Powerdown Problems

[letired]

Hi everybody,

Long story short here:
Computer powers down randomly - not a heat issue, no funny noise from PSU, motherboard is working fine.

Long Story Here:
I built my computer around March, everything worked rock solid for around 3-4 months, no problems, no stability issues until the LAN port fried when I was playing a game of Company of Heroes against my roommate.

I do vaguely remember the first time I pressed the power button on my computer it powered up briefly (enough for the CPU fan to spin), then immediately powered down, then powered itself back up again and worked perfectly.

Now, on to the current issue. I was experiencing this issue before and it was recommended to me that I replace my motherboard - so I sent it back for an RMA. It did have a fried onboard LAN port and ABIT told me it was beyond repair so they sent me a different board for free, the IP35P.

So I install the new motherboard, plug everything in, screw everything down, etc and hit the power button - the system tries to power on for about 2 seconds, CPU fan spins up, then it powers down. It doesn't respond when I hit the power button again. I try a bunch of different things - reseating the CPU, the Video Card, the RAM, etc. and it finally actually powers up and stays up...but this time there is no video. I power down again, mess around again, and voila, I have video and a computer that boots to Vista x64. It stays up for 3-4 minutes, then powers down again, this time restarting itself after a powerdown.

I get frustrated, leave it alone for a while, mess with my roommates computer (but unfortunately his PSU is so old it doesn't have the 24-pin MOBO connector). I blow some compressed air in the PSU, clear wires that I had tucked behind the case, and now it's been staying up for progressively longer and longer times. Right now I think it has been on for 10-15 minutes. I downloaded coretemp/speedfan to monitor temps, everything is around 38-40C, so it's not that.

Do you guys think this is a PSU issue? It sucks that I just RMA'ed my MOBO and now have to RMA my PSU. It is a Corsair 550vx - I bought it so that I wouldn't run into issues like this...haha. I've always used crap PSUs and the second I buy a "nice" one I run into problems. Such is life...

 

[letired]

So...the computer has been up since I turned it on yesterday with no problems. I'm afraid to shut it down...but today was significantly cooler outside than it was yesterday - maybe the PSU is overheating?

 

[letired]

Welp, it was completely stable for the past 3 weeks, now it's happening again. I didn't change ANYTHING and I absolutely cannot figure this one out.

 

[letired]

Now it wont even boot...

 

[myocardia]

It sounds to me as if there is something wrong with your PSU. If I were you, I would try to find someone who will let you try your PSU in their system, or vice versa.

 

[letired]

Originally posted by: myocardia
It sounds to me as if there is something wrong with your PSU. If I were you, I would try to find someone who will let you try your PSU in their system, or vice versa.

Crap...anybody around Seattle have a modern PSU? =/

All my friends have ancient PSUs.

 

[Old Hippie]

You can plug a 20 pin connector into the 24 pin slot.

It's definately not the last word in TSing your problem.....but in a pinch.....

 

[letired]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie
You can plug a 20 pin connector into the 24 pin slot.

It's definately not the last word in TSing your problem.....but in a pinch.....

Do you think you could elaborate? What am I supposed to do with the 8 pin slot on the other side of the motherboard, what components does this power?

Right now the computer will not even boot at all, I push the power button, the LED lights for around a half second, the fan starts to spin and it immediately shuts off and I have to hard power off the back of the PSU to get it to try to boot again with the power button.

 

[Old Hippie]

Sorry, I'm not familiar enough with your MB or components to know their power requirements.

Mine was a general statement and I have seen lower power units run with the 20 into 24 pin configuration.

If I had no other choice, I'd be trying to run my unit stripped to the bone with a known good quality PS even if it didn't have every avaliable connection.

 

[letired]

Hm, I ran an old system with the 20 to 24 config, but I'm not sure about this one. I'd really like to avoid RMA'ing the PSU because that means another $40 shipping and handling down the drain if it's not the problem...but I'm just not sure about this extra connector. It fits right next to the CPU on my MOBO and I don't know what it powers. I definitely don't want to fry anything by using the wrong type of PSU.

 

[letired]

Can anyone help with this PSU question - if I try to plug a 20 pin PSU into my 24 pin Mobo, I align it all the way to the right, correct? And what should I do with the 8 pin slot, on the old PSU it only has an 4 pin auxilary power plug.

 

[letired]

Well I actually RTFM and realized there are instructions for hooking this type of power supply up to my motherboard. I followed the instructions and voila, the system kinda booted, all the fans were running and stuff but it was making a terrible beeping noise (I think it is from the video card not getting auxilary power). I didn't want to unhook my roommate's entire computer so I didn't see if I could get video or anything.

I then rehooked up my PSU and the same problem happened that I was having before. The only thing I changed was the PSU, so this has to be the problem, as the symptoms changed when I changed the PSU. I'm going to go ahead and RMA it. Hopefully this will be the end of my troubles...I even bought a "nice" PSU to avoid this kind of thing, as I had been using really crappy in-the-case PSU's in the past (with no problems...UGH).

 

[Old Hippie]

Cool!

I had faith in ya.

And, video cards are known to complain loudly when they aren't being fed enough power.

Good Luck!

 

[letired]

Solved the problem with a Brand New PSU shipped to me for free by Corsair. Awesome warranty!