CPU/PSU Problems (Please, confirm or deny)

[jelifah]

Long story short, my system worked fine for about 5 months. A month ago I had some 'glitches' in my system, error was either a nasty Machine Check Blue Screen or a straight reboot then complaining about my graphics card driver via Microsoft website.

After operating stable for 1 week, I was pretty sure I'd fixed the problem (Updated Bios, Updated Graphics Driver, and removed the Over Clock)

Then last night I added a 2nd hard drive. I was stable for 6 hours then, in the middle of WarCraft3, the system locked up and did a reboot 15 seconds later. When I went to the Windows XP desktop, IE auto jumped to the Microsoft website saying it was an nVidia driver error.

Questions:
When I am playing WarCraft 3 the sound will occassionaly fade out, then come back, then fade out, then come back, and sometimes fade out and not come back at all. I have a 2.1 system, with the Sub plugged into the wall and the speakers into the sub, does this draw on the PSU? I figured since the sub is in the wall it doesn't draw on the system.

Is a 350 Watt True Power 2.0 power supply from Antec not capable of handling this system? I've backed off the OC for crying out loud!

A dejected system builder...

 

[shud]

That sould be adequate. Sounds like something is shorting out, not really a PSU issue.

 

[NaughtyGeek]

I had the exact sypmtoms you described and went through all the same routines you did only to find the fan had failed on my video card.(6600GT)

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: jelifah
Long story short, my system worked fine for about 5 months. A month ago I had some 'glitches' in my system, error was either a nasty Machine Check Blue Screen or a straight reboot then complaining about my graphics card driver via Microsoft website.

After operating stable for 1 week, I was pretty sure I'd fixed the problem (Updated Bios, Updated Graphics Driver, and removed the Over Clock)

Then last night I added a 2nd hard drive. I was stable for 6 hours then, in the middle of WarCraft3, the system locked up and did a reboot 15 seconds later. When I went to the Windows XP desktop, IE auto jumped to the Microsoft website saying it was an nVidia driver error.

Questions:
When I am playing WarCraft 3 the sound will occassionaly fade out, then come back, then fade out, then come back, and sometimes fade out and not come back at all. I have a 2.1 system, with the Sub plugged into the wall and the speakers into the sub, does this draw on the PSU? I figured since the sub is in the wall it doesn't draw on the system.

Is a 350 Watt True Power 2.0 power supply from Antec not capable of handling this system? I've backed off the OC for crying out loud!

A dejected system builder...

Sounds like a grounding issue or a power supply not giving enough juice. I'd say the PSU since the problem came back after you added another component on the 12V rail, which is the rail the vid card uses.

 

[rforum]

It is well known that recent AMD's need more power on the PSU's +12V rail. I checked the Antec website and saw no 350W TruePower 2. However, the 380W TPII had only 16A on the +12V rail which could surely cause problems. I initially tried a 350W PSU with 18A on the +12 rail on my AMD and it could hardly start the computer. I replaced it with a PSU with over +25A on the +12 rail and it then worked fine. I recommend getting a more powerful PSU with more than 25A on the +12V rail.

 

[smthmlk]

if you can, get another higher powered PSU to test.

 

[jelifah]

Thank you for the replies:

rforum - You're absolutely right, I don't see any listing for a TruePower 2.0 350 on the website, but that's what I've got in my hands. It appears that since Nov, when I bought the case, Antec moved ALL their power supplies to 380. I'll check the box later on tonight to see how the box describes the rails.

My solution at this point is to leave the side of the case open to see if it's a ventilation/heat thing.

Followup Question - The cables are so short on this PSU that they almost don't reach the Graphics Card, and 2 hard drives. Any recommendations on a PSU that would have longer cables, and maybe more plugs for things like Hard Drives and Graphics cards?

 

[imported_rod]

The TPII PSU's have dual +12V rails, so the true power 380 actually has 32A, split over two 16A rails. http://www.antec.com/specs/TPII380_spe.html That is PLENTY for that set-up. I very much doubt the PSU is to blame.

Have you checked if anything is overheating?

RoD

 

[jelifah]

Thanks for the confirmation rod, this is a 350 (which is no longer available via Antec), but I would still think the power would be sufficient.

I think it's time for me and my little BFG6800 to have some quality review time...