[Power Supplies, Cases & Mods] Is my PSU causing freezes?

[T-Raw]

Hi, So guys I need your help on how to determine what's wrong with my build. So here's my specs so you guys can see

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
ASUS P5G41T-M LX PLUS LGA 775
1 Stick of G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500)
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5450 1GB
WD 160GB HDD
OCZ GLADIATOR MAX CPU COOLER
Dynex 400W PSU

So what my problem is that it freezes It first happened when I tried installing a game then it freezed the keyboard and mouse is unable to use. Second was when I tried running prime95 after around 5-10 mins it freezed same thing keyboard and mouse was unable to use. So I wasn't really sure what's wrong so I assumed it was the memory so I did a memtest but it passed. I couldn't think that it was the motherboard because my first mother board was a GIGABYTE GA-G41MT-S2P but had the same freezing issue so i did a RMA and bought the ASUS mobo because i assume it was a hardware problem but I was wrong I still had the same issue when i got the ASUS mobo. I was like what could be the problem my CPU temps are fine, memory doesn't have problems as well as my HD5450. So the last thing that i haven't check was my PSU from what I think that its inadequate for this build? or that its not giving much power to my system. I really don't know what else to check because of the freezing issue please help!

I'm still waiting on my CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 incase this might power up my system and be stable

 

[tupacalypse]

That card needs a minimum 400 watt and with all that you have it should be plenty of power t so it might not be that . what is the model of your PSU . It could be a bad driver

 

[Deleted member 217926]

That card only needs a 330w power supply. That being said, the one you have is junk and could very well be your problem.

Did you reinstall Windows when you changed motherboards? Are all your drivers up to date?

Have you checked the SMART status of that hard drive? 160GB I have to think it's old. Speedfan will do it.

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

 

[lilotimz]

a 5450 practically needs nothing. It's a htpc card... prolly like 30watts on load.

Now to the problem at hand ~

I've seen the problem you've described before. It was an old bestec PSU in an old gateway desktop that was the culprit the last time i saw it. I replaced it with an antec ea-380d and everything was alright.

So yes.. replace the PSU

 

[InvalidError]

So the last thing that i haven't check was my PSU from what I think that its inadequate for this build? or that its not giving much power to my system.

Your setup probably uses ~175W at full-load so a 400W PSU would technically be more than enough. The problem with bargain-basement PSU brands is that they often fall quite short of their label ratings, may have lousy load regulation, poor filtering and often grossly under-rated low-quality output caps that fail after a year or two of use even at low loads.

 

[T-Raw]

That card only needs a 330w power supply. That being said, the one you have is junk and could very well be your problem.

Did you reinstall Windows when you changed motherboards? Are all your drivers up to date?

Have you checked the SMART status of that hard drive? 160GB I have to think it's old. Speedfan will do it.

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

Ok so it could be that SMART status on my hard drive? it came from my Dell Optiplex 745 and yes everything is a fresh install all are up to date.

 

[T-Raw]

a 5450 practically needs nothing. It's a htpc card... prolly like 30watts on load.

Now to the problem at hand ~

I've seen the problem you've described before. It was an old bestec PSU in an old gateway desktop that was the culprit the last time i saw it. I replaced it with an antec ea-380d and everything was alright.

So yes.. replace the PSU

So you think its really the PSU that is causing the problem? and would you think the Corsair CX430 v2 would be good for it since it has a 80plus certificate?

 

[lilotimz]

Yes. The CX430v2 is a decent power supply from a company (corsair) that is well known to sell high quality power supplies.

Usually i buy either the Antec EA380D or CV430V2 to replace old OEM Psu's. Whichever is cheaper when i need it is whichever i buy.

 

[T-Raw]

Yes. The CX430v2 is a decent power supply from a company (corsair) that is well known to sell high quality power supplies.

Usually i buy either the Antec EA380D or CV430V2 to replace old OEM Psu's. Whichever is cheaper when i need it is whichever i buy.

Ok cool I'll get the CX430 v2 by tomorrow hopefully those freezes won't happen again

 

[lilotimz]

Do tell us the results tomorrow and good luck!

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Did you download Speedfan and check the hard drive's SMART status? All SMART does is allow the hard drive to self report any errors it might be having.

 

[T-Raw]

Did you download Speedfan and check the hard drive's SMART status? All SMART does is allow the hard drive to self report any errors it might be having.

Yes I did download it and it shows "no errors" on the status which is good right? So yeah I'll let you guys know tomorrow once I get that CX430 v2

 

[T-Raw]

Do tell us the results tomorrow and good luck!

Just got the PSU but same issue still occurred I ran prime95 but it freezed a few minutes of stress. I'm really frustrated and can't tell what's wrong. Checked everything Core temps are fine RAM is fine PSU is fine WHAT ELSE COULD BE THE PROBLEM THAT IS CAUSING IT?? Its been 3 days that I haven't played my game ( HELP PLEASE!

