new computer woes

[fomelyone]

Hi,

First time posting here, if someone can help me that'd be great. After much researching in the past 24 hours, I'm getting fairly frustrated with this.

I just bought a bunch of parts and put together a new system.

When I play certain games the computer abruptly shuts down at certain points. In doom3, it's reproducible at a level change point, and in need for speed underground 2 it's reproducible at a point in the game where you take a photo of your car for a dvd cover (a save follows both of these things).

Here are the specs of my new system:
p4 3200 (on 478 arch.)
asus p4p800S-X
1gb Kingston DDR400 RAM (in 2x512 chips, certified by ASUS for the board)
MSI FX6800GT TD256MB
1x liteon dvd-rom/cd-rw combo drive
1x floppy drive
1x seagate 200gb SATA drive

The PSU is a 350W CoolerMaster that came with the CAV-T03 case.

Initially, I thought my PSU wasn't up to scratch. However, I then found a BIOS setting that lets me change the behaviour of the system after shut-down due to PSU failure... the option lets you change the behaviour to reboot. After setting this, the behaviour is STILL to shut down, not reboot.

I've tried changing my graphics drivers to several different versions all with no luck.

Incidentally, something odd came with my 6800GT... there's a cable for the PSU that plugs into it. In the manual, it says to join both ends of the cable to the PSU. However, the cable supplied only has one female end, so I could only connect one end of the cable to the PSU. Could this be the cause of my drama? I'm hesitant to think so, as I get a really great framerate at all other times in every game i've played... it's just those specific points where I have issues.

Anyone have any ideas?
F.

 

[montag451]

get a 'y' splitter from your local pc shop

 

[fomelyone]

Montag,

Thanks for the reply.

OK will do. Why would that be the cause though? The graphics card seems to operate well while playing, it's just level change stuff that the system doesn't seem to like. Wouldn't a lack of power be more random in its effect?

F.

 

[montag451]

Dont know if it is the cause, but it rules out one potential part.

Otherwise, we could be here swapping this out and tapping that, but, see what happens with this....

Please do post back and tell us the result.
Good luck

 

[fomelyone]

What does the Y splitter do? Increase the load going to the card, or just ensure it is even?

F.

 

[montag451]

Its to help you connect your vga card.

Have i misunderstood?
Sorry if i have.

Please spell out what the situation is with the connection to your vga card

 

[mechBgon]

Also, not to go straight for the obvious thing here, but a 3.2GHz P4 plus a 6800GT plus a 350W power supply of average quality... might be a little too heavy on the 12-volt load there, fomelyone. Especially if it's a 3.2GHz Prescott? What's the 12-volt amperage rating on that power supply?

Welcome to the Forums

 

[fomelyone]

No, it's not a prescott...

I think it's 16A? Here are the details of the PSU. Sorry, i don't really know how to read this:
DC Output | +3.3v | +5v | +12V | -12V | +5Vsb |
| 18A | 25A | 16A | 1.0A | 2.0A |
http://www.coolermaster.com/in...S-350-AMSRReal%20Power


Also, something odd happened today. Turned on computer, and the optical device didn't show up in Windows. I rebooted and it was there. Could that be related?

 

[mechBgon]

If it were me, I would bump up in the PSU department. If you need a suggestion, Enermax has some pretty 12-volt-heavy units... their regular single-rail 350W unit is packing 26 amps on 12-volt, if I recall correctly.

 

[fomelyone]

OK, I think have the problem sorted. Thanks everyone for your help.

I checkd my event log, and there was a PNP error that had occurred quite a few times (not at the same time as the crashes though). I went to my BIOS and set "PNP OS" to enabled (would have expected that to be enabled by default. Since then, the error has stopped occurring. Since doing that I've been unable to reproduce the problem.

I still didn't trust my PS, so just incase I've replaced the standard coolermaster one with a 480W Antec True Power... everything seems better since doing that. Havn't been able to reproduce the CD-ROM issue.

F.