Anandtech vs. Gateway, lets get it on! *UPDATE* Time to take Gateway down.

[Cuda1447]

Quick rundown of the problem:

While using games (I.E. Counterstrike, Unreal Tournament) my computer shuts down. Only thing on is the orange LED on the front of the rig. Only way to boot it back up is by taking out the powercord and plugging it back in.

Steps taken to find problem: Re-installed video card/sound card( accidently lol)
Installed most up-to-date video drivers. Tried running computer with case off (overheating fix). Reinstalled games and tried running them again, and tested on multiple games. All same problem, random shut off usually within 15 minuts of game start, sometimes nearly instatly.

Called up gateway, told them the problem. They will not replace my PSU even though thats what I believe the problem is. I said fine, if its not the PSU then what could it be. The mumble about my video card and want me to upgrade it (of course). I say fine my videocard won't work on games that it previously worked on, so thats malfunctioning, lets replace that. THey say nope, its got to be a software issue ( I still believe its my PSU). So they want me to reformat my HD and reinstall windows ME (they can't support 2k since I didnt buy it from them) I don't want to go thru all that crap. I know reformatting will do nothing cause I KNOW its not a software problem.


So now I am calling upon the all-knowing anandtech to advise me in this situation. Do you guys believe the problem is most likely the PSU? If it is then do you think if I were to go buy a new PSU replace it and if it fixes the problem call up gateway and tell them, that they would then agree to replace my PSU, and send me a new one. (That way I can return the one I bought, or just use it for a new rig).


And one last thing, if it is my PSU then which PSU should I buy to replace it?


The current PSU in my system is this: 250-Watt 3.3-Volt Power Supply [Part #6500525] (Straight from gateway's site)
My current MOBO is this: Intel (Monterrey) Motherboard - 1.7-GHz [Part #2513603]


As you can tell I know a little about computers, but not nearly as much as you guys. So if you could point me in the right direction as to what PSU would be a good buy to test this out that'd be great. I was thinking a 300volt Antec PSU would work just fine, but I want to make sure. Thanks in advance guys.



****UPDATE AT BOTTOM****

 

[Schadenfroh]

full specs of system please, and is your cooling good?

 

[Tom]

what video card ? Does the video card have a fan on it ? Have you checked if the fan is working ?

 

[Cuda1447]

Application CD (Desktop)

Application CD Version 3.4 Disc 3 [Part #7510429] Support Docs




Cables

17-inch IDE Cable for Ultra/66 Ultra/100 R0 [Part #8004683] Support Docs




CD-ROM Cable R0 [Part #8004682] Support Docs




Red Owl Modem Sound Cable [Part #8003405] Support Docs




Cases and Case Hardware

St. Francis Mid-tower Case Revision 2 [Part #3500983] Support Docs




THUMBSCREW FOR CASE COVER [Part #8001039] Support Docs




CD-ROM, CD-RW or CR-RW Drives - Find Upgrades

LG 12X/8X/32X CD-RW R2 [Part #5501869] Support Docs




Controller, Interface and I/O Cards

ADP CRD 1394 Full Bracket R1 [Part #6001799] Support Docs




DVD Drives or Decoder Cards - Find Upgrades

Panasonic 16X DVD-ROM Drive Revision 1 [Part #5501725] Support Docs




Floppy Drives

Mitsumi 3.5-inch Floppy Disk Drive Revision 1 [Part #5501205] Support Docs




Hard Drives - Find Upgrades

Western Digital 20-GB 5400-RPM Ultra ATA/100 Hard Disk Drive [Part #5501685] Support Docs




Keyboards

PS/2 Millenium Multi-Function Keyboard [Part #7002737] Downloads Support Docs




Memory - Find Upgrades

PC800 128-MB 128Bit RIMM [Part #5000346] (Qty. 2) Support Docs




RIMM Continuity Module (C-RIMM) [Part #5000376] (Qty. 2) Support Docs




Mice

Logitech PS/2 Standard Mouse [Part #7003165] Downloads Support Docs




Microsoft Software - Find Upgrades

Microsoft Windows Millennium Backup CD Rev. 1.1 [Part #7509788] Support Docs




Microsoft Works Suite 2001 DVD [Part #7509796] Support Docs




Modems

GVC 56K PCI Voice Modem (Red Owl) [Part #6001260] Downloads Support Docs




Monitors

EV910 19-inch Millenium Monitor with 18-inch Viewable Area [Part #7002691] Downloads Support Docs




Motherboards

Intel (Monterrey) Motherboard - 1.7-GHz [Part #2513603] Downloads Support Docs




Network Cards

Linksys 10/100-Mbps Network Card [Part #6001742] Downloads Support Docs




Power Supplies

250-Watt 3.3-Volt Power Supply [Part #6500525] Support Docs




Software - Find Upgrades

Gateway GoBack version 2.22 [Part #9505981] Downloads Support Docs




HelpSpot! 5.2 [Part #9512045] Support Docs




Norton AntiVirus 2001 [Part #9509922] Support Docs




One Tough ComputerCOP [Part #9513811] Support Docs




PC Doctor 3.1 for Windows [Part #9509729] Support Docs




Sound Cards

Sound Blaster Live! Value Sound Card [Part #6001548] Downloads Support Docs




Speakers

Boston Acoustics BA735 Powered Sub/Satellite Speaker System Revision 2 [Part #7003593] Support Docs




System Restoration CD

System Restoration Kit 16.1 Disc 1 [Part #7510815] Support Docs




Video Cards

64MB ATI Radeon VE Video Graphics Card64MB ATI Radeon VE Video Graphics Card [Part #6001833]






No fan on the vid card.

