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Power supply problem?

M

mtwalsh

n00b
Joined
Dec 19, 2009
Messages
28
I have an ultra 550W LSU power supply. My original problem started where i got a message, on the screen the the computer must shut down now. So i restarted. To no avail. I tried to go into bios, the bios would open but freeze up where i could not make any adjustments or to see if something was wrong. I have a gigabyte EP45-UP3P MB with a Q8400 cpu, on the gigabyte board there is a sequence of lights that light up letting you know the cpu is powering up. It would go all the way to the top and just freeze there.

So I contacted gigabyte who told me to rma the board. I did. They sent it back i put everything back together and power up just to the bios. I was able to make one move on the bios then it froze up on me again. I am thinking the 12V rail went bad on the psu. I have had the same system running for 6 months no problems. CPU temps were about 55-60C So while I was waiting for the mb i purchased a freezer pro cpu cooler. That the only change i made. The fan was working on the freezer pro. I used artic silver 5. I made sure to clean off both surfaces nice and clean.

the only thing i can think of is the psu. I dont do much gameing so my graphcs card is gforce 9500 GT. I didnt even hook up and of my 2 hard drives yet just to make sure it wasnt them causing the problems. I should be able to get into bios with out a HD hocked up right?

I know the PSU i bought is a piece of junk, I learned that too late . I found this forum after I had purchased the parts. My Bad.

If someone can recomend a decent psu for my set up I would apreciate it. I'm looking to spend about 70 USD. Like I said I dont do much gaming, just basic internet surphing, light photoshop, email, etc. I just want something reliable and if it is the PSU I'm gonna take this one and throw it in the trash can, they cant keep their RMA on it. One thing I forgot to menttion, when the problem first started i moved ligthly the 24 pin connector because i felt it was hitting the door case, I noticed the power go off and on. That is another reason I feel its the psu that and the fact that it started up fone i was in biod for about a good 10 minutes took a break form the whole assembly made one move and it froze after that so i am guessing that the psu is losing power to the 12volt rail, because the fans are all running. Sorry for the long post, but i tried to include everything i know and did to try to correct the problem.

Thanks for your help.!
 
Could be a RAM issue. Could be a HDD issue. Could even be a CPU issue. Won't really know until you start swapping out parts.

With that said, even if the PSU isn't the problem, that Ultra has got to go. You'll be fine with this good quality PSU:
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU
 
Danny, I didnt connect any hard drives yet. So it cant be that , I just wanted to go into bios to make sure that it was set up to use sata drives and not the old ata/ide drives.

On the memory issus i never overclocked the memory it is OCZ 800 mhz DDR2. Does memeory that has been working fine just all of a sudden go like that? I guess it could be a cpu issue, but i if it turns out to be how do i prove to them it is? I never RMA'd a cpu to intel before. Its only 6 months old but it does come with a limited 3 year. I guess i should try a known good psu and go from there. I just went to tiger direct directly, & it offered free shipping. I think i'm gonna grab it. the 12V rail handles 30amps. For what i'm using now on my computer this is fine, and if it turns out to be something else then at least i didnt invest too much on a part i didnt need. & i can always upgrade later to a better one if i need to add more. Will this run 2 hard rives, and my geforce 950 GT & a DVD drive? the 400 Watts is what has me a little leary but you guys know what your doing a lot more than me, so I may as well order it maybe it will get here by friday.
 
RAM can up and die like that. To prove whether or not it's the CPU, you have to either A) try that CPU in another mobo or B) try another CPU in the current mobo. However do note that the likelihood of CPU failure is pretty damn low so that should be the last thing you look at.

Yes the Corsair 400CX will be enough for your current setup.
 
Thanks Danny, I really appreciate the timely response and help. I've been down now for 3 weeks, and gotta get to the bottom of this so I'm purchasing your recomendation. I"ll let you know how it goes.
 
I installed the new psu.....Well, I still get freeze ups in the bios. theMB will beep once then just try to keep resetting itself. Is it possible for memory to work for few minutes then just freeze up? that would explain why i can only get to do around i move in the cmos setup before it freezes? then if i let it cool down for a while I will be able to get back into the bios for a few minutes. Does that sound like a ram issue to you?
 
I dont have another system. Do you think best buy geek squad would test it for me? If so how much do you think they will rape me for a fee on it?
 
I didn't read all posts thoroughly, but RAM can work for a while and then fail doing a certain operation, which can result in a BSOD. I suggest you run Memtest on it. If the memory passes a couple full sweeps, test each module individually as sometimes having multiple modules installed will mask a problem with a single one.
 
My only problem is that I have only this one PC. I press the startup button, the lights now just go on on the motherboard to let you know the CPU is powering up, noting else. It doesnt even get to the single beep through the motherboard. It just keeps trying to reset. So i can't run any memory tests on it I'll have to look around to see if there are any computer shops around that would do the test for me. Or maybe I should just order a 2 gb dual channel, from newegg for 54.00 Friggin DDR2 is going up again? I bought this 4 gb dual channel 6 months ago for 84 bucks..The ram in question is OCZ vista performance. the 2 Gb dula I was looking at is a Gskill. I guess if it is not the ram I'll have 2 extra GB of memory. Before when i was able to get into the bios the CPU health status looked good, it was running at 38C. It just seems like after a few mintues in the bios the whole thing just freezes, I can't make any moves or anything in the bios. Then it get to a point where I cant even get into bios, but i do see the lights go up on the board showing the cpu is powering up. Is it possible its the cpu? As an educated guess what would you think ram or CPU. The PSU is a brand new Corsair. The MB was just sent back to me from RMA. I'm at a F'n loss here!
 
