Random shut offs

[n8k]

hey all, im having random computer shut off and in not exactly sure why. i just upgraded a few things on my pc. my current rig is:

A8N5X AMD opteron 170 (OCed to 2.5 ghz)
2 gig ddr 400 ram
Nvida 9800gt (i have 2 4 pin connectors at 18A per on the 12+ rail)
550w psu
i have 4 IDE hard drive (80g 200g 100g 500g) 1 floppy 1 cd/dvd rw
4 80mm case fans
winxp media center ed.
(my resent upgrades were the cpu graph card and 1 gig ram)

when i first installed the new stuff the system ran pretty good. if had a few other problems here and there but the shut offs didnt happen for about a week after installed the new items

since im getting the random shut offs my first guess is the psu. but at the moment i dont have the money to replace it just to check. i watch the voltage in bios for a wile and they dont drop and other then that im not sure how i can test it?

the system runs fine when i just go around on the internet or watch movies but when i try to load a game such as WoW i get shut off.
is it possible that my card draws to much power and it makes my system shut down?
iv tryed unpluging a few fans and my cd drive and it still happens. i monitor the heat on both my gpu (stays between 60-65C) and CPU (stays around 40-44C) so im not over heating

i just did a full format and OS reinstall and it still happens though it seems to happen less. today i ran wow for about 2 hours before it shut off.

as of now im kind of stumped on what to do. and i hope someone out there might have and idea.

 

[krazyk12]

60-65 idle? thats not good. you should only be seeing that at full load

 

[n8k]

i mean 65 is highest it goes at full load

if the card over heats will it shut down the pc same as if the cpu overheats?

and if so at what temp does that happen?

 

[cfvh600]

What happens if you run your CPU at stock speeds?

 

[n8k]

same thing. it was doing this befor i OCed

ohh i also use a dual montior set up, 1 22" lcd and one 19" crt

 

[mi1ez]

What brand of PSU have you got? Can you try it with another?

 

[n8k]

i have a viotek vio55, 550w and all the other PSUs i have are old and dont have the extra 4 pin for the MB

since i posted this iv put my old GPU back in (radeon x1300) and it shut down after about 30 min

then i put the new card back in and took out my new stick of ram and it shut down after a about an hour

only thing i havnt swaped out yet is the CPU

its really starting to sould like its the PSU i just dont get why its worked fine for the past 2 years and now that i put in a few new components it suddenly goes bad

 

[jpeeps]

I am having the EXACT SAME PROBLEM...and have narrowed it down to the CPU, CPU FAN(i doubt) or the board....i am going to swap out the cheapest of the two.. board or cpu and find out....what was your conclusion...??

 

[Grant1872x]

I don't think it's the PSU, but as jpeeps said it could be any one of them above ^^

I think it would most likely be your CPU as the moboard... I don't think has enough links to your symptoms. (sounds funny lol, symptoms ) So here I give you the diagnosis.

 

[Trooper170]

I've been experiencing this exact same thing, I even have almost the exact same specs as op.
4gigs ddr2 memory
9800 gt graphics card
ASUSTek M2N-SLI Motherboard
AMD Phenom 9500 Quad-Core processor (not overclocked)
750W PSU, I even Have a UPS connected to the PSU (which I can set to smooth the power input)
Reformatted OS, issue persisted. (pre 750w psu)
I literally JUST replaced my psu from a 630 to a 750W psu, the issue seems to happen much less, but still occurs. I've tested / swapped out every component on my system (memory swaps/checks, hard drive swaps/checks) except for my cpu, motherboard, and gpu.
either something is shorting out on my motherboard, or as my 9800 gt card gets older it's trying to pull more and more power. It seems I may have to either replace my entire chipset, or replace my gpu. Still up in the air at this point. For now i'll use my system as normal, the latest random shut offs have occurred during gaming sessions. (Maybe it's something as simple as a driver issue, but I doubt it seeing as I just updated my nvidia driver to 314.22 prior to last shut off).
Will try to keep updated.

 

[TenPc]

winxp media center ed - it's a media center Pc not for gaming, just movies and musioc, photos and basic office apps.

 

[TenPc]

IDE hdd's require Master/Slave selections. The pattern is marked on the top of each hdd as to how they prefer the jumpers to be fitted.
Mixed branded hdd's may be problematical but usually only in one being slower/faster than the other.

 

[TenPc]

Asus have allowed bios updates but not permission to view the specificatinss, it's an old motherboard.
http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/list.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&m=a8n5x

The GT 9800 is probably way to "advanced" for this motherboard, it probably would only work with a graphics card no higher than 256mb vram.

Edit -
A motherboard that has a 20 pin connector requires an AT PSU as the ATX models had reduce 3.3v and 5v power, those older motherboards drew their power mainly from the 3.3v and 5.5v rails, not the 12v rail.

You cannot use an ATX PSU with this motherboard unless lt has adequate watts on the 5v and 3.3v rail.
That gt9800 video card draws its power from the 12 rail, basically there is not much there for it.