Computer Broke- No Ns For Me! :(

Nimbus5Nimbus5 Join Date: 2003-11-15 Member: 22885Members, Constellation
<div class="IPBDescription">help</div> Here's the specs on my computer:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Gigabyte mobo
2x512 Kingston pc3200 ram
ATI Radeon 9600xt
Soundblaster Audigy 2
Generic brand 450 watt PSU
Western Digital 250gb HD

Ummm here is my problem. A couple days ago while I was playing NS, my computer shut off. I thought it was because I hit the power button with my foot. Then again, while I was sitting on my computer today, it shut off for absolutely no reason. When I tried to start it back up, it would shut off again after a few seconds. Thinking it might have overheated (overclocked cpu) so I let it sit for a while. Came back to my computer about an hour later, and started it up, entered bios, set all settings back to normal. Got to the login screen, logged on, bam shut off again. This is so much fun. Now it shuts off within seconds of booting up.
So I'm thinking it's the crappy 450W psu. Any thoughts?

I had a similar problem a week ago, where my computer kept restarting during start up. I solved this by disconnecting and reconnecting the hard drive. I don't know if this is related to that at all, but I do know that it is **** me off.

Comments

  • CrispyCrispy Jaded GD Join Date: 2004-08-22 Member: 30793Members, Constellation
    edited July 2005
    Wow, so you don't really know that much about the innards of your PC and you decided to overclock it. You rule.

    [Edit] I guess you didn't pay for it then...
  • DuoGodOfDeathDuoGodOfDeath Join Date: 2002-08-01 Member: 1044Members
    edited July 2005
    Possibly damaged your CPU when you overclocked it? Stock heatsinks kind of suck and arent the greatest. PSU should be fine as long as the brand is good. I'm going to go with you damamged your CPU and you might need a new one <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    Which in case could of damamged your Mobo but I doubt it. Pray its only the one thing <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • Nimbus5Nimbus5 Join Date: 2003-11-15 Member: 22885Members, Constellation
    edited July 2005
    My cpu has been overclocked since just after I got it a few months ago, and the temp has been fine. I have not experienced any problems until just recently. The heatsink is not stock, but it's nothing fancy either.

    3200+ clocks at 2.2, i had it to about 2.4. When I try to power it on now, the time in which it takes to shut off seems pretty random. Sometimes I can start all the way up and log on, sometimes it's off after 2 sec.

    [edit] and yeah I did pay for it... $200 for new cpu and mobo a couple months ago <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • DuoGodOfDeathDuoGodOfDeath Join Date: 2002-08-01 Member: 1044Members
    Well you are putting more stress on your CPU. Each day its pushing itself to limits it wasn't built upon and maybe the tempature has steadily risen up? Could be the PSU, could be the RAM, could be the mobo. This is why we troubleshoot!
  • ZavaroZavaro Tucson, Arizona Join Date: 2005-02-14 Member: 41174Members, Super Administrators, NS2 Playtester, Squad Five Blue, Squad Five Silver, NS2 Map Tester, Reinforced - Shadow, WC 2013 - Silver, Subnautica Playtester, NS2 Community Developer, Pistachionauts
    edited July 2005
    Look inside and see what it looks like..

    If it looks like this...

    <img src='http://www.cobolhacker.com/images/content/burned_athlon.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

    Then it's bad.
  • Nimbus5Nimbus5 Join Date: 2003-11-15 Member: 22885Members, Constellation
    I've had CPU problems before, and I've had RAM problems before...

    when my brother fried my 1700+ the computer did not start up at all. Hitting power button did nothing.

    When my RAM crapped out over a year ago, the computer would turn on, then promptly turn off and the mobo speaker would beep beep beep.

    So now I'm having this new problem, but I really don't think the overclocking did anything bad....
    I use motherboard monitor to monitor CPU temp in my taskbar. Stays steady pretty much, around 40 C, which is still much lower than my P4 set-up.
  • ZekZek Join Date: 2002-11-10 Member: 7962Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    edited July 2005
    When was the last time you checked the temperature? If it's not high then it's not overheating no matter how overclocked it is, and I doubt it would change so much all of a sudden. Check to see if your BIOS's CPU temp auto-shutdown is active; if so it would definitely have kicked in before any real damage could occur.

