weird psu problem

[ibanez555]

recently my system has started givin me trouble. I turn it on and then it goes back off! It runs okay without the HDs when u start it up and all comonents run okay on their own as well. so far i ve manage to start the pc by letting the Hds disconnected turn power on and after 10mins turn off plug in Hds and restart and it boots okay! Once the pc goes passed the POST it runs for days without a glitch!
So is the PSU my problem? And why somestimes it starts and sometimes it doesnt? and then how can it work for days if it indeed faulty! thx

specs:
Psu: 400W unbranded to my knowledge
mb: MSI 865xxx
cpu: p4 2.8 ghz
ram:512 pc3200 single dimm
graphics: 256mb winfast geforce5600
4 WD HDs (2 pata , 2 sata)
no floppy
Liteon CDWR
Pioneer DVDrom
SB Audigy 2
WLan Pci card
Win Xp Sp2 Pro

 

[LiLithTecH]

You need to be a little more specific on the MODEL Number of the motherboard
and the brand of RAM being used.

 

[daveybrat]

Do yourself a favor and go buy a 'branded' good quality power supply. If you use a generic piece of junk, you'll usually suffer the consequences.

 

[jackschmittusa]

The only thing that makes sense is that something is drawing more power at startup when cold that when warm. A minor short perhaps, that goes away with thermal expansion? I would try running the mb on the bench with everything connected.

 

[ibanez555]

mb msi 82-865G/PE/P
kingston ram
system has bn the same for months just started doin it a week ago after i switched the wall socket off to disconnect something!

 

[LiLithTecH]

It cannot be a 865G along with PE.
It can be one or the other.

Choices are:

G-Series
865G Neo2-S
865G Neo2-PLS
865GM
865GM2-LS
865GM3
865GVM

PE-Series
865PE Neo
865PE Neo2
865PE Neo2-P
865PE Neo3
865PM2
865PEM2-ILS
865PEM4

Choose wisely......

 

[ibanez555]

i think 865PE Neo2
cant find it anywhere on the mb itself

 

[montag451]

PSU - try a new, branded midrange priced one.

 

[LiLithTecH]

Originally posted by: ibanez555
i think 865PE Neo2
cant find it anywhere on the mb itself

There are 3 revisions to the PE Neo2.

The model number is located in between the PCI (white)slots.
(i.e. MS 6788-050)

Also list what BIOS version it is.

Certain Bios had an issue when booting with SATA (Maxtor mostly, but also WD models) HDs.

 

[ibanez555]

confirmed to be a p3neo2 but nothing else in between the pci slots
Ms6728-xx
version 1.30

 

[LiLithTecH]

Have you ever tried the LIVE UPDATE feature to update the BIOS?

Most of the boards have much higher versions than yours, with
quite alot of fixes (specfic to the SATA controller).

 

[ibanez555]

i was tryin to avoid the bios flash since my problem didnt ovvur after a hardware/software change but all of a sudden!
but i mite do that then.i know the latest one is 2.10

 

[ibanez555]

Update:
BIOS update didnt help, as expected, only gave some trouble till i reconfigured all my p- a- ata channels!

further more: Boot drive works fine while pc is working! works fine as a slave and even as a boot drive on another computer ( Boot drive is PATA)
but when not connected to my pc , pc works b ut stops at post cos cant boot! if u connect it then the pc will start and shut down as original problem.
Now if pc runs for 5-10misn without boot drive, and then shut down connect drive and power up again then it works!
so if boot drive is fine on other pcs and most times on mine why wont it boot straight away and needs the pc to run without it for a while!
procedure tried from cold and hot pc and results are same so thermal expansion ruled out i guess

thx

 

[LiLithTecH]

How do you have the HD(s) configured?

On the same IDE channel or seperate channels.
Master - Slave, or Cable Select.

How are the CD\DVD drives configured?

 

[ibanez555]

Boot (Master -PATA) & HD4(Slave - PATA) IDE1
DVDRom (master) & CDRW (slave) IDE2
HD2 SATA1- primary chnnel
HD3 SATA2-2ndary channel

i dnt mind having dvd and cd on same IDE cos dnt use them 2gether!
and i have tried Cable select and dvd with boot abd HD3 with CDRW doesnt make a diff to the current situation

 

[aGreenAgent]

Get a new power supply. Did you try checking for something stupid, like maybe the power button is getting stuck?

 

[LiLithTecH]

I still do not believe it to be a PSU problem.
IF it was an AMD it may be the issue, but not with the INTEL based MB & CPU.
(unless it is an extraordinary bad generic PSU that goes that extra mile to be bad)

Generally when a PSU heats up it will cause issues, not the other way around.

With all this swapping out of drives have you ever tried clearing the CMOS and
resetting the defaults?

 

[ibanez555]

nope havent tried that, but how could that cause a problem? The swapping was after the problem had occured not before! before everything was as initially installed!

and currently i cant afford to screw anything up so avoiding extreme solutions! those for after exams are over!

thx for caring btw lilith

wat puzzles me is the situation under which the pc works. why with 10mins without the boot drive and then with it on it boots fine!