urgent comp help needed - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Paq · 09-27-2005, 05:31 PM

Hi there, i have a problem:
I was just burning a cd and my computer shut down. no biggie, i thought a power surge or something and restarted..and the comp got to windows screen and shut down again
so i unplugged everything and waited for a while, and the computer rebooted fine...got to windows, sat there for a moment, then the computer shut down again. now it will sometimes get to the welcome to windows and sometimes will just shut down when at the POST screen...

i cleared cmos, same thing

i took out the psu and do not see any visible damage. The psu fan, however, has been making a grinding noise, but nothing seems to be overheating, and definitely not that fast.

Any ideas at all would be helpful.

Jinn · 09-27-2005, 05:51 PM

Boot into BIOS (del during POST).. go into Hardware Monitor section and watch the temperatures. If you see a it climbing fast, turn it off and check your CPU/HS combo. Unfortunately, it sounds like a CPU/RAM heat problem from what you describe. Check that there isnt any dust in the CPU HS, etc..

You're fortunate because it sounds like your CPU/MB has a heat-protection mechanism that turns off the computer when a threshold is reached, rather than overheating. Watch those temperatures in BIOS and inspect all the fans as necessary.

Paq · 09-27-2005, 06:05 PM

i've actually been able to get that far for a few seconds and the temps are at a steady 42 cpu and 38-40 for the other two. Nothing climbing and the shut down is set for 75 for cpu and 65 for the others.

the fans for the northbridge, cpu and graphics card are working great, the one for the psu is buzzy, but still working, just not sure how well.

Lasereth · 09-27-2005, 07:12 PM

It does sound like a temperature safety measure, but if your temps are fine, I'd have to say that it's a bad PSU. I've been through many PSUs since I got into computer hardware. Most of the time the PC starts up and then simply shuts off, similarly to your description. I'd try to find another PSU to switch out with and see if the system works like that.

-Lasereth

Paq · 09-28-2005, 09:30 AM

i ordered a 430 watt psu ot test that theory out as i don't happen to have a spare 400+watt psu around. I didn't see any temp problems in the two times i was able to get into the bios and i didn't see a temp problem on my abit eq program on the two times i was able to get into windows. Just funny that my psu would crap out when burning a cd. I really hope i didn't get some off the wall mp3 riaa thing that fried anything. I haven't heard of that before, but i wouldn't put it past riaa...the sad part is that i actually have the cd i was burning, just that it was faster to DL the mp3 and burn from that...

spindles · 09-28-2005, 10:12 PM

I've had this happen in the past, and my local computer guy has diagnosed it as bad memory - he replaced the memory stick and off it went...

Paq · 09-28-2005, 11:05 PM

that would suck.

anyway, i pulled my psu out and took it apart hoping it was a fan or something visibly wrong...found a scorched mark beside one of the large heat sinks and on the soldered side, there was a bit of brownish burning area and a bit of the solder on the tips was blown off by something.

so, hopefully a new psu will solve the issue.

Jinn · 09-29-2005, 09:47 AM

Sounds like the PSU if there's burn marks...

As for your PSU dying during burning, its very likely. Thats another reason I suspected temperatures; burning a CD or DVD takes a LOT of power and creates a LOT of heat - perfect conditions for the PSU to fail. Here's to hoping..

*crosses fingers*..

Paq · 09-29-2005, 10:50 AM

yeah, that's what i am really hoping for, honestly. It's just funny that i was only burning about 300mb to the disc and it didn't even blink the other day when burning 4GB or so...

oh well, psu arrives tomorrow, so we'll find out for sure. i do not see any visible marks on the mobo or anything else, so i'm really hoping that's the only piece damaged.

Paq · 09-30-2005, 11:19 PM

UPDATE:
installed PSU..now i get no video, one POST beep. I can remove the vid card and get the beeeeep, beep beep sound meaning no vid card. I have tried starting with just the proc, ram and vid card plugged in to no avail. i'm at a loss at the moment..

any help?

MikeSty · 10-01-2005, 07:42 AM

Are you sure you have both the ATX and the P4 connectors in the motherboard? PSU voltage at 115?

Paq · 10-01-2005, 09:03 AM

yep, had to shave off part of the tab so i could push the ATX connector down. It's a hybrid type that is 20 pin or 24 pin, depending on which mobo you use, but it is firmly seated.

every now and then, i can get garbage to come onscreen, but that's about the extent of it all.

flat5 · 10-01-2005, 04:29 PM

One post beep - the motherboard thinks everything is ok.

