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Ok, a friend of mine built his first system some months ago. Initially, his brother was going to come over and help him build it. He was a little nervous about building a system. But his brother had to leave after 20 minutes. So, he ended up calling me and I talked him through the process over the phone. Everything worked out fine.
Recently, his computer began shutting off for no apparent reason. I had him load Motherboard Monitor during the install, and he also has a front LCD with temperature gauge and one of the leads is next to the CPU. Surprisingly, bios temps and the LCD temp are virtually identical. First off, here are his specs:
CPU - AMD X2 3800+
Mobo - ABit KN8 Ultra
GPU - nVidia GeForce 7800GT
PSU - Antec NeoPower 480
Case - Aspire X Infinity
HDD - Western Digital Raptor 74GB
Memory - **Don't remember. Might be Kingston ValueRam - 2x 512
The case has a 92mm intake, 80mm side intake, 80mm top exhaust, and 120mm rear exhaust.
His shutdowns are just that - computer turns off randomly, and its during low-load tasks like Internet and e-mail. He has to wait a few minutes to turn it back on again. There are no errors upon reboot that say "Windows was shut down unexpectedly", which we both find odd. The system is stock, not overclocked. Full antivirus and firewall installed (McCaffe I think).
Troubleshooting steps taken so far: Updated BIOS using WIndows flash utility from version 13 to version 19. Updated chipset drivers. Ran with one stick of memory. Re-seated heatsink fan. Turned off CPU warning and shutdown temps in BIOS. Updated video card drivers (might as well, since we were downloading drivers anyway). Ran computer with side panel off.
I'm leaning toward thinkning the PSU's overtemp protection circuit is bad, but before I have him remove and RMA the thing, I want to be sure. Also, did a search for "KN8 Ultra shuts off unexpectedly" and "Neo Power shuts off" with no results.
His computer is in an oak armoire with just enough room in the cubby hole at the bottom for the case. I had assumed that he had used a hole saw to cut ventillation in the back of that thing, around there area where the PSU is, but he told me last night that he did not. He only cut a hole for the wires. So last night I had him run the system outside the desk, out in the open to see if that was the problem. Doesn't make much sense though, since all of his temps are fine. His CPU is idling at 38 and the case is at 34. Could maybe the exhaust from the PSU be getting blown back in and triggering the overtemp circuit?
Figured I'd post in the hopes that someone has/had a similar config and random shutdown problem.
Thanks
Troubleshooting steps
Recently, his computer began shutting off for no apparent reason. I had him load Motherboard Monitor during the install, and he also has a front LCD with temperature gauge and one of the leads is next to the CPU. Surprisingly, bios temps and the LCD temp are virtually identical. First off, here are his specs:
CPU - AMD X2 3800+
Mobo - ABit KN8 Ultra
GPU - nVidia GeForce 7800GT
PSU - Antec NeoPower 480
Case - Aspire X Infinity
HDD - Western Digital Raptor 74GB
Memory - **Don't remember. Might be Kingston ValueRam - 2x 512
The case has a 92mm intake, 80mm side intake, 80mm top exhaust, and 120mm rear exhaust.
His shutdowns are just that - computer turns off randomly, and its during low-load tasks like Internet and e-mail. He has to wait a few minutes to turn it back on again. There are no errors upon reboot that say "Windows was shut down unexpectedly", which we both find odd. The system is stock, not overclocked. Full antivirus and firewall installed (McCaffe I think).
Troubleshooting steps taken so far: Updated BIOS using WIndows flash utility from version 13 to version 19. Updated chipset drivers. Ran with one stick of memory. Re-seated heatsink fan. Turned off CPU warning and shutdown temps in BIOS. Updated video card drivers (might as well, since we were downloading drivers anyway). Ran computer with side panel off.
I'm leaning toward thinkning the PSU's overtemp protection circuit is bad, but before I have him remove and RMA the thing, I want to be sure. Also, did a search for "KN8 Ultra shuts off unexpectedly" and "Neo Power shuts off" with no results.
His computer is in an oak armoire with just enough room in the cubby hole at the bottom for the case. I had assumed that he had used a hole saw to cut ventillation in the back of that thing, around there area where the PSU is, but he told me last night that he did not. He only cut a hole for the wires. So last night I had him run the system outside the desk, out in the open to see if that was the problem. Doesn't make much sense though, since all of his temps are fine. His CPU is idling at 38 and the case is at 34. Could maybe the exhaust from the PSU be getting blown back in and triggering the overtemp circuit?
Figured I'd post in the hopes that someone has/had a similar config and random shutdown problem.
Thanks
Troubleshooting steps