One other thing i forgot to include that may help in diagnosing. Is I would get a message in a black box that read. "you have to restart your computer now by holding in the power button until the computer shuts down, then press the power button again, to start up."

I dunno if that would lead you one way or another in deciding if you think it is the cpu or the memory but any bit of info helps.

I do have a lifetime warrantte on the Ram and a 3 year one on the CPU. But I don't want to start an RAM on the CPU unless I absolutely have to.
 
Generally, the likelihood of a CPU issue is pretty damn low unless you had a shitty PSU or had improper voltage.

Most likely a RAM issue or a even a mobo issue.
 
I'm gonna order a 2 gb dual set up. i already have 4 gb's that i can rma. So i'll order a 2 gb set of gskill.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098
If this works, I'll rma the 4 gb dual memory to OCZ.
Danny how can i prove something is wrong with the motherboard. I sent it back to them already they returned it to me, with no explanation of whether they fixed anything or not. Just said they tested it. they sent back the same board but put it in a different box, just to let me know they opened mine.
BTW- Iove the new corsiar PSU. You can really tell the difference in quality. the wiring on it is much better.
 
I just wanted to update you guys on my situation. While I am waiting for the new memory to be shipped. I decided to try out something. I pulled out one memory stick at a time and seen if i could isolate the problem that way. Its a 50/50 chance right, theres only 2 memory sticks in there. So low and behold, after pulling out a stick, the computer unfroze in the bios. I then hooked up 1 hard drive, and started up. All is working fine. So to confirm this i put back in the offending memory stick and low and behold the computer froze up again. So I shut down took out the bad stick and now I'm running at the present with one 2 GB memory stick in the computer.
So now my question is when i get my new memory i can send in the OCZ for RMA> Are they hard to deal with ? I guess I'm about to find out because it is definitely a bad memory stick that caused the problem. Danny nailed it right away, he suggested memory. I learn something new every day.
Thanks for your help Danny and everyone else too. This is a good website to go to for information , you don't get jumped on for not knowing something & I appreciate that. Theres nothing worse than having your computer down & getting jumped on by the very same people your trying to get help from. There are a lot of websites out there that can take an example from this one on how to treat people!

Thanks again,

mtwalsh
 
Glad to see the problem was narrowed down.

However, just to be absolutely sure that it's the RAM: Move the working stick of RAM to the RAM slot where you had originally installed the "bad/defective" RAM. If the system still freezes up, that might mean that the RAM slot is bad which means that mobo might be developing issues. In which case, it would be a good idea to RMA the motherboard.

But if the working RAM stick still works in that other slot, then it's definitely the RAM.

OCZ generally has good RMA and customer support.
 
Danny Bui said:
Glad to see the problem was narrowed down.

However, just to be absolutely sure that it's the RAM: Move the working stick of RAM to the RAM slot where you had originally installed the "bad/defective" RAM. If the system still freezes up, that might mean that the RAM slot is bad which means that mobo might be developing issues. In which case, it would be a good idea to RMA the motherboard.

But if the working RAM stick still works in that other slot, then it's definitely the RAM.
Click to expand...

Actually, there are some motherboards which require that the single stick be installed into a specific slot for single-channel operation - and will not POST at all if that stick of RAM is installed in any other slot without a working stick of RAM installed into the first slot. If that's the case, then remove the known working stick of RAM from the first slot and install the "bad" stick of RAM in the same slot that you had the "working" stick of RAM installed in. If it freezes or gives memory error beeps, then it's the RAM. But if it works and gives no errors in Memtest86+ (after running Memtest for at least 12 hours), then it's likely that the motherboard has a bad DIMM slot.
 
E4g1e said:
Actually, there are some motherboards which require that the single stick be installed into a specific slot for single-channel operation - and will not POST at all if that stick of RAM is installed in any other slot without a working stick of RAM installed into the first slot. If that's the case, then remove the known working stick of RAM from the first slot and install the "bad" stick of RAM in the same slot that you had the "working" stick of RAM installed in. If it freezes or gives memory error beeps, then it's the RAM. But if it works and gives no errors in Memtest86+ (after running Memtest for at least 12 hours), then it's likely that the motherboard has a bad DIMM slot.
Click to expand...

Ahh did not know that. Also a good idea.
 
I wish i had the memory here still to confirm or deny your test. When i had the memory in my possesion, i tried both channels. In other words there are 4 slots yellow,red,yellow,red. For dula channel you have to put them in either both yellow or both red slots. For a single chip there is no explanation of that in the manual. Anyway i recieved the 2 gb dual channel Gskill set and installed them into red slots. But before this with the bad ram I tried BOTH channels suspecting maybe a bad channel with the older ram. The problem was persistent. The comp has been running fine now for a few weeks with the gskill ram.
OCZ was not cooperative at all they made me wait a long time for an RMA # they also had rediculous shipping rules, & redundant questions. Long story short they sent me an RMA after meticulous ball breaking. I was ready to just throw the modulles in the garbage which is what they wanted me to do but they were a 4 gb dual kit that cost me 80 bucks. I am glad i bought another kit first because they insisted on both modules being returned. I put a very small marking on the label of the bad module, to make sure they dont send me back the same bad module.
No offense to anyone here who owns OCZ memory but I wouldn't buy a pencil from that company ever again.
 
I'm going to start a new thread in the memory section. I have questions about mixing memory and the cas latency and timings. So i dont think my questions will pertain to a power supply thread.
 
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