Holy Shutdowns, Batman!

[stabgotham]

Hi all!

I was playing America's Army 2.7 tonight when no more than 15 minutes into the game, my PC suddenly just shut off. No warning, no errors, just up and shut off. At first, I thought the power went out in my house, but it didn't. When I tried to turn it back on, it began it's startup for about 2 seconds, then shut off again. I tried again with the same results.

After waiting for about 5 minutes, I tried to reboot again. This time, my PC started up. I checked my mobo temps (34 C), my gpu temps (48 C), my CPU temps (37 C) and my hard drive temp (54 C). Noticing that they were all within normal limits, I gave AA another try. No more than 10 minutes in again, my PC shutdown.

Let me premise this by saying that I have had the PC for about 10 months, I built it myself and to this point have had very few problems. I did however have a video card issue recently and had to RMA my card to eVGA. I just got my new card about 5 days ago. I also recently purchased a Creative Vision:M mp3 player and installed some software specifically for this program yesterday. And lastly to note, I downloaded and installed Comodo Firewall....about a week before I RMA'd my GPU.

I have already opened her up to make sure all my connections are in place and secure. All check out.

I've done some googling on this and almost all posts say it's a heat issue, but I don't seem to be having any problems with heat. Even while playing America's Army.

I plan on contacting eVGA about this since it just started and my only logical thought is that the GPU is somehow involved, but maybe I'm wrong.

Any thoughts?

My specs:

Lian-Li PC61
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 3700+ San Diego (<---not overclocked, updated BIOS)
eVGA 7800GT
1GB Corsair Dual-Channel DDR
WD Carviar 300gb SATA 3.0gb/s
Samsung 17" 740N Monitor
480w Thermaltake Silent Purepower
Dr. Pepper

 

[k2gremlin]

Few things for you...

One is possible heat.. after 5 mins or so things do cool down quite a bit and that might be why you were able to get it up and running..

As far as the GPU.. its possible but unlikely.. I would tilt more towards power problems.. check the volts on your PSU make sure they are are looking good

 

[stabgotham]

Okay, that sounds good. Now understand that although I built my own PC, I'm still a semi-noob. What exactly should I be looking for the my PSU voltages?

 

[k2gremlin]

Umm if you can get into the bios.. would be the easiest preliminary check..

to be honest im not good at voltages either but in the bios I know theres a section that says like..

1.5v is... 1.523 or something like that... just try and check to see if your are matching somewhat close.. I beleive theres a give or take of like +/-.5 or some crap like that..

Im sure someone who knows more about voltages can elaborate here

 

[k2gremlin]

great catch mp ..

My guess now would be that your PSU is starting to tell you its gnna die.. seems like your putting a very stressfull load on the PSU.. meaning its gonna die eventually.. I wouldnt recommend saving it for another system..

 

[dokk]

Hi all!

I was playing America's Army 2.7 tonight when no more than 15 minutes into the game, my PC suddenly just shut off. No warning, no errors, just up and shut off. At first, I thought the power went out in my house, but it didn't. When I tried to turn it back on, it began it's startup for about 2 seconds, then shut off again. I tried again with the same results.

After waiting for about 5 minutes, I tried to reboot again. This time, my PC started up. I checked my mobo temps (34 C), my gpu temps (48 C), my CPU temps (37 C) and my hard drive temp (54 C). Noticing that they were all within normal limits, I gave AA another try. No more than 10 minutes in again, my PC shutdown.

Let me premise this by saying that I have had the PC for about 10 months, I built it myself and to this point have had very few problems. I did however have a video card issue recently and had to RMA my card to eVGA. I just got my new card about 5 days ago. I also recently purchased a Creative Vision:M mp3 player and installed some software specifically for this program yesterday. And lastly to note, I downloaded and installed Comodo Firewall....about a week before I RMA'd my GPU.

I have already opened her up to make sure all my connections are in place and secure. All check out.

I've done some googling on this and almost all posts say it's a heat issue, but I don't seem to be having any problems with heat. Even while playing America's Army.

