My PC has steadily gone from being rock solid to increasingly unstable. Near the beginning of this year, it would randomly fail to power off when Windows would tell it to shut down. After reinstalling Windows XP, the problem remained. Also, sometimes the PS/2 mouse port would not work on a cold boot.
The issue has spread over the last few weeks, and now I am experiencing occasional wierd behavior. I don't know what else to call it. The 4x.xx detonators cause infinite loop errors on boot up. First it was some of the time, then it was all the time. I had to switch back to the 30.82's just to have a bootable PC.
(Oddly enough, the beta 52.16's fixed the infinite loop error, but they still add about 30 seconds on my boot time - mostly at the Windows XP boot logo with the yellow-green progress indicator. No, I'm not kidding, and yes, I have timed it...)
Occasionally some games will appear to lock up. When I hit CTRL+ALT+DEL and view the Windows Task Manager, CPU is up at 100% for around 1-2 minutes, then things return to normal and I can play without issues for a half hour or so. I also experience very, very infrequent crashes all across the system, and performance goes from fast to a crawl.
The PC often fails to boot now. When it fails, the failure is always before the boot loader begins, but other than that there is no consistency. Sometimes it doesn't POST; sometimes it freezes directly after POST-ing, and sometimes it freezes just after displaying the PCI device listing. I may have to reset it several times to get it to boot.
Yesterday, I felt the back of the PC and it was very hot, so I started running the computer on top of my desk with the side panel removed. I (carefully) put my hand near the fans to feel where the heat was coming from, and oddly enough the CPU fan and the exhaust fan screwed to the back of the case had very cool air, but the power supply was very hot.
At first I thought that most of the accumulated heat in the system was ending up being blown out the power supply for some reason, but none of the air around the inside edges of the power supply was hot - just the exhaust fan on the PS. My guess is that the power supply is reaching the end of its life and needs a replacement. That heat can't be good...
Can anyone suggest a new power supply? I'd like one with good cooling, quiet noise levels, and stability. It will have to fit in a standard beige ATX case - no wierd sizes please. I will be building myself a new PC over the next few months, but I would like to get my current system stabilized so that I can give it to another family member.
I don't have much to spend right now, maybe US $50-60 if it's a good model.
The issue has spread over the last few weeks, and now I am experiencing occasional wierd behavior. I don't know what else to call it. The 4x.xx detonators cause infinite loop errors on boot up. First it was some of the time, then it was all the time. I had to switch back to the 30.82's just to have a bootable PC.
(Oddly enough, the beta 52.16's fixed the infinite loop error, but they still add about 30 seconds on my boot time - mostly at the Windows XP boot logo with the yellow-green progress indicator. No, I'm not kidding, and yes, I have timed it...)
Occasionally some games will appear to lock up. When I hit CTRL+ALT+DEL and view the Windows Task Manager, CPU is up at 100% for around 1-2 minutes, then things return to normal and I can play without issues for a half hour or so. I also experience very, very infrequent crashes all across the system, and performance goes from fast to a crawl.
The PC often fails to boot now. When it fails, the failure is always before the boot loader begins, but other than that there is no consistency. Sometimes it doesn't POST; sometimes it freezes directly after POST-ing, and sometimes it freezes just after displaying the PCI device listing. I may have to reset it several times to get it to boot.
Yesterday, I felt the back of the PC and it was very hot, so I started running the computer on top of my desk with the side panel removed. I (carefully) put my hand near the fans to feel where the heat was coming from, and oddly enough the CPU fan and the exhaust fan screwed to the back of the case had very cool air, but the power supply was very hot.
At first I thought that most of the accumulated heat in the system was ending up being blown out the power supply for some reason, but none of the air around the inside edges of the power supply was hot - just the exhaust fan on the PS. My guess is that the power supply is reaching the end of its life and needs a replacement. That heat can't be good...
Can anyone suggest a new power supply? I'd like one with good cooling, quiet noise levels, and stability. It will have to fit in a standard beige ATX case - no wierd sizes please. I will be building myself a new PC over the next few months, but I would like to get my current system stabilized so that I can give it to another family member.
I don't have much to spend right now, maybe US $50-60 if it's a good model.
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