Asus P5WD2-E Computer is Now Crashing

[ejbragg]

I have an older computer project that has a problem I just can't seem to whip.

The components are as follows:

Asus P5WD2-E Mobo w/ Pentium D Extreme 3.4GHz Intel chip (not presently overclocked)
Kingston KVR667D2N5K2/2G RAM
BFG Tech 650W PSU (BFGR650PSU)
Matrox 550 Card (which I accidentally broke last night After getting a bit rough with it in my frustration)....
..... so now it's a Galaxy GeForce 8400 GS video card.
Swiftech water block and 5/8" tubing
Swiftech pump MCP655

The symptoms...

I used this computer for a couple of years, and was fairly solid - although every now and then it would just turn off suddenly - like someone pulled the plug. No blue screen or anything - just "off" all at once with no warning. I originally had it overclocked to 4.2 GHz, but clocked it back down, hoping this would remedy the problem. I honestly can't say if it made any difference - I just don't remember. One day it quit and it wouldn't fire back up.

We moved into another house and I didn't have time to mess with it much, so it sat for a couple of years. A couple days ago, I pulled it out, removed the water block, cleaned up the CPU and waterblock surfaces w/ alcohol, put my bead of thermal grease on the CPU and replaced the block. I fired up the computer and voila! It worked! I ran it for about an hour, searching through all my old files, etc. Then had to go to work, so I powered it down and it sat for two days. I then came back to start it back up and it started failing again.

What I mean is, when I press the power button, the computer starts to power up. I see words on a black screen. Then I see the Asus window pop up. Before any options for BIOS show themselves, the computer powers off. I suspected the video card, at one point, and removed it. The system powered up, and remained running, although it likely was doing much with no video card. After 30 minutes, I shut it back off. I suppose, if it were a CPU heat sink problem, it would have still shut off, no? But it didn't. When I powered it off, put in a new video card and witnessed the same problem as before - it shut off about 2-3 seconds after the Asus screen pops up.

I tried removing the hard drive, but it still shuts down as described. I've removed the RAM, cleaned the ports, swapped the RAM sticks, etc.

Does anyone else have any ideas?

Thanks

 

[ejbragg]

Does no one have any ideas? Really?

 

[ejbragg]

I have disassembled everything, cleaned out the dust, carefully cleaned off thermal compound and replaced via the bead method described on youtube, and am confident the heatsink must be making solid, efficient contact w/ the CPU. The RAM is seated well and ... now the computer shuts off after 1 second of power on. :lol:

 

[lordadamar]

Have you checked the power supply? posting problems could be related to not enough power when the system trys to power everything on... It also could be attributed to your random shut offs...

 

[ejbragg]

Thank you. Lordadamar.
This may sound silly to a lot of people, but in my grief (haven't been bale to pin down the problem), I sat down and prayed about it; then went straight to bed, avoiding the dog, so I wouldn't be tempted to kick him. I woke up the next morning dreaming that I was replacing the power supply. It wasn't making sense to me, but you're the second person to suggest it to me since!

I've tried to get my hands on a used one, just to check it out, but it appears I'm just going to have to break down and make an order. I've used up one power supply, already - a Thermaltake. It lasted a few months. I then beefed up the wattage and bought the BFG, which was available at Best Buy. Apparently, this old beast just can't stay tamed.

No more messing around. I'm going for either a Rosewill or a SeaSonic. I'm leaning toward the Rosewill, simply due to the fact that I also have a 2002 home-build (Pentium 4) with a Rosewill PSU and it is still running faithfully - it's scary how many hours that thing has run w/ little more attention than an occasional clean-out. Unfortunately, that PSU isn't rated for enough wattage to use for troubleshooting the Pentium Extreme.

 

[ejbragg]

Power supply was the problem. New Rosewill PSU is working just fine.

Thanks, guys.

 

[ejbragg]

Best answer selected by ejbragg.