bad psu

[jhill1]

ive been having lockups recently, and i pretty much came to the conclusion that it was memory. but ive been looking at my voltages,and i was thinking it was maybe that? in the bios everything is over, and everything in windows environment is under volted. i dont know what one is more reliable to look at. could being under/over volted cause lockups? my 30 day warranty is up with newegg, but i dont know what antec offers. ill look when i get home and post screenshots, im at school now

 

[Navid]

Neither is accurate. Use a Volt meter.
http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/product....ies&pid=03482082000&BV_UseBVCookie=Yes

 

[jhill1]

thats not an option at the moment...

any other options?

 

[Navid]

You cannot use a software utility and expect an accurate measurement of the voltages. The sensors on the motherboard, which are used for those measurements, are not accurate enough.

A faulty power supply could cause lockups. However, a Volt meter is the only way to confirm or to prove otherwise.


What PSU, CPU, motherboard, RAM and graphics card do you have?
When exactly does it lockup?
What are your temperatures at idle and under load?

 

[jhill1]

i got x2 3800+, 2gb xms2 675, antec tp 550w, and m2n-sli deluxe. im at work now, ill report the temps when i get backs

 

[Navid]

Does it lock up at random times, or does it lock up when you are running a 3D application or what?

How does it lock up? Does it crash to desktop or does it reboot?

 

[jhill1]

it locks up when my computer boots up, because of all the programs it has to load, and it locks when i exit any program. it lasts about 10 seconds, in which everything freezes and if i click the mouse more than 4 or 5 times the onboard speaker gives one beep

 

[Navid]

What exactly happens when it locks up?
Does it freeze?
Will it resume if you wait for a while?

 

[jhill1]

well, either some of the icons on the desktops will dissappear, and i cant click anything, and if i do the on board speaker beeps once, and it freezes for about 10 seconds and comes back. also sometims, it looks normal like the program exited, but if i click, then the speaker gives one beep, it stays frozen for 10 seconds, and then it resumes after

 

[Navid]

Have you cleaned up your startup programs that run in the background?
Do you run XP?
How long ago did you install it?

 

[jhill1]

ya i run xp, it dosent matter about the startup programs, because it does it anyway with any programs after the comp has been on for awhile. i reformatted my hd and installed xp about a week and a half ago maybe 2 weeks

 

[Navid]

Did you have the lockup problems right after you fresh installed XP?

 

[jhill1]

i installed it, and it worked fine for a month, then i reformatted my hard drive and reinstalled xp, thinking it was a virus or something, and after i reinstalled it, the problem still was there

 

[Navid]

Have you cleaned the case and CPU cooler from dust bunnies?
What are your temperatures?

 

[jhill1]

ya its all clean, and my temps are fine.

mobo: 30-35c
cpu:38-42c idle
gpu: 40-50c idle

EDIT: well im sending in my psu because im so fed up, so ill post when i get an update later...

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: jhill1
ya its all clean, and my temps are fine.

mobo: 30-35c
cpu:38-42c idle
gpu: 40-50c idle

so is it possible for the psu to be causing these problems. i ran memtest yesterday for 8 hours, and it had like 12 passes and 0 errors, ive done virus and spyware scans, reformatted and reinstalled win xp, nothing is overclocked, and the voltages are all reported as being too high. could it be the psu?

Wait a minute now!
You ran memtest for 8 hours and it did not lock up? This makes the CPU or Windows installation suspect more than the PSU.

As I have said before, the power supply could easily be the culprit. But, the only way to confirm is to measure the voltages using a decent Volt meter.

Can you run Prime95?
What are the CPU and motherboard temperatures while running Prime95?

 

[jhill1]

i dont think its the win installation because the problems started out of no where, after it was working successfully for a month, and when i reinstalled it after formatting my hd the problem was still there.

when i run prime 95's torture test after i exit it the comp always freezes. im at work, so ill run the torture test when i get home and record the temps.

i just remembered i got a spare 305w psu, so ill have to take out my x1900xt and put in my 6200le but maybe it will be a good test for it (if that one even has enough power for my system) or will it be unreliable since its so weak?

like i said, i got a rma approval for a replacement for my psu, and i can also refund my cpu and mobo, and im tempted to refund it for a gigabyte ds3 and a conroe... good idea or no?

 

[Navid]

Run Prime and report temperatures after it has run for half an hour while it is still running. At this point, I don't care what happens after you exit it!

I would spend $10-20 and get a digital multimeter. Anyone who builds computers needs to have one.

 

[jhill1]

ok lol ill get back to u with the temps

 

[jhill1]

well its been running for 10 minutes now, and its just staying anywhere from 48-52C, durring which everything is very slow

 

[Navid]

52C is hot!
Let it run for half an hour and leave it alone while it is doing it. Otherwise, you will be giving the CPU a break by having it do something else. What is the temperature of the CPU and chipset when it gets close to half an hour?

 

[jhill1]

alright ill leave it alone.

but should i try it with my spare psu?

how do i find the chipset temp? is it the same as motherboard temp?

 

[Navid]

Originally posted by: jhill1
how do i find the chipset temp? is it the same as motherboard temp?

Yes, it is the same.

 

[jhill1]

whenever i move the pc probe screen around, just the little temp bubbles, it gets reall laggy i guess u would say. it moves blotchy and slow, my cpu utilization jumps and so does the temp. any significance?

EDIT: i gotta write an essay, so ill do all this when im done, thanks for your help.

 

[Navid]

I am trying to help you. Do you think you can find out the temperatures after running Prime for half an hour without interrupting it?!