Randomn Restarts w. Gigabyte G-MA55plus ver. 1

[guitonoklops9]

I've been having a problem with my machine for a while that I'm having a hard time nailing down and would like to address it for stability.

My machine will turn off randomly. This happens in windows (I'm using xp) but I just had it happen to me multiple times while I was running Spinrite 6 to check a friends hard drive, that program boots from a floppy into Free Dos...so I'm guessing the problem is hardware related.

Here are my system components:

Gigabyte G-MA55plus+ ver. 1 -- mobo
AMD Athlon 64 5000+ Black Edition
Buffalo Value Ram PC2-4200 (I'm running on 1 stick until I fix this problem)
2 Western Digital 80 GB HD RAID 1 mirror
Antec True Power 2.0 430 Watt Power supply
Onboard Graphics Nvidia GeForce 6100
Windows XP sp3

All other components have been disconnected to troubleshoot this problem (AGP card, pci cards, extra HD's etc.)

I first noticed this problem when I started to share this machine with a bunch of other people. I set up about 6 or 7 limited user accounts. The machine would usually restart or power down when switching between users. Now the problem appears to be occurring a bit more frequently, though there is no real way to gauge this.

I suspected a thermal issue with the cpu, so I restored the mobo to the "failsafe" default values, same problem.

I need to take a course of action to fix this here's what I've been thinking of:

1) remounting the cpu cooler (stock) with fresh thermal grease
2) replacing the cpu cooler with something beefier
3) wiping my drives clean and starting with a clean install of xp (don't think this is a software issue though since it powered down when using the freedos program.
4) replacing the value memory sticks with something nicer
5) Upgrading the bios to the latest release

Does anyone have an idea on how I can best pinpoint what my problem is and what the best course of action is to resolve this? Thanks all for your guidance in advance!

 

[Proximon]

You should find out what your CPU temps are running first, if it's not broke don't fix it.

That elderly Antec PSU is probably giving up the ghost.

 

[guitonoklops9]

Thanks! I'll looking into the CPU temps tonight when I get home.

Man, I bought that Antec PSU 2.5 years ago --- the one it replaced (a cheap raidmax that came with the case) lasted about 3 yrs. Is this the approximate life cycle for these things? That does not seem that good.

When I think about it, the PSU seems likely to be the culprit -- I was powering a bunch of different things with it. 5 pci cards, 4 hard drives, a DVD burner and many fans. Along with a small overclock for the 5000+ BE. Would this amount of gear decrease the life of a PSU?

Also,does anyone know of an appropriate method to troubleshoot a power supply to correctly identify it as the problem (maybe with a meter or something)? Or do I need to just replace the part and hope for the best?

 

[Proximon]

Yeah there is no good way to test a PSU at home. You need some pretty fancy equipment. There's a little gadget you can buy online that tests the approximate voltage of the various rails, but it's not very accurate and that's only one of 3 or 4 tests needed.

Things that shorten the life of a good PSU...
HEAT
Stressing a particular rail. That's why there is a label... Just because you are only using 300W does not mean your PSU can comfortably supply that in the right areas. Maybe you need 270W from the 12V rail and your PSU is only rated for 260W on the 12V.

There is a great deal going right now:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341011&Tpk=S75CF
It might be overkill for you, but it's a great price.