Hardware Problems... Need Ideas

T

tiblier

Geek Trainee
Ok, so right before Christmas I built a brand spanking new computer for myself. Here are the specs:

AMD Phenom II x4 965
4gigs of DDR3 2000
ATI Powercolor 5850
ASUS M4A79T Deluxe
HEC Zephyr 750WATT

So here is the problem... right after I built the machine I started having problems. Very randomly it just shuts off on me. When it shuts off it is almost like the power supply is dying on me but the lights on the motherboard will stay on like it is still infact getting power. I am unable to get the machine to power back on until I completely unplug it from the wall and cycle the power to it totally.

My first thought was that it could have been a bad GFX card, but since I still have my other computer with me I popped my nVidia 9600GT into it... and BAM! After about a minute or two, it shuts off on me again. I then shifted to the motherboard and thought it could be that. I went so far as to RMA it already and got my replacement in yesteryday for it. I installed it and hooked everything back up and was in the BIOS setting everything back up (the clock, etc) and *poof* it shuts off on me while I am just sitting in the BIOS.

So now my focus has switched to it possibly being the power supply or the CPU. I am unsure which it could be at this point but I will say when I first started having the problems I ran a CPU stress test and it ran that fine for around 2 hours.

Basically I am just looking for some thoughts or ideas of what could be causing the problem, so anything would be great! Thanks in advance!
 
This is probably stupid but it's not a temperature issue is it?

I think in such situations, other than what you've already tried, people test power supply, so maybe try replacing that, and also the memory. Faulty memory sticks can give issues too, I think. Try using only 1 memory stick at a time.

Also, once I was having odd instability problems partly because of weird/incorrect settings in the bios related to memory fsb. But that was on an older motherboard.
 
I am pretty sure that it is not heat related. I am using the Antec 902 case which so far seems to have really good airflow. I did orginally run a memory test on it to try and burn in the memory when it was first built and it didn't return any errors, but I shall look into just using 1 stick of memory and see if there is any luck there.

I will say I have been doing a ton of research today about the power supply I have in the system, and have come across quite a few people who have almost the same problem as me... who knows... guess I will see tonight when I go to my buddy's place to try it with his power supply!
 
when does it shut down? when the OS is loaded or while bootup?

Maybe try to go into BIOS and sit there for a few minutes to see what happens. While at that, check the CPU temp.

But an overall thought would be that if the CPU were faulty, the computer would just malfunction and not Power off (which is what I understand it does from what you said...). Try to put the PSU in another PC.


good luck.
 
Well it seems that it was indeed the Power Supply. I took it to the computer store that I used to work at last night and we were able to test everything and narrow it down to the power supply. After switching out the CPU with a spare and unplugging everything (DVD Drive and HDD) and it still shutting off on us while just sitting in the BIOS (with everything still being cold to the touch) we were able to conclude that it was indeed the power supply giving us the trouble.
 
Does it work without issues if you plug in another psu?

Man, I think you should've started with the power supply! That's the easiest thing to switch out! :P
 
DaRuSsIaMaN said:
Does it work without issues if you plug in another psu?

Man, I think you should've started with the power supply! That's the easiest thing to switch out! :P
Click to expand...

Yea, once we eliminated my current psu that was in the system things seemed to be much happier!

haha! Usually I would but being that this was my first new computer in some time my buddy and I spent around 2 1/2 hours wire managing it and making sure you couldn't really see ANY of the wires... with that being said I was just hoping that I wasn't gonna have to undo all that work. But I suppose it is gonna be worth undoing to have a functioning machine!
 
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