Is this a PSU issue?

M

matt fury

Supreme [H]ardness
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Oct 12, 2001
Messages
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OK, so I just built this rig:

s754 3000+
512mb pc3200
Geforce 6800nu
80gb 7200rpm IDE hd
52x cdrom
3x 80mm fans

First I built it with a 420w Enermax Noisetaker (dual 12v rails), but when I would try to install Windows, it would just turn off. Right about at the point where it says to hit enter if you'd like to continue to install Windows. Totally baffled at this point, I tried a new PSU, a 400w Antec Smartpower 2.0 . This let me install Windows, but I've still had the computer power down a few times at random. The last time was during the CPU test of 3dmark05. I already ran 3dmark successfully a few times, but during the last one it just turned off. I wasn't even sitting at the computer.

Does this seem like a PSU issue? The Enermax has higher ratings across the board than the Antec, but the Antec "almost" fixed it. And if it is a PSU issue, how much freaking power would I need to power this fairly moderate system?

edit: OK, here's the update. It's turning off during the same part of 3dmark every single time now. It ran successfully before, but that was before I installed necessary XP updates, including SP2. It turned off a few times before SP2, so I know that's not it. I had to install hte updates because I was getting a 3dmark score of 989, which is about 3000 short. 3dmark is running better now, so I know the Windows updates are why it was failing, and not something related to this crash. I've also unplugged the cdrom drive and the fans and it doesn't change anything, but I doubt they were drawing that much power to begin with.
 
id say troubleshoot other things......like use the PSU in another rig....

make sure ALL connectors are tightly fit, make sure your hard drive is pluged in correctly, make sure the back end power cord is in tight, and on the wall tight

thats all i can think of for now

soulsaver
 
Thanks for the tips. I don't think trying the PSU in another system will do much, because this is the only system I have that would draw this much power, and I don't have a more powerful PSU to swap into this one.
 
not sure if all harddrives have em, but check to see if your harddrive has a little hole on the top of it that says do not cover this hole. my mom has a western digital hardrive in her computer that is like this, it was placed just underneath her cdrom drive. the computer worked fine for awhile despite curiosly long boot times for xp. eventually the computer just crashed one day and refused to detect the hardrive on boot up. so i moved the drive down thinking it was overheating, in process of moving i also saw the hole. the drive works great now, and is twice as fast. xp restarts and boots mega fast now. so, check to make sure your hardrives are postitioned well. aslo, try some different ide cables, i had an epox board that came with some round ide cables the were "junk", i tried them in two computers and both refused to detect their drives with those cables. so try some different cables.
 
I don't know if this is right or wrong, but my bios listed like 87C for the CPU. I tried to use MBM5 to test the temps, but it's not a supported mobo, so I don't know if I set it up right or not. That being said, the main sensor is at 38C when idling in windows. None of the sensors really went up higher while Prime95 was running, right until it crashed. I'm using a Zalman Al-Cu heatsink with AS-5.

Not to doubt your wisdom, but to further my knowledge: Why do you think it's not a PSU issue when it kinda responded to the PSU being swapped?

TIA
 
Oops, don't know why I didn't add this to my last post, but Chameleon, I double checked everything with the HD and nothing weird there.

Still looking for help..
 
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