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Did you run memtest for 8 to 10 hours?

It has to be either the RAM ( most likely ), graphics card ( second most likely ), hard drive ( were any errors seen in SMART reporting at all? ) or CPU ( very unlikely ). Everything else is new.

 

[T-Raw]

Did you run memtest for 8 to 10 hours?

It has to be either the RAM ( most likely ), graphics card ( second most likely ), hard drive ( were any errors seen in SMART reporting at all? ) or CPU ( very unlikely ). Everything else is new.

I ran memtest until it finished I didn't quite tried running it longer. The parts that came from my old desktop was just the graphics card, HDD and DVD rom they were working fine on my old desktop. Could it really be the ram? im only running one stick of 4gb ddr3

 

[T-Raw]

are you overclocking?

www.memtest.org and run that overnight and see if the RAM is OK

No overclocking at all. First build, Could it be that I did something wrong while building it?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

I ran memtest until it finished I didn't quite tried running it longer. The parts that came from my old desktop was just the graphics card, HDD and DVD rom they were working fine on my old desktop. Could it really be the ram? im only running one stick of 4gb ddr3

Memtest does not "finish". It runs until you stop it. You should run it for about 6 hours minimum for 4GB of RAM.

 

[T-Raw]

Memtest does not "finish". It runs until you stop it. You should run it for about 6 hours minimum for 4GB of RAM.

Will run memtest now. I'll be back after 6-8 hrs

 

[T-Raw]

Memtest does not "finish". It runs until you stop it. You should run it for about 6 hours minimum for 4GB of RAM.

Still running memtest. here's a pic

So bored on a netbook. But some thoughts I had in mind. Could it be the CPU Cooler? because I noticed when I installed it where the cpu socket is located it was a little bent I had little pressure when I went to push the pins down to hold the cpu cooler in place would that push the pins on it? I had some struggle on those push pins when installing the CPU cooler because i broke the screw to hold the push pins.

 

[T-Raw]

Memtest does not "finish". It runs until you stop it. You should run it for about 6 hours minimum for 4GB of RAM.

Ok after 5 hours of memtest it freezed up again. After that i tried to run memtest again but it wont pass around 6 mins Test #5 "block move 80 moves" tried it several times and still wont pass Test #5 even tried switching on another slot still same problem occurred. But how come I can still run windows perfectly fine and make this post it just freezes on cpu load or memory load not really sure. So is this really a sign of a bad ram?

 

[lilotimz]

I suppose. Time to get some new ram my buddy.

 

[T-Raw]

I suppose. Time to get some new ram my buddy.

Well I have to get this build working I feel *** without my pc Can you help me out on picking out a ram on newegg? that would very well work on my ASUS P5G41T-M LX PLUS and hopefully this would be my last purchase on newegg

 

[InvalidError]

But how come I can still run windows perfectly fine and make this post it just freezes on cpu load or memory load not really sure. So is this really a sign of a bad ram?

The scary thing about bad RAM is that when you have only a few isolated bad bits, the likelihood of it affecting something that will cause an immediate crash is low so it is perfectly possible that the computer will run "normally" while it is silently corrupting your data until some day where all hell will break loose and you will realize the extent of that cumulative silent damage.

Imagine your boot drive getting defragged with the defragger using a buffer that happens to include that bad bit... could spell game over for your current install and some of your data.

 

[T-Raw]

The scary thing about bad RAM is that when you have only a few isolated bad bits, the likelihood of it affecting something that will cause an immediate crash is low so it is perfectly possible that the computer will run "normally" while it is silently corrupting your data until some day where all hell will break loose and you will realize the extent of that cumulative silent damage.

Imagine your boot drive getting defragged with the defragger using a buffer that happens to include that bad bit... could spell game over for your current install and some of your data.

Really? Could it be possible that a bad ram could do that? Well its still fishy to me that my RAM was causing the freezes because how come i can still run windows fine but freezes on CPU load or memory load still not quite sure But can anyone else help me out on picking a good ram on newegg that would be compatible with my ASUS P5G41T-M LX PLUS please guys help me out on this one I really don't know much about RAM

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Well I have to get this build working I feel *** without my pc Can you help me out on picking out a ram on newegg? that would very well work on my ASUS P5G41T-M LX PLUS and hopefully this would be my last purchase on newegg

Any memtest errors at all mean something is wrong.

The first thng to do is check and make sure the RAM is running at it's rated settings. From memtest it looks like it's running at DDR3 1066 cas 7-7-7-20. Also make sure the voltage is correct.

It is also a good idea to go to your motherboard manufacturer's website and check the QVL and make sure that RAM is on it.

If all of the above is correct then, depending on how long it's been since you bought that RAM contact either the retailer or GSkill themselves. All GSkill RAM has a lifetime warranty so if you can't return it through where you bought it from then you can still return it through GSkill.