PC Shuts Down Completely

[hvyhttr]

System is as follows...


XP Home
ASUS A8N-SLI Motherboard
Sapphire PCI-E ATI X1800XT 512MB
1 GIG Corsair 3200
74 GB Raptor SATA HD
SB Audigy 2 Value
eXtreme 600Watt PS

Here is the problem...

When I play either Ghost Recon AW or BF2 (and assume other games as well) my pc not only crashes, but loses power completely. It is like someone unplugged it.

If I launch the game but alt-tab out of it before I get to the menu screens, my pc will continue to run until I alt-tab back into it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

 

[VanTheMan]

It sounds like that X1800XT is slurping up too much power when it kicks into gear for games. Does it happen any time other than when you play those games? Do you have the PCI-e connector plugged into your video card? If so, do you have a GPU that consumes less power you could try? Perhaps a different PSU? Also, try plugging a Molex into the EZ Plug connector on your mobo.

 

[hvyhttr]

No...I do not have another Video Card to try as they are all AGP. Also, the power usage was my first thought too, but should 600 Watt be good enough? I have tried it with the Molex both in and out of the EZ Plug connector.

 

[deathwalker]

Originally posted by: hvyhttr
No...I do not have another Video Card to try as they are all AGP. Also, the power usage was my first thought too, but should 600 Watt be good enough? I have tried it with the Molex both in and out of the EZ Plug connector.

Having a 600 watt power supply guarrenties nothing. Unstable rails can take their toll regardless of what the PS rating is. Also unstable rails usually dont rear their ugly heads and prevent system bootup and low demand desktop operations. As Vantheman stated..as demand goes up so does the vulnerability to a unstable or marginal voltage rail.

 

[hvyhttr]

One thing that I had to do with this system, that I usually don't do is that the 12v/4 pin connector that goes to the motherboard was not long enough. I connected a converter to the 4 pin molex and plugged that into the motherboard...that should not make a difference, should it?

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: hvyhttr
One thing that I had to do with this system, that I usually don't do is that the 12v/4 pin connector that goes to the motherboard was not long enough. I connected a converter to the 4 pin molex and plugged that into the motherboard...that should not make a difference, should it?

That should work. But you should also take deathwalkers advice. 600w by itself is meaningless if it's a generic PSU. Just going by the name of it, it sounds like an eXtremely bad brand. A quality 400w is better than a generic 600w. Generic PSU's tend to have weak 12v rails, and the 12v rail is the most important for modern PC"s. They are usualy light weight and made with cheap components as well. Never skimp on the PSU.

 

[hvyhttr]

I hear what you are saying about the quality. I had a CoolerMaster eXtreme 600Watt. Went back to the store and got a XFinitey 600 Watt PS and it is working now. Thank you all for your help...much appreciated...

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: hvyhttr
One thing that I had to do with this system, that I usually don't do is that the 12v/4 pin connector that goes to the motherboard was not long enough. I connected a converter to the 4 pin molex and plugged that into the motherboard...that should not make a difference, should it?

Also keep in mind that if you've got a dual-rail power supply and you happened to have loaded everything onto one of the two rails, that's Not Good To Do That. I'll second the recommendation for a recognized brand of power supply and one that its ATX12V cable reaches the target.