how do u know which hardware is dying?

[liloutlaws]

recently my computer has just been randomly shutting down..and won't boot up on its own. upon inspection..my temps are going to about 45 C under load. voltages look stable except the -12.0 V is at about -12.5 V

I noticed that upon trying to restart the computer..sometimes the fan on the chip doesn't spin... sometimes it doesn't even get to windows startup before the comp dies..or maybe sometimes i don't even have a chance to get into bios?

i'm thinking its most likely the mobo?

wat do you guys think?

Thanks

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: liloutlaws
recently my computer has just been randomly shutting down..and won't boot up on its own. upon inspection..my temps are going to about 45 C under load. voltages look stable except the -12.0 V is at about -12.5 V

I noticed that upon trying to restart the computer..sometimes the fan on the chip doesn't spin... sometimes it doesn't even get to windows startup before the comp dies..or maybe sometimes i don't even have a chance to get into bios?

i'm thinking its most likely the mobo?

wat do you guys think?

Thanks

If I were in that situation, I would reformat, just to eliminate the software side of things. If after that you still have problems, then you start swapping out hardware.

Power supplies are probably the worst thing to troubleshoot when they are dying, because they can do so much different stuff. I've had them drop drives at random times, or just not bring up some drives at all. However, I would definitely check out your RAM first. If at all possibly, pull out one stick, or swap memory with other sticks, and see if there is a change.

 

[Sniper82]

not sure which mobo you have but some will shut down if they don't detect a CPU fan. Do you have the CPU fan plugged into the CPU plug on the mobo? Also if you can get into bios look for a feature mentioning it. I had a similar problem before and it turned out to be the CPU fan.

 

[liloutlaws]

the cpu fan is plugged into the mobo...if it turned out to be the fan in your case..do you switch the fan..or could it be the mobo?

i ran prime95 awhile ago and was stable for 12+ hrs and i did the memtest maybe half a year ago and that was stable for at least 8+ hrs so i think my ram are okay.

cooling the system w/ a household fan directly into the cpu seems to have made everything better for the time being...so like you said it could be the cpu fan..in which case is that the mobo or fan itself?

another thing that has been a concern over the past couple of months is my video card which will randomly streak black/white lines over the whole screen while i'm watching videos, (i haven't replaced it b/c it doesn't happen often enough)...is that also a possible reason to stop a mobo from working?

thanks a lot guys
tony

 

[goobernoodles]

Do you game? If so, do you get artifacts in games (graphical corruption)? What kind of video card do you have?

Sounds like it could be your video card overheating, which can cause your computer to turn itself off. Has happened to me.

 

[desy]

Its probably the MObo or PS
Since its easier to change a PS I like to swap that out first cause it s doesn't affect operting systems and what not. . .

 

[Sniper82]

what CPU,mobo,PSU,video card,ect do you have? If everything seems fine with a household fan pointed on your system then it sounds like a heat problem. If you have a newer video card what temps does it show in your driver settings? What temps does your CPU and motherboard chipset(system) get without the fan on your system? If you can check before it shuts off or whatever.

BTW most mobo's have 3+ 3pin power connectors on them. One it for the CPU only and the others are for case fans and stuff. Look them over or in your manual to see which is for the CPU and make sure your CPU is plugged into that one.

 

[liloutlaws]

hey guys thanks for the suggestion

-CPU: northwood p4 2.4 ghz fsb 800 oem fan
-PSU: OCZ modstream 450..all voltages look good except the +12.0V which shows it at +12.4V
-Video Card: geforce4 ti4200.

I think it is a heat problem too which could be caused by the video card. Because of the black/white striped lines I get when I watch videos. I do game, but it never affected me during the games. Its only when i'm watching movies at full screen, and I press escape on media player to get back to my computer i get the stripes. I can still see a mouse cursor and i hear the sound.

Maybe the video card is old? Whenever it did that tho, I did check the temps..never saw anything past 54 C...averages 45 C i think.

My fans are correctly plugged in

 

[JEDIYoda]

Never heard of a mobo shutting down because of not detecting any CPU fan...hmmmm...
Also your temps appear to be Ok....
On your PSU that 12v rail being at 12.5 is not a bad thing.

YES-- it could very well be a video card issue.....videocards have been known to shut down systems!!

Good Luck!

 

[liloutlaws]

a mobo could be indirectly shutdown if the cpu fan isn't working because most mobos can detect that the cpu is getting too hot..and would by default restart