Is this PSU related?

B

Bbq

King of Charts
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Feb 21, 2006
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Recently, I've left my computer on 24/7, like always, but it's been shutting down in the middle of the night. However, it won't turn on until I clear cmos. I added no new hardware, nothing new. Could it be a power with my surge protector? It's an old 'Spike Stik' I bought ages ago, but has had no problems. So,

1. System specs: AMD Opteron 146 oc'd to 2.4, ASRock 939dual-sata2, 80gb WD, 160gb Seagate, 1 optical drive, GeForce 6600gt, OCZ Powerstream 420w

2. What could be causing this?

3. Recommend a new surge protector, or UPS, for cheap. I'm short on money, but I don't want damaged hardware.

4. Could it be from the Power company?

5. Thanks for answering.
 
When you say wont turn on, will it not boot or will no power hit the computer at all?
 
wee96 said:
When you say wont turn on, will it not boot or will no power hit the computer at all?
Click to expand...

No power goes in when I press the power button, and i need to clear the cmos to get it to boot.
 
How old is the motherboard? Is the clock consistent when you do clear the cmos? If the board is a couple of years old and the clock is reseting it could be a bad bios battery causing it.
 
madmat said:
How old is the motherboard? Is the clock consistent when you do clear the cmos? If the board is a couple of years old and the clock is reseting it could be a bad bios battery causing it.
Click to expand...

Almost brand new board, under 5 months old. When I reset the cmos, the clocks are still accurate. It's how it's turning off in the middle of the night and not starting until i reset cmos that's bothering me a lot.
 
Check your voltages with a DMM and see if they're in spec. if so check them with software and see how far it's off and after coming up with tolerances (Real voltages versus software under load and idle) use a proggy such as Everest to monitor and log your voltages. This can give you a ballpark figure as to what's going on when your PC reboots. After that if it's the PSU you should see a rail go under in the log. I'd think the PSU could well be the culprit but I'd want a test unit of known quality to test it against. You might ask a buddy local if he's got one you could borrow.
 
I measured the rails yesterday with a DMM, well within spec (about .03 off the +12, no biggie). Swapped in a bigger more powerful psu, still shuts off at night, needing a cmos reset.
 
Which BIOS are you using? If you have XP pro check out the event viewer.
 
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