I plan on contacting eVGA about this since it just started and my only logical thought is that the GPU is somehow involved, but maybe I'm wrong.

Any thoughts?

My specs:

Lian-Li PC61
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 3700+ San Diego (<---not overclocked, updated BIOS)
eVGA 7800GT
1GB Corsair Dual-Channel DDR
WD Carviar 300gb SATA 3.0gb/s
Samsung 17" 740N Monitor
480w Thermaltake Silent Purepower
Dr. Pepper

I am running basically the same cpu/mobo/non sli,, with a BFG 7600,now then,if you check the specs on the 7800 you might find that it is a power sucker,still you would think that 480 watts should do it ,mine is running 420
watts Enermax,and my cpu IS overclocked,slightly,..Is it possible that there is dirt/dust clogging your psu?? Can you TRY another psu ???

 

[chuckshissle]

While your at it, get some test on that cpu and ram to make sure it's not part of the problem. Get Orthos stress test and Memtest. You can find it anywhere like Majorgeeks.com.

 

[stabgotham]

Just wanted to give you all an update. I was concerned that it may be a memory issue as well, so last night I downloaded and installed the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, which runs from a floppy boot disk on startup. I performed a standard test. During the first pass, test 6 of 11, the PC shutdown just as it had done during gaming.

Up to the shutdown, the tool showed that my memory had passed all tests. Does this in any way mean that my memory may be an issue?

Also, I downloaded and monitored my temps (CPU, MOBO, GPU, and HD) using HMonitor and PC Wizard 2006 while running America's Army 2.7 last night. The only temperatures that were even suspect came from my hard drive, 54C. All my other temps barely even broke 40C. The PC still shutdown within 10 minutes in.

I'm starting to think that you are all right on the PSU. Just to give you a quick little response to some of your comments, I had already cleaned out my PC thoroughly before installing the new video card that eVGA sent me for my RMA, so I don't think dust bunnies are the culprit here. I would love to try out someone else's power supply on my PC to see, unfortunately, I'm the only man in my neigborhood willing to build his own PC. The rest of these boys buy from Dell or Gateway or Compaq, etc. I guess I will just have to hit Newegg up for a new PSU. Does anyone have any suggestions? How are the Ultra-X PSU's??

Why was the PSU able to run my PC under heavy loads before (i.e. running F.E.A.R. without issues), but not now?

 

[toasty2]

Power Supplies can degrade over time (that explains it not happening until recently). Or, maybe your new video card uses more power than the old one? When choosing a PSU, you don't need a ton of watts (500 is probably plenty for your type of setup). The most important thing is the amount of amps on the 12V rails that it can put out. What video card are you using? It may be asking for more than the PSU can supply.

 

[stabgotham]

Toasty, thank you for the reply. Please look at my original post for my system specs. I had listed them all to start the thread.

After reading all your comments and the PSU101 thread, I'm looking at getting one of the following PSU's. Your comments are appreciated before I buy:

Antec NeoPower 550w (triple +12v@18amps) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103941

Corsair HX520w ATX12v (<----whats the difference between ATX and ATX12v?) (triple +12v@18amps) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817139001

 

[rodney_ws]

I'm not saying your PSU is the problem, but I can say that if it's working correctly it's MORE than adequate for your setup as I have the same PSU with a more demanding system... I have the same motherboard with an AMD X2-4400 OC'd to 2.6 along with a 7800 GTX... I agree that heat could be an issue either for your video card or your CPU. You've got a good brand name case, but you don't mention anything about your fan setup... on an older case just adding a single intake fan on the front made a moderate difference in my temps... and that was a simple $10 upgrade.

If you're able to use your system to do normal tasks for extended periods of time you should definitely be looking at heat and possibly your PSU (again, you've got PLENTY of watts for what you're doing... it could just be operating below its ratings)

 

[stabgotham]

My case is the Lian-Li PC61. It has two intake fans in the front of the case, one fan on top of the case, and one additional fan in the back of the case. All four run perfectly and are not shutting down when the PC hits high loads.