    First thing you should do is run it bare-bones. Take out all the cards except the video card(take that out too if you have an onboard one) and see if it still happens; you could try taking out each stick of RAM and booting it up with the other after that. Also, if you have another video card or a good power supply handy you could try it with those as well.
  • QwertyMcDunkinQwertyMcDunkin Join Date: 2002-10-06 Member: 1443Members
    Check your processor for damage like in the picture above, and if it looks fine, its most likely a damaged power supply. For a replacement PSU I would suggest an Antec TruPower, somewhere in the 400 Watt Range, and you can usually get those for less than $100.
  • Scolly_the_bush_antScolly_the_bush_ant Join Date: 2004-08-29 Member: 30992Members
    my computer has a 2500@ 3200, 5 case fand with one ducted directly to the top of the cpu fan, and im only using 182 watts atm


    i really dont knwo what people go out and get 600 wat psu's, most of the time is is **** quality of power, instead everyone thinks it isnt wnough power


    try a new PSU, get a good expensive one, downt matter what power rating so go fo rthe smallest which is probably cheaper and should be fine for power consumption, unless you have coffe warmers and cigarette lighters on your case a comptuer doesnt use much power
  • TheJimTheJim Join Date: 2005-01-09 Member: 34080Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-Scolly the bush ant+Jul 9 2005, 02:23 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Scolly the bush ant @ Jul 9 2005, 02:23 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> my computer has a 2500@ 3200, 5 case fand with one ducted directly to the top of the cpu fan, and im only using 182 watts atm


    i really dont knwo what people go out and get 600 wat psu's, most of the time is is **** quality of power, instead everyone thinks it isnt wnough power


    try a new PSU, get a good expensive one, downt matter what power rating so go fo rthe smallest which is probably cheaper and should be fine for power consumption, unless you have coffe warmers and cigarette lighters on your case a comptuer doesnt use much power <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I beg to differ.

    With everything in use on my computer all the drives cards etc i use just over 435.65 watts according to the electrical meters and i have a 550 watts psu.

    That is alot of power being used. Computers do use alot of power depending on what you have.

    If you have little in your computer it won't use much power.

    If you have loads like i do in your computer then you can see how much your electric bill goes up by especially if your computer is on 24/7 <!--emo&::marine::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/marine.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='marine.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    If you processor temp is fine then borrow a friends components before buying new ones and see what is the actually problem then you can save your self money by not going out and buying an expensive psu only to find it dont make a difference.

    Though in my opinion it sounds like a psu fault even though i have seen the same thing in overheating but last time i saw an overheating protection kick in i had to pull the power out and put it back in again which is why i believe a psu fault both can give the same signs.
  • XCanXCan Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 5904Members, Constellation
    1. Measuring power with one of those meters you stick into a wall outlet and the PSU's power connector through it is about as inaccurate as it gets. The efficiency rate of converting AC to DC is around 50%.

    2. He said Athlon64, those don't fry for easily. The pic posted above is not an A64, it's some old AMD-core, back at those time most mobo-vendors did not support AMD's instructions on auto-shutdown on high-temperature.

    3. Check your CPU temp, check the threshhold on when it'll shut down in bios, compare.

    4. Check the voltages your PSU is delivering.

    5. Check your DIMMS.

    6. Check your cooling on the Northbridge.
  • CommunistWithAGunCommunistWithAGun Local Propaganda Guy Join Date: 2003-04-30 Member: 15953Members
    Had this same problem, after 4 months of struggling I reconnect all the cables and reformatted, hasn't done it since
  • DarkFrostDarkFrost Join Date: 2003-04-03 Member: 15154Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
    edited July 2005
    Get a 500 watt PSU, its the combination of the 3200 and 9600xt thats trying to draw too much power from the PSU. I promise.

    Seen it before, fixed it before.
  • XCanXCan Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 5904Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-DarkFrost+Jul 9 2005, 06:26 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DarkFrost @ Jul 9 2005, 06:26 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Get a 500 watt PSU, its the combination of the 3200 and 9600xt thats trying to draw too much power from the PSU. I promise.

    Seen it before, fixed it before. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    How can you promise that? It seems more like it's taken out of your **** just because it happend to you. Look up some technical data on A64 3200+ and Radeon 9600xt and you'll realise the power is hardly an issue.

    Simply saying get a 500W PSU isn't promised to help. It's the current they can put through that's what important, staring blindly at the power number isn't going to help. This is what differs between a good PSU and a bad PSU. Their power output can be the same but their total current output differs greatly.
  • TheJimTheJim Join Date: 2005-01-09 Member: 34080Members, Constellation
    edited July 2005
    <!--QuoteBegin-XCan+Jul 9 2005, 03:45 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (XCan @ Jul 9 2005, 03:45 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> 1. Measuring power with one of those meters you stick into a wall outlet and the PSU's power connector through it is about as inaccurate as it gets. The efficiency rate of converting AC to DC is around 50%. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I didn't use one of those i tested each parts usage individually and added the results up to give the max power usuage.
  • BreakthroughBreakthrough Texture Artist (ns_prometheus) Join Date: 2005-03-27 Member: 46620Members, Constellation
    I think it's a power supply, same thing happened to my cousin's computer (the PSU overheated). Try getting another one just to test, and if it is, buy another generic one <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • XCanXCan Join Date: 2002-11-03 Member: 5904Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-TheJim+Jul 9 2005, 10:31 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (TheJim @ Jul 9 2005, 10:31 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I didn't use one of those i tested each parts usage individually and added the results up to give the max power usuage. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Aah, I see, however you must still have some very powerful system. Do I sense SLI and Prescott? <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • DarkFrostDarkFrost Join Date: 2003-04-03 Member: 15154Members, NS1 Playtester, Constellation
    edited July 2005
    <!--QuoteBegin-XCan+Jul 9 2005, 08:21 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (XCan @ Jul 9 2005, 08:21 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-DarkFrost+Jul 9 2005, 06:26 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DarkFrost @ Jul 9 2005, 06:26 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Get a 500 watt PSU, its the combination of the 3200 and 9600xt thats trying to draw too much power from the PSU. I promise.

