Huge comp problem...please help troubleshoot

NapkinEater

Junior Member
Jun 10, 2001
7
0
0
My home comp seems to be really messed up.

Here is what happens:

Screen goes black. Monitor loses signal. USB optical mouse loses power. Sound is this faint high pitch hiss (kind of sounds like when you hold the reset button in). Computer is still powered on but unresponsive. Only way I can tell to remedy the situation is to hard power down and power back up. Reset doesn't work.

I can't reproduce this situation on a whim. At first I thought it happened most while gaming, but now I think that may just be because I spend most of my time gaming. It still happens a most often when I'm gaming or using the computer, though. Most nights I can leave my computer on and it will still be up in the morning. Then when I use it that night it will lock four times. I guess it seems to happen in spurts...and there are few days when it doesn't lock up. This morning, for instance, was the worst. It was locked up when I woke up and locked up almost as soon as Windows booted three times in a row.

I've tried the following with no luck:
new video and sound card drivers, checked for cpu and video card overheating, re-seated video and sound cards, downloaded a ram tester and tested the ram, checked for gremlins, and cried myself to sleep

There have been no hardware changes to my comp and can't think of any major software changes.

The only other two options I can think of are tearing my comp apart and putting it back together or a reformat/reinstall of windows. If someone has something else to suggest or advice on which course I should take, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

EDIT: I need to update system specs. I have 512meg of Crucial Ram now and did long before this problem started.
 

NapkinEater

Junior Member
Jun 10, 2001
7
0
0
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I'm really hoping it's the power supply as well...as I think I have it narrowed down to that or the motherboard.

Now if only I can get a power supply to swap out and confirm.....stupid PC tech has to be on vacation this week.
 

NapkinEater

Junior Member
Jun 10, 2001
7
0
0
UPDATE: My pc tech replied to my e-mail and told me the whereabouts of a spare power supply. Unfortunately, it's only 235 watts. Is that enough to do a reliable test?
 

earthman

Golden Member
Oct 16, 1999
1,653
0
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You'll need better than that. If you get a new one get a good one, like an Antec Truepower.
 

NapkinEater

Junior Member
Jun 10, 2001
7
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Ok, I've decided to gut my work computer when the day is done. That has a 300w by Codegen....which is on AMD's list. I figure that should be good enough to determine if my power supply is the culprit.

If I do have to get a new power supply, getting one AMD approved is a given. Would additional money be better spent on getting a top-of-the-line brand or moving up to a 350w?
 

jbritt1234

Senior member
Aug 20, 2002
406
0
0
It just depends on what you are powering with it. If you have a few hard drives and two cd-roms as well as several sticks of ram, you should go for the 350. I have an Athlon XP, two WD hard drives, and a CD burner running off a 300w and it has never so much as hiccupped. But, if it?s not much more $, just go ahead and get the 350, leaves you plenty of room for expansion.


 

mizery

Junior Member
Jan 13, 2001
10
0
0
check out msi forum,while there click om "old forum" tab,you will find hundreds of these boards dying,msi knows there is a problem and are exchanging the boards,i had the same as you k7t pro 2a and mine died 3 weeks ago and msi replaced it with the k7t turbo 2:D