If it's operating below its ratings does that make it a bum PSU or is there something I can do to fix that?

 

[rodney_ws]

Plenty of air flow so all signs point to your PSU. That particular model has been on the market for a while I believe so it could be pushing 3 years old.

I had a faulty PSU once and god did it cause me headaches... just random crap happening all of the time on my rig... it was just blind luck that I had a spare PSU in my closet (don't ask!) and I swapped it out just for the hell of it. That PC (a dated P3-800) is still in use to this day with the 2nd power supply.

 

[stabgotham]

Sure it's possible that it's that old, but I've only owned mine for about 10 months. After reading several reviews of that Antec, I'm thinking of going in another direction. There appears to be a known issue with that PSU and NForce4 boards, so I'm continuing to look around. Seasonic and Enermax appear to be very reliable manufacturers so I'm looking there.

Am I better off with dual +12v rails or triple +12v rails? I will be upgrading parts of PC in the future, obviously maybe a new video card (DX10 compliant) and a bump up to 2gigs of RAM, and maybe an additional hard drive, so I'm going to need something to power all that.

 

[rodney_ws]

The 8800 GTX requires a PSU capable of pushing 30 amps on the 12 volt rails... to come up with this number, you simply add the amps from each 12 volt rail (so says people smarter than I)

If you have the PSU I have, you have ZERO chance of powering up an 8800 GTX... I just can't see the requirements in the future going much higher than this as each 12 volt rail is limited to 20 amps per ATX specifications.

 

[mdobilas]

If there is one thing I've learned from trolling all the boards while working on my new system, it's that the PSU is the most overlooked part of a new build.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Operating Temperature and Humidity
Temperature 5°C to 55°C (41°F to 131°F)
Humidity 5-95% RH non-condensing
Thermal Gradient 20°C/hour (maximum)

http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1401&p_created=1134597525

You might want to keep an eye on that HDD

 

[stabgotham]

Well I went ahead and placed an order with newegg. After some serious researching, I decided to get the Seasonic M12 700w PSU, but unfortunately Newegg was out of stock and TigerDirect didn't offer it. So I went with Corsair's HX520 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817139001). It scored really well against competitors and has more than enough juice for my rig, plus triple +12v@18amps. I hope I'm not disappointed.

I've also contacted Thermaltake about my current PSU, since I believe it's still under warranty.

 

[Mr_Gasket]

If your find that it is too much for pc consider resale.
i would hit up local welding supply house

 

[stabgotham]

I don't follow you? What do you mean, too much for PC?

 

[Mr_Gasket]

It was a joke brother. like you had enough power to weld :lol:

 

[stabgotham]

Lol..okay, sorry...I'm just frustrated as hell, I haven't been able to use my comp for about a week and half (vid card issues, and now this).

 

[elpresidente2075]

Im sure someone who knows more about voltages can elaborate here

If you wanna do it in the OS, use a program called speedfan.exe. Its a great program that has many features, one of which is voltage monitoring on all voltages.

All the voltages should be within 5% of what they should be. +12v should be within .24 volts of 12 volts. The same is true for the +5 and +3.3v rails. The - rails are a bit less necessary, as they will show much lower voltages. Don't be alarmed, its normal.

TBH, it seems like others have said that you need one with more juice. The 520 you are looking at should do the trick.

 

[stabgotham]

That's what I'm talking about...some cold hard facts! Yes, thank you! I'm at work right now, but I remember looking at the voltages for my PSU last night and the +12v rail being something like 11.34v or right around there. All the others looked to be just above by miniscule amount.

So this could be the problem, huh? Nothing I can do about that?

 

[zjohnr]

If you wanna do it in the OS, use a program called speedfan.exe.

I'm not sure, but one of the features which you may find useful is having Speedfan create a log of the temperatures and voltages. Speedfan can dump the readings you select to a text file approximately every 3 seconds. Possibly useful thing if you wish to see what your readings were just before the system took a turn for the worse.

Not sure if a link was provided to the programs webpage, so here it is in case you want it.
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

-john