Is my PSU dying?

[DarkAmeba]

Any opinions would be much appreciated. My computer has had an odd issue for some time now. Randomly, the computer will shut off completely. No BOSD, just complete shutdown. Heat is not an issue, case is open with a fan blowing into it. Shutdown often happens when the tower is totally idle. I have isolated the problem to either the PSU or the mobo. It seems like the PSU is the culprit, but i have a very nice pcp&c power supply and my k8n neo2 has given me problem after problem, so I question my judgment.

System:
MSI K8N Neo 2 Platinum (939)
Athlon 64 3500+ (Newcastle)
Geforce 6800 Ultra
PC Power and Cooling Turbo Cool 510 ATX psu

what happens:
After random shutdown, system will not POST. Case fans turn on and light up, but CPU and VGA fans do not turn on. Lately the case fans have not been spinning consistently when the computer is in this state. They spin a bit, then stop, then start again almost as if power is fluctuating.

It seems obvious that this is the PSU, but I want some second opinions before I tear everything apart and RMA the PSU. I'd rather just buy a new mobo and get it over with if the motherboard is the problem. I do not have the ability to swap PSUs while I am at school. I am hoping that these symptoms can id the problem without a psu swap.

Thanks!

 

[jaqie]

I seriously doubt it is the PSU. That sounds like a bad mobo issue to me. Try running memtest86+ on the ram, but even that may not be conclusive if the mobo is as bad as I suspect it is.

If you have a voltmeter, you should measure the voltages the psu is putting out under load on all the rails though, just to be sure.

 

[bwatson283]

read the specs for your ram, and tune the mobo voltage accordingly

 

[DarkAmeba]

I had a lot of problems with RAM in the beginning (Crucial TWINX) so I am sure my RAM is ok. I ran memtest over night, everything passed. I also double checked voltages and timings. RAM does not seem to be the problem.

 

[jaqie]

It is beginning to sound more and more like a bad mobo/part driver issue to me...
If you haven't already, go download the newest reference drivers for every single item in your system... not the OEM drivers. For example, my mobo is a biostar 6100-M9, but it uses an nvidia chipset and a realtek soundcard, so I download sound drivers from realtek and mobo drivers from nvidia. Same with vidcard, it is BFG but I went straight to nvidia for the drivers because the chip on it is nV.
Make sure to uninstall all drivers you can before installing the new ones, but have the new ones downloaded before you do this of course. Don't forget to get new ones for every single part that uses drivers!