Computer crashes

[deadmonkey]

Alright. I built this machine 7 months ago, and it has been working great, untill 4 days ago. Suddenly, while playing WOW, it just shuts off. Now, i get about 10 min or so, and it shuts down. I can leave it running all day, and no problem, but i cant play any games at all. its not overheating, i have 5 fans plus the cpu fan. The heatsink is just about cool to the touch. Can anyone help me out here?

 

[mechBgon]

Welcome to the Forums What are your specs, including brand & model of power supply.

 

[deadmonkey]

ok, specs are as follows:

AMD Athalon XP2 4200+
SB Audigy 2 ZS
ASUS Motherboard (cant remember model ATM)
2 gig of ram
NVidia Gforce 6600 GT
PPSU is Xion 600w powerreal

any ideas?

i can say one thing, at one point, when i first got it, there was an issue with the fan on the video card, but it seemed to have been fixed. not sure if that could cause a shut down like this tho.....

 

[mechBgon]

One possible cause of shutdowns is that the power supply or the CPU is getting overheated.

Assuming the power-supply fans, the video-card fan, and the CPU fan do work, next try installing Asus Probe and opening it up. What's the idle CPU temperature? Leave Asus Probe open, fire up WOW, and play a bit, while using the ALT TAB key combination to switch back to Asus Probe. What's the CPU temperature reaching after a few minutes of gameplay? If the CPU overheats, it can shut the system down, so hopefully your CPU is staying under 60C. A cool heatsink can simply mean that the heat isn't making it out of the CPU into the heatsink, so don't judge just by the heatsink itself.

If/when the system shuts down, also feel the power-supply unit. Is it hot? Power supplies max out at less wattage when they get hot, and are generally able to shut themselves down when they overheat & overload, so if the combined heat output of your CPU and your video card are getting the power supply too hot, it could shut down for that reason. Improving case ventilation may help, but your system shouldn't be pushing a true 600-watt PSU to the brink.

Power-supply quality can vary widely. Sometimes they're rated way too optomistically on their wattage. Sometimes they just aren't stable. If it's a cheap or freebie-with-case power supply, and you can't get this resolved, maybe buy a recognized high-quality brand like a Seasonic or Fortron.

 

[deadmonkey]

so, basicially, the video card cant be causing this issue. its either the psu or the cpu. All fans do work. There are actually 2 fans on the psu, and one is about a 5 inch fan..... so im going to check that program, hopefully it is downloadable. and we will see what is what. thank you!

 

[Mutilator]

You could also check your event log to see if you're blue screening - or right click on My Computer and go to Properties - Advanced tab - Startup & Recocvery Settings - Uncheck Automatically Restart and click OK - that way if you are getting a BSOD then you'll be able to write down the info so you can google it (or post it here).

If it's heat related then most likely nothing is being logged because the system just powers off like the power went out - if it's a software/driver issue then it will be logged.

 

[deadmonkey]

Well, i downloaded asus probe, but for some reason, it wont give me heat info. I checked my log, nothing is being recorded, so its a heat issue.... The power supply wasnt a cheapo, so i hope its rated correctly... but its been working fine for over 6 months, so i dont think thats it. nothing in the case has changed. Should i order a new psu or a new heat sink for the processor? im really at a loss here guys. thank you for the help again!!!