This Sucks!

[the garynator]

So i wanted to dump one of my QMD's today, with both instances running they would have both been done tomorrow... so i turned off hyperthreading and ran one instance, it was supposed to be done at 6:00... well i left for school at 5 and left the computer on, and when i got home at 9, thing was off! i was like wtf...

So i turn it back on and see that the QMD was 99% done and i was like, ok, i'm fine... so i go in the kitchen and grab something to eat, come back in my room at about 10ish and the things shut off... i'm like, well this is just dandy, considering i've been having a ton of issues with stability...AT STOCK, I figured the motherboard was dieing... well i turn it back on and get into windows, i pull up ocforums and WHAM! thing shuts off.

So i'm looking at the vcore and I had it set at 1.6(stock 1.55) because it was having stability issues before, and i saw the vcore was hovering at about 1.48-1.50 so i raised it to get it stable at about 1.56. I noticed again that it was down at 1.5 or less and jumped it up again.. finally at 1.65 it stabilized at about 1.54(albet in the bios). Booted into windows and about 10 seconds after i logged in the video goes out. So now i'm thinking the psu is finally crowking..

Considering it is an antec true power 330 that's like 4 years old and has been running my power hog system for the past year and a half, i can understand. So i pulled the atx connector and HOLY COW, the 12v was dark brown... pulled the 4pin 12v and both positive were brown too!

So i grabbed my shuttle 250w silent power mini itx(the only other "good" psu i had laying around) and soldered a new 12v atx connector on it because the other one was about 3 inches long. Dropped that on the mobo, and vid card and kept the antec on drive and fan duty. Now i'm 100% stable in windows again, but my computer isn't mobile anymore....well it really wasn't in the first place, but at least it was all one piece.

And so hereinlies the quandry... the fact that by the time i got the thing back online, it was 11:58 and no time to finish that last 1 percent and get the points for the 19th.

will post pics of the damage soon

Fold On! :attn:

[Adak]

I'll second today as a suck folding day, Garynator!

I was all primed for my first 400 pt day, ever - all loaded up, timed right, and my system is as stable as can be.

So what's the problem?

The darn tree trimmers dropped a branch onto the high-power line, frying the transformer!

My computer can do wonderful things, but working without any power if not one of them!

And I was SO hoping to be up in the highest 145,000 posistion of all folders, and into the top 2,000 on team 32!!

Maybe tomorrow.

Adak

[the garynator]

I'll second today as a suck folding day, Garynator!

I was all primed for my first 400 pt day, ever - all loaded up, timed right, and my system is as stable as can be.

So what's the problem?

The darn tree trimmers dropped a branch onto the high-power line, frying the transformer!

My computer can do wonderful things, but working without any power if not one of them!

And I was SO hoping to be up in the highest 145,000 posistion of all folders, and into the top 2,000 on team 32!!

Maybe tomorrow.

Adak


Well, first off, the formalities :

:welcome: to the forums Adak!

Anyway, wow that sucks man... how long was your power out?

And an update: Now that I can O/C again, temps are resting right around 60c :eek:

Gotta reapply the thermal grease... also going to get a splitter or clean up some of the random wires so i can use the 250 just for the mobo/cpu...

ps. i'll have pics up of the stuff as soon as this attachment finishes taking 8 days lol.

[orionlion82]

that 250W might be 5V biased and not 12V biased, but that could have been the case with the other psu as well.notice how the 12V stuff let go like that? youll want a large single rail 12V biased replacement.

[Adak]

Well, first off, the formalities :

:welcome: to the forums Adak!

Anyway, wow that sucks man... how long was your power out?

And an update: Now that I can O/C again, temps are resting right around 60c :eek:

Gotta reapply the thermal grease... also going to get a splitter or clean up some of the random wires so i can use the 250 just for the mobo/cpu...

ps. i'll have pics up of the stuff as soon as this attachment finishes taking 8 days lol.

Thanks, garynator

Only 4 1/2 hours, but I was worried that there had been a surge that got through my little surge protector, and killed my new computer. That would REALLY NOT make my day.

Fortunately, (although the surge protector was somehow buzzing even after the power was off, how and why, I have no idea), all seems well in the electrical dept., now.

