Bad PSU ?!

Hi there,
Is it possible a bad PSU to restart my PC?
The problem is: when I play for a long time (2-3 hours) on GTA IV (or burnout, or crysis) my picture scrambles, a continuous sound plays for 3 sec. and the PC restarts. After the restart, at POST, comes two short beeps, and the PC boots normally. I've tried to search what does these sounds mean but with no success. BUT every time the PC restarts the PSU is burning hot. I doubt it is a PSU problem because this restarts appeared recently, and my I think my PSU can supply enough power for my system (see my sig, just CPU is clocked back to stock while troubleshoot this problem) It is 600W noname PSU, it has one +12 V rail 30 A which on my calculations is 12*30=360W on +12V which should be prety much enough for HD4870 and 2 HDDs.
My question is: Is it possible bad psu to restart my PC (NOT shut it down). I know that if there is power related problem the psu shuts down did not restarts.

P.S. I have logged the temps of the GPU and CPU while playing and noticed that the problem did not occur on highest temps, anyway the temps are good: CPU did NOT exceed 44 C, and GPU did NOT exceed 70 C, which I consider that is not overheating issue;

Add a reply

Register or log in to remove.

Untick the "automatically restart" option in windows under Control panel/system/advanced/start-up and recovery/settings/system failure.

This should prevent your pc from automatically restarting next time the problem occurs. It should then give you a blue screen (BSOD) with a error message.

The code of the error message will hopefully tell you what is causing the problem.

Reply to cfvh600

ok, I'll try

Reply to yonef

PSU's are one of the top reasons why machine restarts and is generally unstable..

Motherboards can have this effect also but its not as common.

I would suggest you go and get a decent psu..

all because it says 600 watts on the tin doesnt mean it performs 600w..

Reply to Hellboy

I would try uninstalling the Vid drivers, and downloading the newest ones from the manufacturer (google ATI drivers). I have noticed that the drivers on the disk are terrible. Also yes a bad driver will cause these same issues.

Reply to IH8U

IH8U, I have always the latest vid drivers.
I've unchecked this "auto restart" oprion but now can't get BSOD weird. I'll leave it for more time and post again...

Reply to yonef

hmm...
something going terribly wrong
I left GTA IV running and after an hour(aprox.) the monitor went in stand by mode, while the music is still playing. I've tried to CTRL+ALT+DEL with no success, PC seems not to respond. Just before loosing picture the screen scrambles for a sec and then monitor enters in stand by mode.
And again, CPU did not exceed 42 C, GPU did not exceed 64C (this time room is colder) The PSU seems to be hot but not so much.
Since i've removed the autorestart option I have to reset manualy the PC and after boot the ivent viewer says only that the previous shut donw was unexpected and there is no other error messages;

Any suggestions ?!

Reply to yonef

anyone !?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to yonef

yonef wrote :

anyone !?

I made the suggestion and im being ignored...

So the rest is up to you...

Reply to Hellboy

Hellboy, sorry for ignoring you.
I have made couple more tests:
1) Power drain for the PC on the wall outlet is 150W idle, and ~280W full load (not sure how good this power-metter is since it cost £10). So I thought I have a massive headroom up to 600W. I know that this PSU wont be able to handle 600W, but at least 300W should, unless it is so **** and cannot even provide stable voltages on ~280W.
2) I've installed win 7 beta, ati beta drivers, and run GTA IV for 3+ hours and it didn't crash my PC, as well for BurnOut - 3+ hours and everything goes smooth. The performance is the same as in vista.
3) I've clocked my CPU again to 3.6 Ghz and the Radeon to 850/4400 (max possible) It is been possible to run GTA for 1+ hour and BOOM! after reviewing GPU-Z log file I've noticed that "GPU MEM TEMP" is went to 108 C which I presume was the problem . Power consumption went to ~400W at most time

I'll consider another PSU, but bit later(credit crunch ) By now, what you think, is it possible PSU to work beter in win7 than in vista?

P.S. What you think of this: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to yonef

yonef wrote :

Hellboy, sorry for ignoring you.
I have made couple more tests:
1) Power drain for the PC on the wall outlet is 150W idle, and ~280W full load (not sure how good this power-metter is since it cost £10). So I thought I have a massive headroom up to 600W. I know that this PSU wont be able to handle 600W, but at least 300W should, unless it is so **** and cannot even provide stable voltages on ~280W.
2) I've installed win 7 beta, ati beta drivers, and run GTA IV for 3+ hours and it didn't crash my PC, as well for BurnOut - 3+ hours and everything goes smooth. The performance is the same as in vista.
3) I've clocked my CPU again to 3.6 Ghz and the Radeon to 850/4400 (max possible) It is been possible to run GTA for 1+ hour and BOOM! after reviewing GPU-Z log file I've noticed that "GPU MEM TEMP" is went to 108 C which I presume was the problem . Power consumption went to ~400W at most time

I'll consider another PSU, but bit later(credit crunch ) By now, what you think, is it possible PSU to work beter in win7 than in vista?

P.S. What you think of this: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127861

Not all psus are good. If its got 600w it doesnt mean its a true 600w.

Ive had OCZ stealth extremes and they loads better than the one ( a cheapo ) you have.. Im running a 850w now as I type...Usually PSU's that come with cases are crap. Unless theyre Aopen who are about the best powersupplies included with a case - although theyre only up to 400w max.

