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PC powering off spontaneously

S

Saxbytes

n00b
Joined
Sep 10, 2004
Messages
14
:confused:
Hey guys, I'm in need of some help here. I have a PC that is shutting down spontaneously. It's all brand-new equipment from NewEgg. Here are the specs:

(1) Foxconn NF4SK8AA-8KRS Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
(1) ENERMAX Whisper II EG565P-VE FMA(24P) ATX12V 535W Power Supply
CORSAIR XMS 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model Twinx2048-3200c2pt
(1) AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Manchester 2.0GHz Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model ADA3800BVBOX
(1) GIGABYTE GV-NX76G256D-RH Geforce 7600GS 256MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Silent Pipe, Lead Free Video Card
(1) SAMSUNG 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write and LightScribe Black ATA/ATAPI Model SHS162LBEBN
(1) SONY Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1615/B2s
(2) Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
(1) LINKSKEY LKA-CR15B 19-in-1 USB 2.0 Black Card Reader/Writer
(1) COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
(2) 120MM cooling fans

I have XP pro installed; the HD's are set in a stripped RAID array. It's not giving BSOD's, just powering off. It leads me to a hardware issue, but I don't have extra parts to determine the problem via process of elimination. I've unplugged everything except the basics; Mobo, Video Card, HD's. And I'm still getting the problem. I think it's a faulty power supply, but I bought Enermax which is supposed to be one of the best from reviews and comments here and elsewhere. I don't know where to turn.

Any help or insight would be TREMENDOUSLY appreciated!
 
To eliminate all the basic things that could be causing it..

1) Try another power strip and another power outlet. Try putting the computer on its own plug in the house so you can eliminate that problem. Had a friend run into this issue with a bad power outlet.

2) Double check you have everything plugged in solid where it is supposed to go, even down the wires outside of your case, like the power cable from the power outlet to your PSU. I've had a power cable wiggle loose and the PC would power off.

3) Just keep the basics in your computer that you need. MOBO/CPU/PSU/GPU/HDD/DVD-ROM.

4) Try booting a bootable linux like Knoppix that doesn't even need to install on your hard drive. You just put it in your DVD-ROM/CD-ROM, restart, and it will boot right into linux. See if your computer restarts under this OS. It will use basic drivers and auto-detect your components. If it doesn't freeze or shut down, it could be driver conflicts in Windows.

5) Right click on my computer --> Properties --> Advanced Tab --> Startup and Recovery --> DISABLE "Automatic Reboot". See if you get a BSOD or error message instead of the computer restarting itself.

6) As another resort if you are still experiencing problems, you could be grounding out something.. check to make sure your motherboard is screwed in with only the standoffs it needs, and none of the screw heads are touching circuitry. I've had screws with too big of heads on them that actually overlapped the board before and shorted it where it would power off randomly.

Try those first.. and then post back with your results.
 
does it power off randomly, or can you say that when you do something CPU intensive it powers off faster..? what temps are you getting..? Check 5 and 12 V rails on your PSU (and use a multimeter to do it..)
 
1) Try another power strip and another power outlet. Try putting the computer on its own plug in the house so you can eliminate that problem. Had a friend run into this issue with a bad power outlet.
Click to expand...
Already checked this; not an issue.


2) Double check you have everything plugged in solid where it is supposed to go, even down the wires outside of your case, like the power cable from the power outlet to your PSU. I've had a power cable wiggle loose and the PC would power off.
Click to expand...
Already checked this; not an issue.


3) Just keep the basics in your computer that you need. MOBO/CPU/PSU/GPU/HDD/DVD-ROM.

4) Try booting a bootable linux like Knoppix that doesn't even need to install on your hard drive. You just put it in your DVD-ROM/CD-ROM, restart, and it will boot right into linux. See if your computer restarts under this OS. It will use basic drivers and auto-detect your components. If it doesn't freeze or shut down, it could be driver conflicts in Windows.

