Defective Motherboard?

[Smarmy]

Ok, so I don't have my complete hardware specs on hand(recently built it), cause I am at work and they block gmail. But let me give the run down of what I can think of

Asus motherboard (can't think of the specific.)
Corsair Dominator DDR2
SATA harddrive
AMD Athalon 64 X2
~750W Power supply
Graphics card: another Asus product. sorry, cannot think of it
Vista 32 bit

I try to load iTunes, and in the process of loading it. my system completely shuts down to where I have to unplug the computer from the surge protector in order to turn it back on. This has also happened when I try to load a game. It has happened also at random times; such as trying to play an audio cd, when I had a few webpages open, and when I had tried to install some drivers a while back. But I tried to install them again and they installed successfully.

I thought it was an overheating issue, and replaced a fan... brought the CPU temp down from 67 to 51. It still shuts down at the same times.

Can someone lead me in the right direction?
i.e. defective motherboard, software issues. I am really getting close to my wits end with this one!

Thanks

 

[evongugg]

Welcome to the forums!

Sounds like a bad PSU.

Top Tier PSU:
http://www.tomswiki.com/page/Tiered+PSU+Listings?t=anon

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

http://www.anandtech.com/casecoolingpsus/showdoc.aspx?i=3359

http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1460

Silent PSUs
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article699-page1.html

AMD Certified PSUs (Single+Crossfire):
http://ati.amd.com/online/certifiedpsu/index.html

Certified SLI-Ready Power Supplies
http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_build_psu.html

 

[Smarmy]

how's that work out? just because of the labor-intensive program?

 

[qwertycopter]

If the power supply is underpowered or has problems then it can cause random shutdowns although usually it occurs under demanding situations like running a game. You don't seem to know the brand of your power supply... which means it could be a low-quality generic supply.

Another possibility is a shorted motherboard. Did you install the motherboard stand-offs before installing the motherboard? The stand-offs look like this:

http://www.cybergooch.com/tutorials/images/buildsystem/IMG_6805.jpg

Of course it's also wise to scan for viruses and test your memory with MemTest86:

http://www.memtest.org/

 

[Smarmy]

Funny... Corsair just replaced my defective memory stick (blue screening). Motherboard is installed correctly. I like the power supply answer more than the defective motherboard answer. But how can I be 100% sure? Sorry to come off as a wet blanket but this is going on a month.

I came across another message board with a guy explaining this same problem and he said he found it out to be the motherboard.

 

[Smarmy]

here is my PSU
Viotek
24pin Viotek 750W P4 And AMD Compatible Server Grade Power Supply 9 Molex hard Drive Connectors Ball Bearing Silent Fan 2 SATA Serial ATA Connectors

if it helps out

 

[qwertycopter]

Er.. yeah the power supply is your problem. It isn't giving enough Amps to your graphics card because it's designed to run a server, not a gaming computer:

Viotek 750 Watt Five Rail 24 Pin Server Power Supply w/ EPS12V, 2 SATA OEM
Please note that this is designed to output stable power to the CPUs and motherboard on a server system. The Molex connectors do not output the high amperage +12V neded for high end video cards. If you want a gamer power supply, we recommend the Viotek 700 watt

http://www.3btech.net/vi750wafira2.html

 

[roadrunner197069]

+1

 

[Smarmy]

thanks a lot qwerty. i spoke with an IT guy at my company and he led me towards an Antec 650. stopped by best buy on the way home and got the last one. everythings comin up roses