I would seriously consider getting one as this will only do your system good... Any operating system that uses the components fully will draw more power..

Windows 7 seems to be less resourcefull than Vista... Only time will tell...

When there are problems with stability the cheapest and quickest option is the power supply... and as your using a bog standard one youll see why..

When you get your OCZ feel the weight difference.. Its the cooling on the regulators and how smooth the capacitors are... the heavier the power supply the better its made. I bet your one is a light weight one.. Also 120mm fans mean something upmarket too. If its cheap and hasnt got a fan then your asking for trouble..

Thats why high end audio is so good because the capacitors smooth out any interfeering sound on amps and the regs supply a steady voltage... high end audio mainly relies on good powersupplies

The smoother your powersupply the better it will run.

Try the powersupply first, if not borrow one from some one else to try

Message edited by Hellboy on 02-12-2009 at 12:22:52 AM

Reply to Hellboy

Thanks for the lecture
I'll go for new PSU then, next week I'll post the results.
cheers

Reply to yonef

hi there, im waiting for the result..coz i have same problem too.. after i put xfx geforce 9400 gt on my pc.. my pc autoreboot when i play game T.T

Reply to nikilas

hmm, I've just RMA mine OCZ. It is worse than my old noname 600W PSU. It was so loud that I can hear it outside the room :lol: and my system went far more unstable: can't run prime for more than 15 min.
I'm not sure what PSU should I buy now. I've read couple reviews for corsairs and antec, but most of the people online is complaining about the noise, I definitelly do not want to get noisy PSU.
I'm considering Cooler Master Silent Pro 700W... but will see when I get my money back.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by yonef on 02-27-2009 at 11:08:02 PM

------------------------------ AMD Phenom II 940 OC @ 3.6 Ghz, 1.43V(cooled by Zalman CNPS9700-NT)
Gigabyte MA790X-UD4 (SB750); Corsair 2x2GB 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15 HDD Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB; HDD Seagate Baracuda 7200.10 250GB;
LG DVD-RW; ATI Radeon HD 4870 @ 850/4200 Mhz; 22"LCD;
Reply to yonef

Well, I have a corsair HX1000W, and it is near dead silent most of the time (the exception being load >500W).

------------------------------ Asus P6T deluxe
i7 965 @ 4.2GHz (200*21), 1.384V
12GB Corsair Dominator DDR3-1600 CAS 7
Reply to cjl

yonef wrote :

hmm, I've just RMA mine OCZ. It is worse than my old noname 600W PSU. It was so loud that I can hear it outside the room :lol: and my system went far more unstable: can't run prime for more than 15 min.
I'm not sure what PSU should I buy now. I've read couple reviews for corsairs and antec, but most of the people online is complaining about the noise, I definitelly do not want to get noisy PSU.
I'm considering Cooler Master Silent Pro 700W... but will see when I get my money back.

Maybe its a 110v issue as i have had loads of OCZ's with no issues what so ever !!

Im in the UK btw

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Hellboy

Hellboy wrote :

Maybe its a 110v issue as i have had loads of OCZ's with no issues what so ever !!

Im in the UK btw

I'm in UK as well.
I think that just this unit was faulty, but it has couple of issues:
1) when PC is off, a low whistleing sound coming from the PSU.
2) when iddle PSU-fan spins at full speed and making a lot of noise, and a lot of air coming from the behind;
3) CPU went tottaly unstable: iddleing at 35C at stock speed, when run prime95 the temps jump form 35C to 55C for 1 sec. and after 10-15 min reach 61C and the CPU fails; (when swithed back to old PSU everythink works fine: CPU iddle - 25C at stock, and climbs to 46C in prime) YES, I have installed the cooler properly as I did it 4368 times.
4) when run 3D games(with OCZ), the whistleing sound is very laud. First I thought that it's coming from GPU but when I revert back to old PSU the noise was gone.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ AMD Phenom II 940 OC @ 3.6 Ghz, 1.43V(cooled by Zalman CNPS9700-NT)
Gigabyte MA790X-UD4 (SB750); Corsair 2x2GB 1066Mhz 5-5-5-15 HDD Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB; HDD Seagate Baracuda 7200.10 250GB;
LG DVD-RW; ATI Radeon HD 4870 @ 850/4200 Mhz; 22"LCD;
Reply to yonef

yonef wrote :

I'm in UK as well.
I think that just this unit was faulty, but it has couple of issues:
1) when PC is off, a low whistleing sound coming from the PSU.
2) when iddle PSU-fan spins at full speed and making a lot of noise, and a lot of air coming from the behind;
3) CPU went tottaly unstable: iddleing at 35C at stock speed, when run prime95 the temps jump form 35C to 55C for 1 sec. and after 10-15 min reach 61C and the CPU fails; (when swithed back to old PSU everythink works fine: CPU iddle - 25C at stock, and climbs to 46C in prime) YES, I have installed the cooler properly as I did it 4368 times.
4) when run 3D games(with OCZ), the whistleing sound is very laud. First I thought that it's coming from GPU but when I revert back to old PSU the noise was gone.

oops sorry for the delay

how did you get on.. Did you get your OCZ changed over ...

Reply to Hellboy

Forum CPU & Components : Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods - Bad PSU ?!

Please mind

Focus On

Bad PSU ?!

Forum CPU & Components : Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods - Bad PSU ?!

Please mind