a rare fault, as I soon discovered when I googled the problem, and the only answer is to swap out the PSU, which is thankfully an easy task on the Z820s. Being of proprietary design, you have to go for an HP replacement, which will set you back around £150. If you have another machine handy, you could try swapping the PSU to see if this cures the problem. Be aware that there's two versions of this PSU, an 850 watt and an 1110 watt. The higher wattage version was recommended for those filling their machines with power hungry graphics cards/RAID arrays and was fitted as standard on dual processor models. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites
Nicolas Hanson April 12, 2017 Author Share April 12, 2017 Thank you for the detailed answer, it makes sense that it could be related to the PSU. I didn't know they come with different watt versions. I had to leave the office early so hadn't time to switch but I pulled out the old Red Rocket and for some reason the first (and only) render did complete. Not a qualitative result and it might break the render next time, but I will let you know what is the solution. Link to comment Share on other sites
Bruno Mansi April 13, 2017 Share April 13, 2017 If you look at the Quickspecs.... http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/getpdf.aspx/c04111526.pdf?ver=5 ...You'll see mention of the two versions of PSU available. On page 4 you'll see the HP requirements that... 'Intel® Xeon® processors E5-2643, E5-2665, E5-2667, E5-2670, E5-2680, E5-2687W, and E5-2690 REQUIRE the 1125W Power Supply Option' In fact, the higher wattage PSU can supply up to 1275 watts if used in regions with 230v supplies. (UK and parts of Europe). Page 5 states... 'The 1125W power supply can also supply 1275W of output power when the input voltage is greater than 105V. If the input voltage is less than 105V, but greater than 90V for any reason, the maximum power that can be drawn is 1125W. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) is highly recommended if 1275W output power is desired.' 2 Link to comment Share on other sites