    Seen it before, fixed it before. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    How can you promise that? It seems more like it's taken out of your **** just because it happend to you. Look up some technical data on A64 3200+ and Radeon 9600xt and you'll realise the power is hardly an issue.

    Simply saying get a 500W PSU isn't promised to help. It's the current they can put through that's what important, staring blindly at the power number isn't going to help. This is what differs between a good PSU and a bad PSU. Their power output can be the same but their total current output differs greatly. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Never happened to me, happened to many other people, when I put the 500 watt in (these aren't exactly top of the line ones I use), the problem went away. Same system specs as his, some with even the 9600 pro. Please, don't attack someone when you know absolutely nothing about them. And please don't use "technical specs" when dealing with computers, they are very rarely accurate.

    Edit - The problem he described is 90% usually the Power Supply, the other 10% is a bad ram dimm, or a hard disk/software issue, it can even be caused by his soundcard. Motherboards don't usually allow you to even power on if something goes wrong with them, so thats highly unlikely also. I have repaired computers for the best part of 15 years, I have seen this alot.

    Edit 2 - I had at first thought it was an issue with his ram, and the overclock, perhaps it couldn't handle the extra Mhz on the FSB, but the type of ram he is using, not the brand, should be able to handle whatever the NorthBridge can.
  • ChurchChurch Meatshield grunt-fodder // Has pre-ordered NS2 Join Date: 2002-12-31 Member: 11646Members, Constellation
    I had a similar problem. My computer would turn on for a few seconds and then shut off. After a little while it just wouldn't power up at all.

    I replaced my power supply (even thought it was one with less voltage) and everything was fixed.

    The power supply itself could be malfunctioning, remember that, like mine did.
  • TheJimTheJim Join Date: 2005-01-09 Member: 34080Members, Constellation
    edited July 2005
    <!--QuoteBegin-XCan+Jul 9 2005, 09:52 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (XCan @ Jul 9 2005, 09:52 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> <!--QuoteBegin-TheJim+Jul 9 2005, 10:31 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (TheJim @ Jul 9 2005, 10:31 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I didn't use one of those i tested each parts usage individually and added the results up to give the max power usuage. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Aah, I see, however you must still have some very powerful system. Do I sense SLI and Prescott? <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink-fix.gif' /><!--endemo--> <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    No just lots of things the gfx card does require its own adapter but i just got lots in her which takes the power.

    SLI and Dual core cpu will be my system by the end of the year <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile-fix.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile-fix.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • Nimbus5Nimbus5 Join Date: 2003-11-15 Member: 22885Members, Constellation
    Thank you to those who replied with helpful responses.
    I am not a total idiot when it comes to computers...I swear. I'm not sure how overclocking makes me stupid either, but whatever.

    Yeah I had it overclocked but I also am constantly monitoring the temperatures. My computer has been running with this set-up for a little while now in much hotter conditions (before I got a ton of fans for my room) and never experienced any problems. Just about everything in it is less than 3 months old I'd say, except for the PSU, which I purchased a year ago. Also, again as I have already said, I've experienced problems with bad ram, and cpu's overheating but I had never had problems like these before.

    I think the most frustrating part about it though is that I had been working for about two hours on a design for a cd cover for this band...I was being a total idiot and had not saved my progress, then as I'm showing the design to my brother, bam it just shuts off. I wanted to murder someone.

    probably pick up a PSU in a little bit, that is if any computer stores are even open this late on a sunday
  • DogbiteDogbite Join Date: 2004-03-14 Member: 27329Members, Reinforced - Shadow
    This is probably irrelevant, but I had a problem with Motherboard Monitor shutting down my CPU fan sometimes. It looks like you have bigger problems though.

    It's a long shot, but I figured I'd mention it anyway. Good Luck.
  • Nimbus5Nimbus5 Join Date: 2003-11-15 Member: 22885Members, Constellation
    problem had nothing to do with CPU overheating.

    Swapped in new PSU, works just fine now. Looks like I was right from the beginning.

    winnar
  • Scolly_the_bush_antScolly_the_bush_ant Join Date: 2004-08-29 Member: 30992Members
    thats good, dont know what u other people going on about, transformer efficiency current and crap, from what i have read you have no idea what you are talking about, so shush with your goggle degrees, i ahve built myself custom power supplies for circuits i have constructed and would assume i know a lot more than you lot do on teh subject, with myself being an electrical engineer and all
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