Shutting off. Cant reformat. Stuck. Please Help

Y

Yz388

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 18, 2005
Messages
197
Trying to reformat the computer.
When I turn it on, it runs from 2 seconds from anywhere up to half way through the process of deleting the old partition. Sometimes it stutters when I try to turn it back on as soon as it shuts off.



Main problem is that the computer is shutting off randomly, preventing me from deleting and reinstalling windows.

Keep it mind the processor is brand new, the motherboard is fairly new.

At first i thought it was overheating, but it cant be. Sometimes it does this right away. Always turns on tho.


What I have tried.
Different working psu
Memory
Motherboard battery
FANS (I thought it was overheating at first)
Different windows xp cd


What I have not tried
CD Rom( the one currently installed is making a strange noise, but would that be the cause of these problems)
Hard drive (only because I don’t have one handy)
Motherboard


So my question is, what can be the cause of this problem. The computer will not stay running, and I can not figure it out. Any suggestions are tips are welcome.
 
Check to see if you bios version has issues and update. Sounds like you have two bad PSU's.
 
It does sound like two bad PSUs. Run memtest to see if that is stable and error free (though to be sure you ahve to run it for more than 24 hours). I would probably not worry about the cd drive, as they can make soem crazy noises and work fine. Windows installer would complain a lot if there was anything seriously wrong with the drive.
 
This psu im using came off a working computer. Does this computer need more power since it has a new amd 64 processor?

Any other suggestions.

Getting desperate
 
did you check the voltage? Shouldn't be the problem though.

Also, dust the whole thing off. Maybe a chunk of dust or something could be causing hardware failure.

Another thing I would say to do is to run minimal things. Have only like one fan going, no fancy lights or anything. You could be using up too much power. What are the exact specs of the power suppy?

Hope this helps.
 
This is an easy one.

take off your heatsink and reseat it. I'd be willing to bet it isn't sitting properly on the CPU.
 
I did check the heatsink and put it back on. Fresh thermal compund (arctic silver) on the cpu


I am running minimal everything. Still does it with the hardrive not hooked up.

Computer runs for 10 mins sometimes at windows install screen, after a while it only runs for 3 seconds before shutting down.

It sounds so much like an overheating issue.... It is hot when i touch the heatsink, but that is normal correct? (and yes, the fan is working)

EDIT: Tested my good psu out of my destop. 480. Same problem. Cant be a psu issue.

I also ran the computer with a large fan blowing towards the cpu...nothing changed
 
Did you run Memtest? - http://www.memtest86.com/

It could be bad RAM. Oh and have you tried checking out the hard drive itself? The hard drive could be dying. To be sure, plug it into another PC.

Hope that helps.
 
Well i tried working memory out of another computer at my house and still doing the same thing.

I would conisider it being a hardrive problem, but with the hd disconnected, the computer still does it. So id say a hd is out of the question


Anyone :confused:
 
*Fixed*

It was the motherboard...after all that work swapping out other parts...


Computer is back together and running good.
 
Good to know. Sorry to hear it was the motherboard that die. Had that happen to me once.
 
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