You have been playing around for awhile so re-seat the video card and check the connector pins on the monitor cable. See that they are all the same length.
None pushed in. I've seen that happen.

Hopefully, you can try another video card to see if that solves the problem.

good luck

cliche · 10-01-2005, 04:51 PM

This is almost exactly what was happening to me when I put together my new comp and the northbridge was overheating. Mine didn't have a fan though, so I added one. Now works fine.
As far as the vid. card goes, sounds like it's being detected so possibly a problem with the card itself or the monitor cable as mentioned above?

Paq · 10-01-2005, 09:02 PM

i have cleaned and reseated the vid card and all the power connections, I'm really thinking it's eitehr my new PSU or my vid card, but my vid card *was* working fine, even with the faulty PSU, unless the last shutdown from the psu fried my card, which is a possibility and honestly, i hope that's what it is. I'm going to pick up an ultra cheap agp card tomorrow to see and if that works, i'll just order a 6600gt or maybe a 6800gt, something under $200 that is as good as or better than my 9800 pro.

Thanks for all the help

Paq · 10-02-2005, 12:01 PM

...update again

coolermaster 430watt does not have as much power as a cheapo codegen 400 watt....so now i have an antec 500 watt..and all is well
so far

09-27-2005, 05:31 PM	#1 (permalink)
Paq Junkie Location: South Carolina	urgent comp help needed Hi there, i have a problem: I was just burning a cd and my computer shut down. no biggie, i thought a power surge or something and restarted..and the comp got to windows screen and shut down again so i unplugged everything and waited for a while, and the computer rebooted fine...got to windows, sat there for a moment, then the computer shut down again. now it will sometimes get to the welcome to windows and sometimes will just shut down when at the POST screen... i cleared cmos, same thing i took out the psu and do not see any visible damage. The psu fan, however, has been making a grinding noise, but nothing seems to be overheating, and definitely not that fast. Any ideas at all would be helpful. __________________ Live. Chris

09-27-2005, 05:51 PM	#2 (permalink)
Jinn Lover - Protector - Teacher Location: Seattle, WA	Boot into BIOS (del during POST).. go into Hardware Monitor section and watch the temperatures. If you see a it climbing fast, turn it off and check your CPU/HS combo. Unfortunately, it sounds like a CPU/RAM heat problem from what you describe. Check that there isnt any dust in the CPU HS, etc.. You're fortunate because it sounds like your CPU/MB has a heat-protection mechanism that turns off the computer when a threshold is reached, rather than overheating. Watch those temperatures in BIOS and inspect all the fans as necessary. __________________ "I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel

09-27-2005, 06:05 PM	#3 (permalink)
Paq Junkie Location: South Carolina	i've actually been able to get that far for a few seconds and the temps are at a steady 42 cpu and 38-40 for the other two. Nothing climbing and the shut down is set for 75 for cpu and 65 for the others. the fans for the northbridge, cpu and graphics card are working great, the one for the psu is buzzy, but still working, just not sure how well. __________________ Live. Chris

09-27-2005, 07:12 PM	#4 (permalink)
Lasereth Knight of the Old Republic Location: Winston-Salem, NC	It does sound like a temperature safety measure, but if your temps are fine, I'd have to say that it's a bad PSU. I've been through many PSUs since I got into computer hardware. Most of the time the PC starts up and then simply shuts off, similarly to your description. I'd try to find another PSU to switch out with and see if the system works like that. -Lasereth __________________ "A Darwinian attacks his theory, seeking to find flaws. An ID believer defends his theory, seeking to conceal flaws." -Roger Ebert

09-28-2005, 09:30 AM	#5 (permalink)
Paq Junkie Location: South Carolina	i ordered a 430 watt psu ot test that theory out as i don't happen to have a spare 400+watt psu around. I didn't see any temp problems in the two times i was able to get into the bios and i didn't see a temp problem on my abit eq program on the two times i was able to get into windows. Just funny that my psu would crap out when burning a cd. I really hope i didn't get some off the wall mp3 riaa thing that fried anything. I haven't heard of that before, but i wouldn't put it past riaa...the sad part is that i actually have the cd i was burning, just that it was faster to DL the mp3 and burn from that... __________________ Live. Chris

09-28-2005, 10:12 PM	#6 (permalink)
spindles Mine is an evil laugh Location: Sydney, Australia	I've had this happen in the past, and my local computer guy has diagnosed it as bad memory - he replaced the memory stick and off it went... __________________ who hid my keyboard's PANIC button?