5) Right click on my computer --> Properties --> Advanced Tab --> Startup and Recovery --> DISABLE "Automatic Reboot". See if you get a BSOD or error message instead of the computer restarting itself.

6) As another resort if you are still experiencing problems, you could be grounding out something.. check to make sure your motherboard is screwed in with only the standoffs it needs, and none of the screw heads are touching circuitry. I've had screws with too big of heads on them that actually overlapped the board before and shorted it where it would power off randomly.
Click to expand...
I'll try this and see what happens. I'll have to try and get a hold of a Linux CD...



does it power off randomly, or can you say that when you do something CPU intensive it powers off faster..? what temps are you getting..? Check 5 and 12 V rails on your PSU (and use a multimeter to do it..)
Click to expand...
Well, that's tough to say. The person that's using this PC does digital photography. He uses Photoshop CS2 on a regular basis. So yes it's intensive constantly, but not out of the ordinary for him considering he keeps PS open all day every day. At the time, he was working with a photo.
 
In my experience this has been caused by a bad Power Supply. Swap it out and I'll bet it stops.
 
when does it power off?

Mine kept shutting off 3 seconds after i turned it on and it was a MOBO problem
 
Enermax power supplies are good. I own an enermax noisetaker 600w having gone through 2 crappy antec's and I can tell you it's a world of difference. So I doubt it's that unless it's genuinely faulty.

You know it could be something simple like the machine is set to goto suspend after 3 minutes idle and the suspend mode is set to STR (suspend to ram) in the bios which'll make the machine appear to power off when infact it isn't.

Does the PC poweroff and shutdown properly or is it as if you flip the power off at the mains in the wall?
 
when does it power off?
Click to expand...
It's powering off at any particular moment. It could work hours before it decides to shut off, or it could be 10 minutes.


Does the PC poweroff and shutdown properly or is it as if you flip the power off at the mains in the wall?
Click to expand...
Switch Flip. Not the regular shutdown process.


Try booting a bootable linux... See if your computer restarts under this OS.
Click to expand...
I tried this and had no driver issues either.




I'm led to believe it's the power supply. I'm going to swap it out and see what happens. Thanks for your opinions and suggestions, guys! I truly appreciate people like you being there to help out and bounce thoughts and idea off of. I'll let you know what happens. :)
 
Mobo or PSU seem the only likely senarios. PSU first since its the easiest.
 
spine said:
Enermax power supplies are good. I own an enermax noisetaker 600w having gone through 2 crappy antec's and I can tell you it's a world of difference. So I doubt it's that unless it's genuinely faulty.
Click to expand...

Every brand has faulty PSUs. To recommend that the problem isnt the PSU because he has a Brand X PSU is some seriously flawed logic. :rolleyes:

OP: You could try testing the PSU with a multimeter to see if you are getting good voltages out of your PSU. But yes this sounds like a classic bad power supply problem.
 
i would go to the computer store and invest in a powersupply tester and see what that shows.
 
metallicafan said:
Every brand has faulty PSUs. To recommend that the problem isnt the PSU because he has a Brand X PSU is some seriously flawed logic. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Here's what I said with emphasis for the retarded:

spine said:
I own an enermax noisetaker 600w having gone through 2 crappy antec's and I can tell you it's a world of difference. So I doubt it's that unless it's genuinely faulty
Click to expand...
 
So in otherwords its probably not the power supply unless it is indeed the power supply?

Dont post worthless "I had good luck with Brand X and bad luck with Brand Y" junk when trying to help a user with his problem. Your above statement is confusing. I doubt it is the power supply unless the power supply is faulty is common sense. If the power supply were to be functioning correctly then of course its not the power supply.
:confused:
 
Again, added my own emphasis...

metallicafan said:
So in otherwords its probably not the power supply unless it is indeed the power supply?
Click to expand...
That's what I'm saying, well done.
 
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