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Need help with a possible PS problem

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Stryfe

Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2002
Location
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
My machine is having issues. It randomly freezes for a few seconds once every minute or two. It's doing it even now just as I'm typing this. I'm thinking it may be a power supply problem. I tried to use a cold cathode I bought a few weeks ago and my machine locks up within 5 minutes of turning it on (locks up and has to be rebooted, not just for a few seconds).

Here's a list of the lows my voltages have hit according to motherboard monitor:

+3.3: 3.17
+5.00: 4.73
+12.00: 12.17

Any help anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated :)
 
Those voltages are quite low yes..

I'd recommend that you shut down your computer and unplug all extra devices, such as cd-rom/cd-rws or extra cards that you have and try to boot up the computer. If the problem remains it's probably not PSU related.

What PSU do you have by the way?
 
yeah, unplug what you don't need to be fuctional. I agree with sirtoby. unplug cdroms, secondary HDs,secondary fans. don't take out the PCI cards. do that after you confirm it is not PSU. Or just use a scape PSU.
 
Well it seems my cd-rom was the culpurit. I noticed that it was attempting to read whenever the machine would freeze. It was doing it even when there was no cd in the drive too, but not as often.

I do still think I need a new PS though. It would be nice to turn that cold cathode on without locking up the machine. Plus the one I'm using now is a generic piece of crap.

Do you guys know what size power supply I would need if I were considering watercooling sometime in the future? I don't have any plans for it now, but I'd like to leave my options open. I've been eyeing the Antec TruePower 430w. Any thoughts on that preticular PS?

I really appreciate the advice :)
 
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