You've nailed just why I don't like anything but very modest o'clocking, garynator. I hate it when the system is good - but then it isn't, and then it is, but now it isn't. It's more like playing a game, then being the reliable system I want.

60C is hot - what are you using for a hs+fan? Naturally, you know the hotter the component gets (wire, cpu, connector, whatever), the more resistance it creates. The more resistance, the more strain on the psupply.

If I were looking for a new ps, I'd be sure it was NOT one of those modular types. Reason being that those connector's (as you've seen), can be a real weak link once they get some corrosion or slackness in their fit. Then the heat builds up, and that makes the corrosion increase, and the cycle just goes on and on. Foolish design, imo. Great way to burn your system (or even your house, maybe), to a crisp, down the road.

Very ingenious to run your system off the 250 like that. I'd put the whole thing on a "short fault leash", though (which you probably already have), by plugging everything for the system into a 15Amp. surge protector/breaker. Although the surge protection is quite modest, the 15 amp breaker protection, right next to the plug in for the system, is a real godsend.

I've seen breakers 50 ft. away from a dead short, just arcing away, fail completely to shut the circuit off, so I'm more cautious about this, than some, perhaps.

I've read that the Artic Silver Ceramique was the best thermal compound, but you probably know more about that than I do. I wanted to keep my 3 year warranty for my AMD 64x2 3800, so it's thermal compound is strictly stock stuff from AMD.

Good luck getting your system back into the pink for the long term garynator, and thanks for the welcome.

And with any luck TODAY I'll break into the top 2,000 on team 32. :cool:

Adak

[Captain Newbie]

I second the distrust of circuit breakers. Don't ask why, it still hurts.

It does sound like you have a power or mainboard problem...sorry for your loss :(

[dwschoon]

At least it sounds like it is the PS and not the board that is the culprit. We have a dell at work that randomly shuts off. Ive replaced the PS and it still does it, so it is looking like the board is going bad. Dell wont even look at it until it completely goes.

[the garynator]

Update:

Rebuilt my system last night, just finished it this morning. Here are the pics of the connectors... I'll have some pictures of what I all did last night and what not up soon.

So i figured i'd pull the hsf off and put some new thermal compound on it, seeing as i could overclock easily again. Well, I kinda went overboard... ended up cleaning the ENTIRE system, ripping off the NB hsf and the vid card...glad i did, you'll see from the pictures. Decided to use a different psu for the drives and what not, it's a cheap piece of crap that believe it or not, i was able to have it stay in one place with only one screw in...that's how light it is.

Normally I would stay away from this sort of thing, but I figure it wont' be under much strain just running a couple drives. My 12v rail is now 11.85-11.95 whereas with just the truepower 330 it was between 11.4 and 11.5 :eek:

I also decided to rip out all of my flashy stuff, except my red led fans in the front.

System's running 45c idle in windows @ 3.66ghz.

*edit* btw, the "Not Clean" picture made me sick :rolleyes: , so i did something about it, you'll see when i add my new pics

[the garynator]

that 250W might be 5V biased and not 12V biased, but that could have been the case with the other psu as well.notice how the 12V stuff let go like that? youll want a large single rail 12V biased replacement.

the 250 is a bit 5v biased, but it's still got a decent 12v. It's a miniItx silent power from shuttle, so i trust that running my mobo a lot more than the generic pos that's running my drives. I would run out and get a new psu, but i'm pretty much broke and this will get me by nicely for a while.


Only 4 1/2 hours, but I was worried that there had been a surge that got through my little surge protector, and killed my new computer. That would REALLY NOT make my day.

At least it wasn't an entire day, were you fiendin' to use the computer by the time the power went back on? lol


60C is hot - what are you using for a hs+fan? Naturally, you know the hotter the component gets (wire, cpu, connector, whatever), the more resistance it creates. The more resistance, the more strain on the psupply.

XP 120 with a silverstone 120mm fan...only reason it was running so hot was that the board reads a bit high(more than a bit i guess) and the thermal compond was barely there.


Good luck getting your system back into the pink for the long term garynator, and thanks for the welcome.

And with any luck TODAY I'll break into the top 2,000 on team 32. :cool:

Adak

Thanks, and good luck with breaking into the top 2000! folding_monkeys just entered the first page today! WOOOHOOO!!!!


Fold On! :attn: