Not sure of the cause of this one.

[Crazy Jayhawk]

(this is my first post here - hope I don't make myself look like an idiot =P)

I'm not sure what caused this to happen. Before I found the strangely simple solution, my computer would spontaneously switch off. All the fans and LEDs out like a light (bad pun, so sue me). The power supply fan was set to expel air. I switched it around to work as an intake and the problem vanished.

I'm thinking it was something with the power supply, but I'm not sure. This computer was a Dell machine in its first life (still using the Dell case since I'm too lazy to buy a new one at the moment), and case ventilation isn't the best around. If I overclock this thing I don't want something like that happening again. I'm not sure whether to add more fans around the CPU or put another in the power supply.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. :)

[Hoot]

Most power supplies have thermal shutdown built into them. This keeps them from melting vital components if they run too hot.
Now, as to why your power supply is running too hot is hard to say. Have you ever opened the case and blasted it with compressed air, especially the power supply, through the slits and fan opening?

Do you smoke? Smoke residue buildup on the surfaces in the power supply and the whole PC for that matter, reduces the ability of the airflow to remove heat. It acts like an insulative layer.

Are you exceeding the capacity of the the power supply?

Lastly, more airflow in general, through the case never hurt. You did not say whether you had any additional fans or how many to assist in the through-case airflow. If you don't have any and your case has provisions for one or more, consider adding some.

Give us a rundown of the components in your PC. The more information you can provide, the greater the chance we can be of some help.

BTW, welcome to the cooling forum.

Hoot

[Crazy Jayhawk]

Here's the rundown on the situation:

The power supply is essentially new. It's rated at 200W, I think. I replaced the old supply, which was 135W, when I replaced the motherboard. What's strange is that the old supply never did anything like this, so I doubt I was overloading it.

So what's in the box? Not sure how specific I need to be, but I'm running a 500Mhz PIII, 6 drives, 4 PCI cards, and the video card besides. The old supply was able to handle the load without any problems.

[FishDog3]

I would be willing to say that there is a good chance you are overloading your power supply. You may want to look into a 300 watt at minimum, 360 would be better. Even though you are running a p3 500 not a TB 1.2, running at 200 watts is likely to be too low.

good luck, hope this helps, and welcome to the cooling forum - its nice in here