Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

PC problems

Tags:
Last response: in CPUs
Share

Hello! I'm new here, I've recently built a PC (well, with help from a friend) and it works well.. except for one or two problems.

Sometimes the PC would randomly restart, whether I'm on a game, or just on the internet, and I'm not sure what's causing it! One of the problems when building the PC were that the power supply cable to the CPU was 4 pin (I think it was labeled P3) , but the CPU had an 8 pin socket. It still works, but I'm wondering if this could be causing the PC to restart. The temperatures of the CPU/everything are fine, so I don't think it's overheating. I can't think of anything else that'd be causing it to restart, unless it was software related, or a driver or something.

If this is the problem, would a 4 to 8 pin adapter help much? Or would a new power supply be needed? (which I'm hoping not :p )

Here be my system specifications:

XFX 680i Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo e4500
2 x Geforce 7600 GT
2 Gb RAM
OCZ StealthXstream 500w PSU (I'd've thought 500w is enough for this)

Sorry if my explanation is vague, I'm not that good with hardware!

More about : problems

Register or log in to remove

no - its not the 4 pin mobo instead of 8
the extra 8 pins is for power with high "draw" quads - 4 pin should work
i say first its the psu, random restarts and crashes is a typical under sized psu issue but... under load not surfing


i would guess ram, you need more ram voltage

HDD or RAM are the most common problems. Make sure that windows isn't set to restart on a blue screen, what you might find is that its getting a BSOD but restarting too quick to see it.

Run Memtest86+

if that doesnt show up any errors try a HDD test

Bare in mind, recently i had a fualty stick of RAM that wouldnt show up a single error under Memtest for 4 passes, so make sure you run multiple passes on Memtest!
Related ressources
Ask the community

the easiest and quickest thing to do is to just go in to your bios and give your ram a touch more voltage the standard voltage for ddr2 is 1.8v but some performace ram can go up to 2.2v i would set your ram to 2.1v and see how it is then also find out the rated timings and manually set them too. the standard timings are 5.5.5.15

Of course, some RAM can be damaged by setting it to 2.1V, so run memtest86+ before messing around with voltages. Also, find out from your RAM's manufacturer what voltage your specific RAM model number requires.
CPUs Expert

Old fellow said:
Hello! I'm new here, I've recently built a PC (well, with help from a friend) and it works well.. except for one or two problems.

Sometimes the PC would randomly restart, whether I'm on a game, or just on the internet, and I'm not sure what's causing it! One of the problems when building the PC were that the power supply cable to the CPU was 4 pin (I think it was labeled P3) , but the CPU had an 8 pin socket. It still works, but I'm wondering if this could be causing the PC to restart. The temperatures of the CPU/everything are fine, so I don't think it's overheating. I can't think of anything else that'd be causing it to restart, unless it was software related, or a driver or something.

If this is the problem, would a 4 to 8 pin adapter help much? Or would a new power supply be needed? (which I'm hoping not :p )

Here be my system specifications:

XFX 680i Motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo e4500
2 x Geforce 7600 GT
2 Gb RAM
OCZ StealthXstream 500w PSU (I'd've thought 500w is enough for this)

Sorry if my explanation is vague, I'm not that good with hardware!


It it isnt the powersupply, it could be one of the video cards.... It will not be the ram, volting ram up is not recommended...

remove one of the video cards and try again, if it happens again swap video cards over then try another go...

to be honest two 7600s wont cut the mustard so go for - when you can at least a 8800GT which will be much faster...

Also are the 7600GT's the same card and manufacturer - it makes a difference..

Have you recently updated the bios on the 680i, if not look for a new one..

Double check the CPU heatsink is in properly on each corner - each corner makes a couple of clicks to make sure cpu is in place.

What OS are u running, if XP go to controll panel, system, advance, start up and recovery and unclick restart on error
if it happends then a blue screen of death will appear and a code will come up on top of the screen
write down the number for example 0x00000007B 342344 234234234242 etc and let us know..

What drivers are you using also, this would help diagnose the situation


Thanks for the help, I'll run Memtest now. Also, in nTune, it shows all the voltages as red, though I was told it was probably nTune messing up. Is that likely?

As for the drivers.. which ones? :p  Graphics card drivers? Latest ones from the nvidia website.
CPUs Authority

Bingo - mem errors is most likey the reason for problems.

As mentioned, check specs on ram. Most MB default to 1.8 V, however some Ram requires 1.9 -> 2.1 volts, if yours requires 2.0, or 2.1 and bios is set to 1.8 - that could be your promblem.


table with 2 columns and 10 rows
Specification
Value
Product Description
Corsair XMS2 Xtreme Performance TwinX Matched - memory - 2 GB ( 2 x 1 GB ) - DIMM 240-pin - DDR II
Storage Capacity
2 GB ( 2 x 1 GB )
Upgrade Type
Generic
Technology
DDR II SDRAM
Form Factor
DIMM 240-pin
Memory Speed
800 MHz ( PC2-6400 )
Latency Timings
CL5
Supply Voltage
1.9 V
Manufacturer Warranty
Limited lifetime warranty
table end
yeah man 1.9 v is ok and chek the timings to

I've changed it to 1.9v, and memtest showed a lot less errors, but there are still some.. my PC hasn't restarted so far though! So thankyou. Would increasing the voltage a bit more help reduce the errors?

Another question, would the 4 pin CPU thing limit overclocking?

Thanks

Sorry to keep posting, it wouldn't let me edit! Anyway, I just looked at the ntune monitor, is this bad?

Before changing the voltage of the RAM, all the ones on the right column were red, and the on the left were green, but I was told ntune was probably just reading it wrong.
CPUs Authority


You can down load speed fan as a comparison. IGNORE and speed fan voltages that are way off. (My +12 reads 1.1 - No way, and -12 reads -16 again no way.

Did raising your Memory to 1.9 Help with mem errors (listad as vcore2 in speed fan.

Old fellow said:
Alrighty, I looked in the BIOS and it said the RAM was at 1.85 volts, and I think the RAM I have is supposed to be at 1.9.

This is something you can't guess on - figure out what model number RAM you have and find out from the manufacturer exactly what voltage that model number uses.

Register or log in to remove
 
Ask the community
Read discussions in other CPUs categories
!