Topic: PC powering off

[BritishBeef]

Hi there,

I have a fairly new Athlon XP3000+ Desktop which I bought. I had a problem after a month of it running fine where the 350W power supply died. I returned the PC and they replaced the PSU with a new 400W. The pc ran fine for a couple of months, but now it keeps randomly powering off. It's not going through a shutdown, it just powers off. After this happens, if I immeadiately power on the PC again, it powers on and the HD's spin up but it powers off again within a couple of seconds. If I leave it for a couple of minutes it powers up fine and will run well for hours or sometimes days 24/7 until it powers off again. Any Ideas what could be causing this?

My PC specs:

WinXP Home

Athlon XP3000+
Codegen 400W PSU
1 Gig 333mhz DDR ram
Seagate Barracuda 120 Gig HD
Maxtor 40 Gig HD
Gainward Geforce 4 ti4800se 64mb
Soundblaster Audigy Player
DVD rom
CDRW
Enermax case fan
MRI PCI ADSL modem
56K modem

Regards,

Geoff.


__________________
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[Rodders]

Hiya BB,

   You've picked a quiet time of day for techies, so you're stuck with me for the time being.  

Assuming you've run a virus check for MS Blast with an up-to-date scanner, there may be loose connection to blame.  Have you had a rummage about inside the box?

[BritishBeef]

Thanks for reply.

My system's clean according to my virus checker which is always up to date. I've been inside and checked connections but everything seems ok.

[Robotochan]

I would take a guess that there is interuptions with your power supply like that in a lightening storm. Alot of PCs turn back on after they loose the power suring them.

[Rodders]

It's an odd one, that.  Might be something as simple as just swapping the kettle-lead to the PC, but I think it's probably best we wait for a grown-up to pop their head round the door.   :-[

[Simon]

Do you happen to know what caused the initial PSU failure, Geoff?  Just wondered if there could be a problem with the power switch?  Shorting out, possibly?  I'm only guessing, so, as Rod said, hopefully one of out techies will be around later.

[Sandra]

It sounds like a heat related problem.
Have you any temperature monitor devices or progs like Si Soft Sandra running that can check what its running at ?
Is the bios set to close down at too low a CPU temperature ?
AMD seem to generate a lot of heat compared to Intel and the bios cut off may be set a little low for your CPU :doggie:

[Tony]

Welcome BB,

I run an XP2000, it runs at 44.C but AMD reckons anything  up to 60.C is considered within normal working temp margins

[BritishBeef]

Hi, thanks for replies.

I don't know what caused the original PSU to blow.

I've downloaded and installed Sandra. How do I check the temperatures? The program reports a bewildering (to me anyway!) amount of info.

Regards,

Geoff.

[BritishBeef]

I've just checked the temperatures in the Phoenix Bios on start up (I have an Asus A7N8X-X motherboard).

The temperatures are reported as:

Motherboard - 35c / 95f
CPU - 75c / 167f

I think that the CPU temp is too high. Is there any possibility that the program reported the temp wrongly? It also showed the CPU fan rpm at 0(zero) but the fan is running fine.

Sandra reported that the Vcore voltage was too high. It's at 1.64v (which is bios default). Is this right?

Thanks again,

Geoff.

[Sandra]

Hi Geoff, the temperature reprted in bios is a little worrying as it wont have done any work by then  
It sound like the fan is being powered off the wrong pins if it is not detecting any rpm but that would usually shut it down without even letting it start up fully.
Was the pc bought ready built or did you assemble it yourself ?
Check the connectors for the fan in your motherboard manual, if you have one.
In Si Soft Sandra 2003, theres is a module called CPU and BIOS Information. It should be the 4th one in from the left side on the top row.
Double click on it and in a few seconds it will display the information.
Look under the sensors part, a little way down the page as in my attached screenshot  

[BritishBeef]

Hi Sandra, I got the temps after a restart, my pc has been on for a couple of days solid.

I bought the pc ready built and I would take it back again under warranty but it seems the company has gone belly up.

I looked in the CPU and BIOS module but it just reports the CPU voltage in that section, no temperatures. I'll check motherboard manual etc.

[BritishBeef]

Hi again,

I've just installed Asus probe from my motherboard CD. after running the program things look very different:

Motherboard - 34c / 93f
CPU - 47c / 116f

CPU fan 1997rpm

[Sandra]

What was the cut off set at in the bios and has it cut out again since installing the probe ?

[BritishBeef]

At the risk of sounding stupid, where can I find that setting in the BIOS? I just looked and couldn't see it.

Regards,

Geoff.