my new pc is sick

[alanalafriz]

i m alan and i need your help guys and i hope this is the right forum for my message.

i recently bought some pc parts and here are the specs

OS: Win xp pro
processor: AMD athlon 64 2800+ w/ fan,heatsink.
Mobo: MSI k8n neo-fsr nf3
ram: kingston ddr400 2pcs 512mb
vid card: powercolor ati radeon 9600xt 128bit
harddrive: seagate 40gbyte 5400rpm my old spare
cd drive: 1pc cdwriter and 1pc dvdrom
case: two exhaust fan, case properly ventelated old case
additional card:1pc dv input card

power supply: 400w`
bios setting: fail safe default

i installed tom clancy splinter cell "pandora tommorow" game and i played it for a while and suddenly it just stopped! so i reset the pc and start playing again, and again stoped. so i tried something else i tried to capture some of my old video in the middle of the process it stopped. and now im seeking for your help. i hope u can enlightened me because right now i dont know what to fix or alter.

im looking forward for your response. and Thanks in advance.

 

[amdskip]

What temps is your computer running (the bios will show or else motherboard monitor). Are you running with your side case panel off? What brand is that power supply? If I had to pick something it would be the power supply or bad memory. Test the memory with this: http://www.memtest86.com/

 

[daveybrat]

i'm thinking power supply. If that is a generic no-name 400Watt then you'll have all kinds of fun problems down the road.

 

[alanalafriz]

i did check the cpu temp 48-50'c with my pc case closed. and i also did check power supply brand "dynamo" it was made in china... and also i did install the program memtest and i did run some few test. and the result was so disgusting.

here are the results:

the 1st and 2nd test was a failure and the maximum running time was 6 mins and pc stopped.

so after the 2 failed test i consulted the motherboard manual and look where to change the settings for the ram. it said "DRAM CONFIGURATION" and under dram configuration there are 5 options i did choose "133" and save the setting.


so again i did run some test if there is any changes.
and here are the results:


Type: Large, in-place FFTs - stress RAM Min: 128 Max: 1024 InPlace: Yes Mem: 8 Time: 15
CPU: 1808MHz FSB: 200MHz [200MHz x 9.0 est.]
6/12/2005 4:25 PM Beginning a continuous self-test to check your computer.
Press Stop to end this test.
Test 1, 4000 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M19922945 using 1024K FFT length.
Test 2, 4000 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M19922943 using 1024K FFT length.
Test 3, 4000 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M19374367 using 1024K FFT length.
Self-test 1024K passed!
Test 1, 4500 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M17432577 using 896K FFT length.
Test 2, 4500 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M17432575 using 896K FFT length.
Test 3, 4500 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M17115073 using 896K FFT length.
Self-test 896K passed!
Test 1, 5300 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M14942209 using 768K FFT length.
Test 2, 5300 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M14942207 using 768K FFT length.
Test 3, 5300 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M14155777 using 768K FFT length.
Self-test 768K passed!
Test 1, 6500 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M12451841 using 640K FFT length.
Test 2, 6500 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M12451839 using 640K FFT length.
Test 3, 6500 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M12196481 using 640K FFT length.
Self-test 640K passed!
Test 1, 7800 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M9961473 using 512K FFT length.
Torture Test ran 1 hours, 2 minutes 49 seconds - 0 errors, 0 warnings.
Execution halted.

after an hour test i alter again the dram configuration and set it into "166" and here is the result:

Type: Blend - stress CPU and RAM Min: 8 Max: 4096 InPlace: No Mem: 927 Time: 15
CPU: 1808MHz FSB: 200MHz [200MHz x 9.0 est.]
6/12/2005 5:37 PM Beginning a continuous self-test to check your computer.
Press Stop to end this test.
Test 1, 4000 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M19174369 using 1024K FFT length.
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.
Torture Test ran 5 minutes 21 seconds - 1 errors, 0 warnings.
Execution halted.

After this failed test I returned dram setting again into "133" and run the torture test again. so after two hours of test with the present setting i checked the pc and it was still running so i decided to continue the test and leave for work. i hope my pc is not dead when i return home..


guys ineed your opinion and suggestion did i do it right or im inthe wrong track?? with the alteration ive done, did i only lowered the running performance of my pc?? or is it the most stupid thing to do?? ill wait for you response....

 

[amdskip]

Those are too high of temps for a 64 system compared to other 64 systems I've messed with. Your power supply is also junk it looks like. I bet it came with your case. You need to get a much nicer quality power supply.

 

[alanalafriz]

does this mean my power supply i not giving enough power to my pc???

with my present setup, the probability of having huge errors is due to my bad psu???

How much amount of power do i need with my setup??

another thing, i finished the 24 hour memtest with no errors... why is it when i set the memory clock to "133" the pc runs fine?? does this mean the smaller the memoryclock rating = lower of power intake??

i hope the problem ends when i replaced my psu...

guys im open for opinion, please post your comments and suggestion.

so the next time i encountered this kind of problem i know what to do.

 

[theMan]

well, the slower clock can take some stress off the psu. but definately need something better. wattage isnt always the most important things, you need stability, efficiency, and plenty of current on each rail.

 

[alanalafriz]

id like to thank the guys who shared their opinions it help me a lot. my pc is workin fine now. keep up the good work guys.. thanks again.