 

[Cuda1447]

Only mods are different soundcard and a 120 GB Seagate HD.

*Edit* And windows 2k.

 

[Special1Sauce]

Never ever trust Gateway anymore these days. My mom's work bought 24 Lappys and the Batteries didnt charge and he sent em back in and they sent them refurbs because they were used. But the never even were booted up.

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: Special1Sauce
Never ever trust Gateway anymore these days. My mom's work bought 24 Lappys and the Batteries didnt charge and he sent em back in and they sent them refurbs because they were used. But the never even were booted up.

Ya I know, I don't. And I will NEVER buy another gateway product. But since I have 90 days left on the warranty I want to get my PSU replaced and be done with those sh!tbags. They REALLY pissed me off when they told me my video card wasn't good enough to run the games and I needed to upgrade. I patiently told them they were older games I'd used for over 2 years and they still tried to sell me an upgrade. Even the fricken manager !

 

[Axon]

Download Motherboard monitor. Get your case temp.

 

[Cuda1447]

Ive got the probem running now, but how do I check the case temp. Im seeing a buncha configuration options.


Agh I better go read the readme.

 

[Cuda1447]

Well I've got 2 options being displayed so far. Don't think either of them are case temp, not positive though. They are ADM1025 1 and ADM1025 2 I have another option for a sensor, that being custom, but I do not know what to do with that yet. (I'll keep reading) But the temperatures for the first two are 43c and 47c respectively.

 

[shiftomnimega]

My friend has a gateway with a similar problem... only she don't game so it happens when she defrags or burns a cd, ugh.

I opened it up and it turns out... wow the fan on the power supply ain't spinning properly.

Wipe the dust off of it and smack it a few times with something (i used the handle of a screwdriver).

Let the computer run with the box wide open and smack the fan every time it decides to shut off.

If you want to REALLY fix it you could always just trade out the psu fan. Thing is I believe those psu take a 2 pin for power. Radioshack may have these 2 pin powers but they may not. If you can try to remove the 2 pin power connector and connect it to another fan...

 

[Cuda1447]

Maybe I should try defragging to see if that works? When I tried burning CD's the PC didnt shut off but I did get a buncha errors that resulted in bad CD's Buffer errors of some sort. Not sure why, never had the problem before. Might be related?

 

[Cuda1447]

No one can suggest getting a new PSU?

 

[johnjkr1]

check your pm

 

[Cuda1447]

Originally posted by: johnjkr1
check your pm

Checked, replied, check yours

 

[MDE]

If these problems seem to be random and unexplainable, and often happen while putting a load on the system then I'd point the blame in the PSU's corner.

 

[shikhan]

Its possible that something is trigguring a failsafe system on the PSU. It sounds like there's a short or something drawing more power than your psu likes.

 

[Chadder007]

Ive had a bad stick of RAM do exactly that to me before.....and it was in a Gateway. Download the program from www.memtest86.com to test out your memory. I thought it was the PS too. But still it could indead be the PS or even the mobo.

 

[Sideswipe001]

Does it take a special PS or will it use a standard ATX one? If it does, just go get one. They aren't that much. Get a 350 or 400 wt and just try it out.

 

[Farmer]

Originally posted by: shiftomnimega
My friend has a gateway with a similar problem... only she don't game so it happens when she defrags or burns a cd, ugh.

I opened it up and it turns out... wow the fan on the power supply ain't spinning properly.

Wipe the dust off of it and smack it a few times with something (i used the handle of a screwdriver).

Let the computer run with the box wide open and smack the fan every time it decides to shut off.

If you want to REALLY fix it you could always just trade out the psu fan. Thing is I believe those psu take a 2 pin for power. Radioshack may have these 2 pin powers but they may not. If you can try to remove the 2 pin power connector and connect it to another fan...

I'm sorry, but did anyone listen to shiftomnimegas post at all?

Try a different PSU.

 

[Dman877]

Those games might be a bit much to ask of a radeon ve... those were comparable to a voodoo3 or something.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Dman877
Those games might be a bit much to ask of a radeon ve... those were comparable to a voodoo3 or something.

That may be true, but that shouldn't cause the box to shut down.

I say swap out the PSU. Get a 350 - 400 Antec or something else high quality. Or if you can borrow a buddy's PSU, try that. You should also look to see if the fan is running in the PSU itself, as recommended in shiftomnimega's post.

 

[Boogak]

Download and run Prime95's torture test. I've found it to be the best way to spot a power supply that's not up to snuff, your computer will shut down if your power supply is not studly enough (found out the hard way trying to run an Athlon XP 1600+ Palomino on a 230w mATX power supply and also on an Antec 230W ATX power supply).

 

[Cuda1447]

Went out and bought a 350 watt Antec, problem fixed. Gateway is fricken going down tomorrow after I get off work


They things they told me were flat out lies, and they tried to scam me into upgrading my system. Without going into great detail of the lies they told me do you think its feasible to ask for a new power supply (mines still under warranty) for them to pay for the one I had to buy to prove them wrong. (Since they told me it couldn't be the PSU, and to reformat... like hell I'd do that). And also for a new video card since they tried to scam me into buying one anyway, telling me that was my problem that my system wasn't good enough?


You guys know the way Gateway does business, and to be honest it borders on fradulent in my opinion (the way they try to get you to upgrade that is). Do you think what I mentioned above is a possibility, and if so any tips? I think I definetly deserve more then a replaced PSU for this.

 

[arod]

Its the way all computer companies do buisness. How do you think dell can afford to give you a computer for 499 or whatever the ad is these days.