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My buddys comp is hosed

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Element-Xero

Member
Joined
Sep 17, 2001
Location
Nothingness is Everything.
My buddys comp is F(_)X'd

Okay, my friend has:

1.4GHz XP 1600+
soyo dragon plus mobo
one 512MB Corsair CAS 2.5 PC2100
Geforce 2 GTS 256 (now)
1 40GB WD
1 40GB Samsung
350w Sparkle PSU

everything stock

ok, so his comp was locking up at random times and the display was going all insane for a couple days. After a while it ceased to work at all and we switched the gfx card for a backup card I had, a Geforce 2 GTS 256, and this allowed the computer to function.

However, when his computer was put under ANY kind of stress, it locks up and hangs. We tried new memory, no dice. New processor, no dice. So that leaves me to believe that it's either a weak/dying power supply that can't handle heavy cpu voltage draw, or some unknown error with the motherboard.

I think the psu would make sense (maybe?), possibly not supplying enough voltage to the video card (which was a power hungry geforce 4 ti4600; power hungry relative to the baby card in there now).

I'm kind of at a loss and I don't really have a spare mobo to test to see if it's that. Any suggestions?
 
Try unplugging all the fans but the CPU fan. Also disconnect the secondary HD. This will lighten the P/S load. Then see how long his PC will stay stable. If it remains stable try adding things 1 device at a time until it is back to full load.

Also what kind of temps are you guys seeing?
 
normal temps, under normal usage (aim, browser open) system temp is between 30-35 and cpu is 42-48.

Dunno about full load since full load only causes crashes.

The only a fans are on the cpu heatsink and two 80mm in a typical S configuration. I don't think that would have enough power draw to really affect anything. It seems that a 350W Sparkle should do the job here, and the voltages aren't even bad, about 4.89-4.95ish and ~12.15

I dunno...........anyone?
 
Try a stronger psu. The gfx, if i can remember correctly, requires a 350watt psu just for operations. I can't remember correctly, so dont bash me if i get it wrong :D. Yeah, so try another psu.
 
has anyone noticed that he's using a 350w sparkle ? those babies are supposed to output something like over 430w or more, which should handle most tasks.
i'd look more at those temps, maybe he has his auto-shutdown set at like 50° in the bios, so when it starts going under load the temp. rises and it shuts down. : /
 
I had an enermax that gave me big problems.

The symptoms were:
*random crashing (esp. when stressing the video card/processor, ie: in a game)
*crashing when starting the computer / initing video (no BIOS beeps)
*crashing when switching video modes

I thought it was the video card or the motherboard, but it turns out it was the PSU.. replaced it, and all the problems went away.. I'm on the same win2k install, and it's very stable now.

Oh yeah, my old PSU was reading my +5 at low unacceptable ranges (1.3gig Tbird + mobo + 2 sticks of ram + 1 harddrive + 2 cdroms + 1 floppy + 2 pci cards + 1 agp card).. my 365 should have handled that.. no major hardware changes since I originally got the PSU, and it read the +5 at good levels (over +5)
 
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