Computer randomly powers down after rebuild

[loic2003]

Ok, so I had to build a bracket for a fan and neaten a blowhole that had been cut in the case.
I took all the components out of the case so it was down to the base metal frame. I did the work, and put all the parts back in. I vacuumed the inside of the case and made sure it was spotless before putting th eparts back in...

Now the computer randomly powers down, as though the power has been cut at the wall. It's not a software thing, I don't think as there's no BSOD or anythign like that, only a sudden death. When it powers down the LED on the motherboard stays on but the computer won't boot until I turn the PSU switch off and on again. The machine will then boot normally. I had to take the PSU apart to bolt a bracket to it, but it seems fine for 90% of the time.

As you can guess this is seriously annoying since I've not really changed any hardware in the machine. I'm guessing that I've nailed the PSU somehow here, anyone think it could be something different? Unfortunately I don't have a spare PSU with which to test, and I only buy expensive silent PSU's so I'd really like to be sure of the problem before splashing out on new parts...

 

[meltdown75]

Maybe there is a motherboard standoff installed that you don't need, or the back of your mobo is shorting out on something. It tends to create erratic boot behaviour. I went through trying to figure out why my rig wasn't booting recently, and I could find no problems with any of the hardware... it ended up being (I think) 1 mounting screw missing from the mobo. Well, I replaced the screw and now everything is fine. Just a thought. Good luck

 

[loic2003]

everything is exactly as it was, I checked out every screw and checked them back into the machine,

got a feeling it *might* be software based, my CD drives have all their letter assignments mixed up... I've also re-routed the power cables and so far it's been ok...

going for a reinstall now so I'll post how that's been doing when I know

 

[mechBgon]

More info about the hardware would help To start with, check the I/O shield to ensure that the springy finger things aren't falling into the USB ports or network jack and creating a short-circuit condition.

 

[loic2003]

ok, well now I can get it to do the shutting down thing regularly:

I've got a new 200 Gig SATA drive. I figured maye a fresh install could fix the issue, so I unplugged my current drive and plugged the new one in. I told it to boot from CD in the BIOS and slapped in the XP disk. Being a SATA drive there's a floppy disk with the driver on it from the motherboard manufacurer.

I start the windows installation and hit F6 to trigger the external driver installation procedure. It installs the driver and then goes onto copy a few other drivers & the FAT file system. Then it says 'Starting Windows' and the whole machien will power down as described earlier. It does this every time without fail. If I could find out what is actually happening at this stage it could be possible to find what's gone wrong.

 

[mechBgon]

I need more info. Could you hit Quote and edit this with yours:

• CORE HARDWARE
  
  • Power supply Antec TruePower 430
  • Motherboard Asus K8N-E Deluxe
    • Revision 1.03
    • BIOS 1005
  • CPU Athlon64 3000+
    • Core 130nm Clawhammer
  • Memory (2) 512MB Corsair XMS 3200C2 modules
    • Voltage Manually set to 2.7 volts
    • Timings AUTO, results in 2-3-2-6 @ 200MHz
• CARDS
  • Primary video card ATI Radeon 9800Pro AGP 8x
  • PCI slot #1 (top) empty
  • PCI slot #2 empty
  • PCI slot #3 LeadTek Winfast TV/FM tuner card
  • PCI slot #4 Creative Audigy 2 ZS
  • PCI slot #5 LSI Logic Ultra160 SCSI
  • PCI slot #6 (board only has five PCI slots)
• DRIVES
  • Boot drive 160GB Seagate 7200.7
    • Interface Serial ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 SATA controller
    • Jumper setting not applicable (SATA)
  • Additional hard drive 40GB Seagate 7200.7
    • Interface Parallel ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, primary channel
    • Jumper setting Master
  • Additional hard drive 18GB Seagate Cheetah 15k.3
    • Interface SCSI
    • Controller hosting this drive LSI Logic U160 card
    • Jumper setting SCSI ID 01
  • Optical drive #1 NEC 3500A DVD burner
    • Interface Parallel ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, secondary channel
    • Jumper setting Master
  • Optical drive #2 Lite-On combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW
    • Interface Parallel ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, secondary channel
    • Jumper setting Slave
  

 

[loic2003]

Here's the Lot:

Zalman Silent 350W PSU
Athlon 2500+
2 x Crucial PC3200 512Mb CL3
Abit NF7-S
Sapphire 9800 Pro with zalman heatsink + fan
Sony CD-RW Drive
LG DVD drive
Generic Firewire card
Seagate barracuda SATA 120 gig HD
Seagate barracuda SATA 200 gig HD (Not installed just yet)
Hauppauge WinTV Primio
Couple of 120mm fans
1x 80mm LED fan
Coolermaster Musketeer controller
Zalman CPU heatsink
Zalman northbridge heatsink



I don't think it's the I/O guard as it wouldn't boot at all if this was shorting out, and it wouldn't always fail at the same point of the installation....

