Computer crashed and won't boot up

jayta98

Honorable
Jul 31, 2013
3
0
10,510
Hi everyone new member here. I have been working around PC's and building my own since windows 98. I'm not an expert but I can get around.

I had this issue today with my PC. I had this computer for almost 5 yrs and I had slowly upgraded the video card, a SATA HD and yesterday I installed a SSD. Now these upgrades were not all at the same time. The video card was about 3 yrs ago, the sata hd 2 yrs ago and the ssd yesterday. I use my PC for surfing the net hearing music and playing some games. Most of my games are flight simulators, some occasional starcraft 2 and other games.

My issue started today. I was watching a video on the PC and the screen froze. The speakers were making an awful noise. I knew it crashed. I hit the restart button and I can hear the fans on but I don't hear the POST beeps or video on my screen. I shut it down and repowered again same results.

I started thinking that my SSD was the issue since I just put it in. I turned the PC off and opened my case. I removed the power cable and sata cable from the SSD and tried to boot up, same results: nothing. I continued to remove the power and ide/sata cable of my remaining HD one at a time and powering the system up. I had the same results the each time.

I started to think my CPU or mobo took a dump. I removed my USB devices one at a time and repowering the system, same results. I removed the video card and no POST sounds or changes. I unplugged the dvd/rw drive, same result.

I have 2 sticks of corsair xm2 2GB PC6400 RAM. I removed the right one and reboot the system. This time I heard one POST beep. So I was thinking I have a bad stick of RAM. I put the stick back to see if issue happens again. I rebooted the system and heard the POST beep again. okay... I said to myself.

I put peripheral back to my PC again and the PC booted back like normal. I never had this issue since I own the system.

I have the following set up:
MSI 785gtm-E45( I know is not the best MB)
Corsair XM2 PC6400 2GB x2= 4GB total
AMD Phenom 9850 processor 2.5ghz
Antec True 430w power supply
Samgung 120Gb SSD drive
WD 150Gb IDE HD
Seagate 150Gb SATA HD
Pionner DVD/RW drive
Thermaltake Blue Orb CPU cooler (apparently this one is not enough for Phenom CPU's, but the system worked fine for years)

BFG Geforce 9800 GT graphics card (PCI-E) - no extra power connection. I'm going to upgrade this card very soon to Geforce GTX 650 Ti minimum.

Three Antec case fans - 2 on the back and one on the front

I use the following USB devices all connected:
Plantronics Gamecom headset, Ch products joystick, throttle and pedals(3 separate USB plugs), USB printer and PS3 webcam. I connect all these devices with 2 usb hubs. The Ch products devices, the headset and PS3 webcam get used all when I play simulators.

I use Bose desktop speakers connected to the mobo internal sound.

I have not check the CPU temp but when I get in the BIOS it normally says 102 to 109. I haven't checked the temp when I play game or so. Like I said I have been using this system for quite some time. I got all the simulator devices about 6 months ago.

Could I have a faulty memory stick? PS that is too old or weak? My mobo? My CPU overheating? The PC has been working fine for the last 45 mins and I'm actually using it to write this thread.

What do you guys think or recommend? Thanks in advance.

Update at 7:40 pm - well I just got a BSD and the PC restarted. It's still working. I'm still wondering what could it be.
 
Solution
Go to one of the websites that tells you how much of a power supply you are supposed to be running. You also want to run coretemp or HWmonitor to see what your temps are. You probably want to read up some more on temps and cooling.

voodooking

Distinguished
Mar 2, 2012
298
0
18,810
Go to one of the websites that tells you how much of a power supply you are supposed to be running. You also want to run coretemp or HWmonitor to see what your temps are. You probably want to read up some more on temps and cooling.
 
Solution

jayta98

Honorable
Jul 31, 2013
3
0
10,510


I tried two different power supply calculators and it tells me that I need a 407w PS if I have my Geforce GTX 650ti 2GB card that is on the way. I don't know much but that sounds kind of low. My current PS is a 430w. I installed the MSI utility to check the temperature. CPU itself was 49C and the CPU fan was 52C when playing starcraft 2. As soon as it idles, the cpu is at 37C and cpu fan at 41C.

I will download the ones you suggest and compare. I'm trying to find a way to test the RAM.