09-28-2005, 11:05 PM	#7 (permalink)
Paq Junkie Location: South Carolina	that would suck. anyway, i pulled my psu out and took it apart hoping it was a fan or something visibly wrong...found a scorched mark beside one of the large heat sinks and on the soldered side, there was a bit of brownish burning area and a bit of the solder on the tips was blown off by something. so, hopefully a new psu will solve the issue. __________________ Live. Chris

09-29-2005, 09:47 AM	#8 (permalink)
Jinn Lover - Protector - Teacher Location: Seattle, WA	Sounds like the PSU if there's burn marks... As for your PSU dying during burning, its very likely. Thats another reason I suspected temperatures; burning a CD or DVD takes a LOT of power and creates a LOT of heat - perfect conditions for the PSU to fail. Here's to hoping.. crosses fingers.. __________________ "I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel

09-29-2005, 10:50 AM	#9 (permalink)
Paq Junkie Location: South Carolina	yeah, that's what i am really hoping for, honestly. It's just funny that i was only burning about 300mb to the disc and it didn't even blink the other day when burning 4GB or so... oh well, psu arrives tomorrow, so we'll find out for sure. i do not see any visible marks on the mobo or anything else, so i'm really hoping that's the only piece damaged. __________________ Live. Chris

09-30-2005, 11:19 PM	#10 (permalink)
Paq Junkie Location: South Carolina	UPDATE: installed PSU..now i get no video, one POST beep. I can remove the vid card and get the beeeeep, beep beep sound meaning no vid card. I have tried starting with just the proc, ram and vid card plugged in to no avail. i'm at a loss at the moment.. any help? __________________ Live. Chris

10-01-2005, 07:42 AM	#11 (permalink)
MikeSty The Computer Kid :D Location: 127.0.0.1	Are you sure you have both the ATX and the P4 connectors in the motherboard? PSU voltage at 115?

10-01-2005, 09:03 AM	#12 (permalink)
Paq Junkie Location: South Carolina	yep, had to shave off part of the tab so i could push the ATX connector down. It's a hybrid type that is 20 pin or 24 pin, depending on which mobo you use, but it is firmly seated. every now and then, i can get garbage to come onscreen, but that's about the extent of it all. __________________ Live. Chris

10-01-2005, 04:29 PM	#13 (permalink)
flat5 Very Insignificant Pawn Location: Amsterdam, NL	One post beep - the motherboard thinks everything is ok. You have been playing around for awhile so re-seat the video card and check the connector pins on the monitor cable. See that they are all the same length. None pushed in. I've seen that happen. Hopefully, you can try another video card to see if that solves the problem. good luck

10-01-2005, 04:51 PM	#14 (permalink)
cliche Rookie Location: Oxford, UK	This is almost exactly what was happening to me when I put together my new comp and the northbridge was overheating. Mine didn't have a fan though, so I added one. Now works fine. As far as the vid. card goes, sounds like it's being detected so possibly a problem with the card itself or the monitor cable as mentioned above? __________________ I can't understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I'm frightened of the old ones. -- John Cage (1912 - 1992) Last edited by cliche; 10-01-2005 at 04:55 PM..

10-01-2005, 09:02 PM	#15 (permalink)
Paq Junkie Location: South Carolina	i have cleaned and reseated the vid card and all the power connections, I'm really thinking it's eitehr my new PSU or my vid card, but my vid card was working fine, even with the faulty PSU, unless the last shutdown from the psu fried my card, which is a possibility and honestly, i hope that's what it is. I'm going to pick up an ultra cheap agp card tomorrow to see and if that works, i'll just order a 6600gt or maybe a 6800gt, something under $200 that is as good as or better than my 9800 pro. Thanks for all the help __________________ Live. Chris

10-02-2005, 12:01 PM	#16 (permalink)
Paq Junkie Location: South Carolina	...update again coolermaster 430watt does not have as much power as a cheapo codegen 400 watt....so now i have an antec 500 watt..and all is well so far __________________ Live. Chris