My old PC cuts out randomly. Possible causes?

Akagi · 7 Apr 2013 at 01:49

So I have an old PC with the following specs:

AMD Athlon 6000+ w' AC Freezer 64 Pro
MSI K9A Platinum
4GB (4x 1GB) Corsair XMS2 675MHz
PowerColor HD3870 512MB
Maxtor Diamondmax 320GB (SATA)
Sony Optiarc DVD-RW (SATA)
600W WinPower PSU

It cuts out instantaneously occasionally, without warning.

Looking at the PSU, I am 99% sure that it is the cause, it is an absolute POS. It looks and feels like it's made out of recycled tin cans and it has a dual molex to 6pin adapter for the GPU.

Are there any other possible causes for random cutouts apart from the PSU?

Looking at the temperatures, everything seems to be in order, and there is nothing in there that I can see that could be causing a short.

As for the voltages, looking in HWMonitor:

The VCORE fluctuates between 1.360v and 1.432v
The + 12v fluctuates between 12.197v and 12.302v
The + 3.3v seems to be OK at between 3.280v and 3.312v
The + 5v fluctuates between 4.872v and 4.896v

I'm not sure what exactly these ones are but:

AVCC fluctuates between 3.280v and 3.312v
VIN0 fluctuates between 1.592v and 1.616v
VIN1 & 2 fluctuate between 1.440v and 1.456v

*edit* oh dear... It appears that it likes to lock up and BSOD as well as randomly cut out.

And to think, I was going to sell this system off to a mate for cheap! I'm glad its doing this now rather than afterwards!

zakblood · 7 Apr 2013 at 07:23

for me i'd agree, it does sound like a psu problem

and like many faults in pc, only way to be really sure is replace and test as you already know, and i bet would have done if you had a spare one lying around

snips86x · 7 Apr 2013 at 07:42

I've had the same problem and it appeared to be the overclock. For whatever reason, the motherboard couldn't take the overclock & did just that, BSOD, reboots & lockups.

Obviously, if you have not overclocked it, this will not be the cause.

Akagi · 7 Apr 2013 at 08:45

snips86x said:
I've had the same problem and it appeared to be the overclock. For whatever reason, the motherboard couldn't take the overclock & did just that, BSOD, reboots & lockups.

Obviously, if you have not overclocked it, this will not be the cause.

It used to be overclocked from 3.0 to 3.4, the RAM used to be overclocked from 675 to 7XX (cant remember exactly) and the GPU used to be overclocked a fair bit too, but everything is stock now.

Akagi · 7 Apr 2013 at 08:49

zakblood said:
for me i'd agree, it does sound like a psu problem

and like many faults in pc, only way to be really sure is replace and test as you already know, and i bet would have done if you had a spare one lying around

I have a couple of spare PSU's, but one of them is a 250W (actual wattage under 220W) so I don't want to risk using that to test it, and the other is a 300W (actual wattage 260W ish) but I think theres something up with that one.

I'm getting a 600W FSP PSU from a mate soon (its actually a quite decent - well made unit - it was the original PSU that came with his gaming PC when he bought it). Gonna swap it out and see what's what.

biuro74 · 7 Apr 2013 at 11:01

Change PSU before it makes you to change whole platform due to loud "pahhh"

Buy some branded PSU like Antec, BeQuiet, Corsair, Enermax, Seasonic (which produces for majority of others), XFX.

Akagi · 7 Apr 2013 at 11:13

biuro74 said:
Change PSU before it makes you to change whole platform due to loud "pahhh"
Buy some branded PSU like Antec, BeQuiet, Corsair, Enermax, Seasonic (which produces for majority of others), XFX.

Not going to bother buying a new PSU for a system with specs like those.

FSP make good PSU's. It will be a massive step up from a WinPower at any rate

Some EVGA PSU's are made by FSP for example.

I certainly wouldn't mind an FSP Aurum 92+ (80 Plus Platinum) 650W modular PSU to replace my 700W ModXstream

http://www.fsplifestyle.com/category.php?LID=1&CaID=1

Akagi · 9 Apr 2013 at 18:53

I know that it isnt as black and white as a light PSU being a bad PSU and a heavy PSU being a good PSU, but its certainly a good indication.

The WinPower '600W' PSU (actual output not shown probably but no-where near that) weighs 968g

The FSP 600W 80+ PSU (actual output 634W - 504W on the +12v) weighs 1989g

Will fit it later this evening and see if the problem has been cured.

Akagi · 10 Apr 2013 at 01:42

OK it isn't the PSU

The same issue occurs with a known-working unit installed.

It seems that the problems occur with a wireless adapter inserted, but not otherwise.

I can boot into windows and use the PC perfectly well without the adapter inserted. If I insert it, it seems to work fine for a few moments and then lock up.

Everything seems to work fine with a hardwired connection.

