Random hard lock-ups?

[Cornholio]

Hey everyone,
I recently upgraded my system which was a bit old, and I added 3 fans, a controller, and replaced the PSU with a Tacens Valeo III 500W
Firstly, when I swapped PSUs and booted my computer, it just stayed black. It seemed dead. I pushed in the ATX 24 pin mobo connector and it worked fine. Then, after rebooting once, my system did not recognize my HD. I re plugged the sata cables and all was fine. I had to use Molex>Sata adaptors because i needed L-shaped Sata Power to close my case. They are on a Y-Splitter.
Everything seemed fine, until I started gaming. Sometimes I just get into any game (for example: MW2, or FIFa, which requires fairly medium-low en hardware), and it freezes. It just lock-s up and I have to hold the power button to turn the machine off and bring it back to life. Any ideas?
Could it be that I have a loose cable somewhere? could this eventually cause damage to my system?

TEMPERATURES are most likely not the problem, because the system has more than adequate cooling, and using HWMonitor, my GFX temps never go past 75ºc and my processor temps never go past 71ºc. MY HDDs are in 20-40ºc range.

My System Specs:

Fujitsu Siemens Scaleo P
AMD Athlon 64X2 Live! 4600+ @ 2.41 GHz (OEM Default)
Point of View Graphics Nvidia GeForce 9800GT 512MB
ASUS M2R-FVM Motherboard (OEM Default)
Tacens Valeo III 500W PSU Modular (500W should be more than enough)
1x Seagate 320GB HD (OEM Default)
1x Western Digital Caviar 200GB (Pulled out from an old computer, which had it by default)
1x Back fan, 1xSide panel fan, 1x Front fan.
1xDVD drive (OEM)
1x15-in-1 Cardreader (OEM)
The system is about 3 1/2 years old.
(Due to replacements, some parts are newer than others.

And that's about it...

Thank you in advance to all!

 

[moody89]

Did these issues only start happening after you swapped the PSU? 500W should be more than enough for your system so you're ok there. Temps are good too. If you didn't have these issues before you swapped the PSU then I'd be inclined to swap back to your old PSU temporarily to see if that makes any difference. I know it's a PITA and I'm not suspecting your new PSU it's just that this will eliminate the possibility.

 

[Cornholio]

When I had my old OEM psu, I got TDR errors constantly while gaming, so I had the intution of insufficient wattage
I get no more TDR errors, but this is a bit FRUSTRATING. (By the way, by PITA You mean pain the **, no? ) correct me if i'm wrong.
I do not think swapping in the old PSU will do any good, apart from wasting time
COuld it be a loose cable or a faulty PSU? how can I check?
With my old PSU I NEVER had lockups, except during overheat, or when I overstressed the CPU, but they were temporary.
Could it also be the SATA cables being on a Y-Splitter thing?
Also, I kind of doubt the PSU being faulty because it has 80 plus bronze certification (checked on the 80plus website, its legit)
Thank you very much!

 

[moody89]

Lol yep that's exactly what I meant by PITA! I can't imagine it being the Y-splitter since you only have 2 HDDs installed anyway. If there were 4-5 drives daisy chained from the one connector then I would suspect it but not really with two. It may be worth a shot though I guess. I also checked up on that PSU and it seems a pretty solid unit from the small info I can find on it. Just out of interest, did you take proper ESD precautions while changing your PSU? Did you make sure you touched the metal of your case etc. to discharge yourself of any static build-up?

I'll post the standard trouble-shooting checklist I usually suggest to help identify hardware issues. They relate specifically to boot issues so not all of them will apply to your scenario but the basics will still be worth checking.

This is a good guide on boot issues. Check everything on this list one at a time and double-check everything is connected correctly. Post back here when you're done and we'll go from there.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/261145-13-read-posting-boot-problems

It could also be a memory issue.To test faulty RAM try using only one stick at a time and try each stick in each and every slot on the motherboard. This will rule out either bad memory or a faulty motherboard. Failing that, try removing all non-essential components and replacing each one by one to locate the faulty component. This includes everything except your motherboard, CPU and RAM.

If you've been through everything on this list and still have no luck then you're down to your motherboard, CPU and PSU. These can only really be tested by substitution - just swap each part one at a time until you find out which one is faulty. Hope this helps and post back to let us know how you get on.

 

[Cornholio]

but it's not a boot problem, definitely not a ram problem (no problems before swapping out PSU)
Videocard is perfectly fine,, and cpu is great....
I did take the ESD precautions, I touched the unpainted surface of my case, worked standing up, etc etc...
My question is, could it be a loose cable?

 

[moody89]

It's possible that it could be a loose cable so definitely check to ensure everything is in securely. As I mentioned in my above post, I know the guide relates specifically to boot issues and that's not what you're experiencing here, but the basic troubleshooting steps are pretty similar. It's basically methodical elimination of possible factors - I don't like to assume too much until it's been eliminated as a cause since Sod's Law would prove it's eventuality and it would turn out to be the very possibility we ignored

 

[Cornholio]

Aha, I understand.
In a few weeks (xD) when I clean out my case, I'll make sure the cables are ok, although I do suspect the atx24pin from looking inside my case....
If not, I'll try to RMA the PSU.
Thanks a lot!

 

[Cornholio]

Another thing,
COuld it be voltages?
MY Cpu VCORE voltage seems to have gona up since i replaced the PSU...

 

[Cornholio]

El Bumpo

 

[Mousemonkey]

El closeo!

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