 

[mechBgon]

Can I suggest trying Windows Setup with just the minimum hardware actually required. No extra cards, no extra drives.

 

[jterrell]

Originally posted by: loic2003
Here's the Lot:

Zalman Silent 350W PSU
Athlon 2500+
2 x Crucial PC3200 512Mb CL3
Abit NF7-S
Sapphire 9800 Pro with zalman heatsink + fan
Sony CD-RW Drive
LG DVD drive
Generic Firewire card
Seagate barracuda SATA 120 gig HD
Seagate barracuda SATA 200 gig HD (Not installed just yet)
Hauppauge WinTV Primio
Couple of 120mm fans
1x 80mm LED fan
Coolermaster Musketeer controller
Zalman CPU heatsink
Zalman northbridge heatsink



I don't think it's the I/O guard as it wouldn't boot at all if this was shorting out, and it wouldn't always fail at the same point of the installation....

Sounds like a lot of hardware for a 350 watt silent psu. Especially if OC'd.

You might see that a larger psu from fortron/spi/enermax and other reputable psu companies will resolve your issues.

My assumption here is that you added a fan and possibly more than that before the issues started occuring. As Mech suggests, simply disconnecting as much as possible then booting may show the issue to be power or a particular card.

 

[loic2003]

You see, it was working absolutley fine before with all the above hardware, but I had a fan that was fixed above the CPU heatsink by double sided tape, and a blowhole was a bit messy. Previously I've had the above hardware all running fine, PLUS a second hard drive, and the thing was dead stable.

In order to make the system that bit safer (double sided tape plus heavy aluminium fan = risky) I took the whole computer apart and built a bracket that bolts onto the PSU (being very careful that the bolts don't touch internal components, etc). I also neatened up a blowhole what had been cut a little messily before. now that I've put everything back together it all runs ok, apart from the random powering down.

I fear I may have damaged the PSU somehow, but I really can't see how. I separated the plate from the main section and this is where the two holes were drilled for the bracket. I then vacuumed the plate and made sure it was spotless before screwing it back together. I'll take it apart tonight and have a real close look in there, but I can't imagine I'll see much.

Looks like I might have just found the perfect excuse to buy that new PSU.....

 

[loic2003]

ok, Update:

Swapped over the PSU for another. removed all unnecesary devices, down to MOBO, CPU, RAM and GPU. Still the same thing happens at the same point.

It can't be the power pack as that's been changed, it's certainly not software as it does it with my current install of windows, but also if I plug in a single blank HD that's never been used.

I'm thinking it's either the motherboard or the graphcs card, but most likely the motherboard.

Strange thing is, I managed to play desert combat for a good 30 mins earlier this evening with it working fine. Last night it was on for a good 3 or 4 hours without it turning off...

It's such a weird problem, and realy unexplainable.

I've also tried unplugging the case power switch after it's booted in case it was that that was broken and randomly resetting it, bbut I still got the same issue....

Any suggestions before I go and pick up a new motherboard?

 

[loic2003]

Another update: Plugged in a friend's 460W PSU which we know to be working fine and it didn't power up or anything. The LED on the motherboard lit up, but the machine wouldn't actually boot up at all.

Any ideas, chaps?

 

[mastertech01]

Did you double check the heatsink mounting to the CPU? It could be overheating. I had a very similar situation with my Dual Xeon I recently put together and I found a bad stick of Kingston DDR was the problem..and all four sticks had been running fine in another combo.. just a couple ideas.

 

[loic2003]

Yeah, I've checked the CPU Heatsink and the northbridge one and they're fine. Plus I doubt the computer would shutdown at pretty much the same point every time.

I have tested out both sticks of memory and they're fine.

Thanks for the suggestion, keep them coming!

Could this be the power management on the motheboard?