The wireless adapter I used was a Netgear WG111v3.

In fact, the problem is so inconsistant that I may even be mistaken in thinking that it is the wireless adapter.

Could the GPU cause this? One of the BSOD's said something with the word 'video' on it (I couldn't catch much more of it) and I did have a bit of an accident with this GPU a few years back. I absent mindedly rested something atop it while working out what was making a noise inside the PC which made an almighty spark and the system cut out. It re-booted fine, and the system worked fine up until recently when this issue arose.

The lockups did occur with another videocard as well, but I believe that the other videocard is at fault as it made two different systems lock up...

I am so confused...

Leprechaun312 · 10 Apr 2013 at 09:59

It could be a ram issue, i currently have a problem with my ram although it is faulty it's not on the compatibility list and every so often my pc will freeze have yo tried reseating the ram or switching ram slots, might help

Akagi · 10 Apr 2013 at 10:05

Leprechaun312 said:
It could be a ram issue, i currently have a problem with my ram although it is faulty it's not on the compatibility list and every so often my pc will freeze have yo tried reseating the ram or switching ram slots, might help

Hi Leprechaun312, the system has been fine with this RAM for the entirety of its life. I have re-seated it and it also passed a few extended runs of memtest a few minutes ago.

Leprechaun312 · 10 Apr 2013 at 10:18

was just a thought have you tested the hard drives could be bad sectors on the hard drive or the hard drive could be faulty

Akagi · 10 Apr 2013 at 10:29

Leprechaun312 said:
was just a thought have you tested the hard drives could be bad sectors on the hard drive or the hard drive could be faulty

I ran a couple of elongated tests using PassMark DiskCheckup and it seemed fine :/

I thought it was OK just then, It was on for over an hour with 10 programs open and I was browsing the net on it. Having installed the wireless driver manually through device manager. And then it didnt lockup, nor did it bluescreen, it just cut out entirely and wouldn't turn back on until i turned the power off at the wall, waited a while, and turned it back on...

Considering that I know its not the PSU... Thats not a good sign.....

I dont want it to be the motherboard... But thats what everything seems to be pointing to.

Leprechaun312 · 10 Apr 2013 at 10:36

no that isn't a good sign also it rules out the hard drives. so ram works hdds work psu works, that leaves the motherboard and cpu and graphics card, if your saying it just cut out....i don't think a wifi adapter can do that your motherboard could be shot or maybe your graphics card do you have integrated graphics? if the graphics arent to fault after that its most likely the motherboard as if it was your cpu i doubt it would work at all

Akagi · 10 Apr 2013 at 10:54

Leprechaun312 said:
no that isn't a good sign also it rules out the hard drives. so ram works hdds work psu works, that leaves the motherboard and cpu and graphics card, if your saying it just cut out....i don't think a wifi adapter can do that your motherboard could be shot or maybe your graphics card do you have integrated graphics? if the graphics arent to fault after that its most likely the motherboard as if it was your cpu i doubt it would work at all

The board sadly does not have integrated graphics... I'll swap out the motherboards and if that solves it i'll put the K9A in the cupboard or sell it as faulty I guess...

I suppose I could try a re-flow? Since its just old gear and I dont have much to lose? Or would that be ill-advised on a motherboard?

Leprechaun312 · 10 Apr 2013 at 11:11

acme15 said:
The board sadly does not have integrated graphics... I'll swap out the motherboards and if that solves it i'll put the K9A in the cupboard or sell it as faulty I guess...

I suppose I could try a re-flow? Since its just old gear and I dont have much to lose? Or would that be ill-advised on a motherboard?

a reflow...you could i did it on my old xbox and it did fix the red rings on a motherboard.......hmm... could work if you have a spare motherboard then you could try it if not..i wouldn't risk breaking your motherboard

Akagi · 10 Apr 2013 at 11:35

Leprechaun312 said:
a reflow...you could i did it on my old xbox and it did fix the red rings on a motherboard.......hmm... could work if you have a spare motherboard then you could try it if not..i wouldn't risk breaking your motherboard

I'll test the system with a different board just to confirm that the motherboard is the issue, and if it is i'll give it a go. If its faulty anyway, why not?

What temperature/duration did you do you 360 board with? I usually do 385F for 8 - 10 minutes for GPU's. It worked once on an 8800GTS, failed on most other GPU's ive tried it on :/

Leprechaun312 · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:15

I can't really remember it was over 3 years ago

Akagi · 10 Apr 2013 at 12:18

Leprechaun312 said:
I can't really remember it was over 3 years ago

No worries

Akagi · 14 Apr 2013 at 23:47

Swapped the motherboard for my spare, won't know if the problem has been fixed 'til I get my 24pin extension which I ordered yesterday.

It has onboard graphics, so if the problem hasn't gone away, I can check to see if it was the GPU anyway.