a system issue...

[mc00]

hey everyone....

I have little situation here, I have this client her cousin build her system for free and he didn't do great job with it either...
this her system spec:
motherboard: DFI landparty nforce 2 ultra
video card: radeon 7000
power supply: maddog 350 watts dc output: +3.3v = 30a +5v = 40a 12+ = 20a dual fan with fan speed control
memory: 768mb generic and one crusial <-- i know this going to be bad sign
hard drive: ibm 20gigs 7200 rpms 100 ata
cpu: amd athlon 2800+ and with a stock heatsink <- questioning the heatsink

so this guy didn't even put screw on sound card and modem and video card no case fan... I had to add this thing for her... and now before she was getting shutdowns out of nowhere first thing came to mind was cpu overheating or power supply boom the cpu was running really hot 60c and higher and I remove the fan and clean a major dust of the heat sink and the fan too so that brought down the tempature to 43c to 46c and her mom came with me to pay for power supply I adivce her to let me have the money or she pay online for power supply I could get good power supply for less, I was going to get her antec but she said was too expensive so we headed to compusa(I hate this place) and I explain to her is not wise to buy cheap power supply I told her to spend the money good PSU so she ok my limit is 50 no more so I had to look for something on the budge for power supply and compusa always carry some no good PSU and they had like few antec but quite expensive I knew I could get it cheaper online didn't argue with her is her money lol... so we took this power supply and is the one I mention on the top but is not big brand either.. so I pop in this power supply and shutting down stop and then now it reboots on heavy loads(with case cover on it) so I check the cpu temp it was still in 40's c, so I remove the cover and left open the system stop rebooting so I told the girl to do heavy use and load alot things and didn't reboot on her so I went home and now I got a call from her telling me the system freezes now with no reboot/shutdown... so I being doing computer fixing for over 5 years now and I have fix many system due to over overheating and powersupply problems but then this one is a pain... so I'm seaking an more experience with an advice... my thought are the motherboard is gettting overheating or the cpu cooling sucks or power supply.

 

[rise]

when it freezes its a BSOD? can she tell you an error message? it may be overheating, may be the ram, may be a combo.

i don't know maddogs that well but the specs are ok and the load isn't that great, it should be able to handle it.

that cpu sure sounds warm for what it is , especially with the case open. but its not hot enough to be crashing it i wouldn't think.

try to get an error message.

 

[drwngflies]

Start with removing the stock heatsink / fan from CPU, inspect for too much/ or (heaven forbid) no thermal grease. Reapply as needed check to see if it is properly "square" against CPU when attached.
Use a good thermal grease to re-attach, no need to skimp here.
Make sure the "smart fan" (if it has one) isn't enabled.
I know these are basics, but things can be overlooked.
Last One: Update BIOS?

 

[mc00]

Well she stated just freezes on her... with no error nothing just freeze

I had my feeling set on the cpu was causing the problems... I problably pick up this system tomorrow do few round of test on it and put new heatsink on it...

thank you for the replys..