Computer shutting off randomly

[Awesomeish]

Howdy. I have a small problem with ye olde family computer, I hope anyone doesn't mind helping!

So, the computer used to be goodish back in the day (in like 2004), Athlon something processor, Radeon X800 something something, can't remember the specifics but that part doesn't matter so much! For a long time, whenever the power button was pressed - the computer would turn on for a moment, then shut off again. Then, recently, I've tried to give the old computer a new lease of life by putting in my old mobo/CPU/RAM, which is:

XFX nForce 680i LT
Core 2 Duo E4500
2GB DDR2 Ram

The computer booted, I installed Windows XP, and it worked! Then I went to try out a game on it and.. it shut off after a couple minutes. Hm.

Instantly I thought of the PSU... my knowledge in computery stuff is quite rusty (and wasn't so large to begin with), but I had noticed, when rebuilding the PC, that the PSU was 330 Watts.

Thinking that the PSU is the reason for the shutdowns, I ran Furmark and Prime95 to test - after a couple minutes the computer indeed shut off.

I just wanted to ask this forum's opinion before buying a new PSU; I just want to clarify whether this is the problem, or something else! Here's a few other things that I wonder could be causing the problem:

- The computer originally came with a RAID configuration of two HDDs. Since then (after formats etc.) I don't think they work in unison anymore, and are just two separate HDDs. I don't suppose any leftover drivers from the old install on one of the HDDs would be causing this or anything?

- The mobo I put in had been overclocked a bit (processor running at 2.6 Ghz), would that have anything to do with it?

- I read somewhere that incorrect RAM timings could cause problems like this? I'll have to check the timings are correct, but is that true?

Should I buy a new PSU, or is there anything else to check first? Any thoughts are most appreciated, thanks!

 

[olivier renault]

- The computer originally came with a RAID configuration of two HDDs. Since then (after formats etc.) I don't think they work in unison anymore, and are just two separate HDDs. I don't suppose any leftover drivers from the old install on one of the HDDs would be causing this or anything?

If you did a clean install, that shouldn't be a problem. You can look into the logs, or force windows to bluescreen, although shutting down is usually a PSU / CPU temp problem (the PSU cutting out). But dodgy drivers can do that. Check you have the right drivers, and check the logs / force blue screens instead of shutdown.

- The mobo I put in had been overclocked a bit (processor running at 2.6 Ghz), would that have anything to do with it?

Possibly. If you reset to safe default parameters, shoudln't be a problem.

- I read somewhere that incorrect RAM timings could cause problems like this? I'll have to check the timings are correct, but is that true?

Yes. But then what you'd do is check the timings and voltage in bios, and burn an iso of memtest86+.

Should I buy a new PSU, or is there anything else to check first? Any thoughts are most appreciated, thanks!

I'd check drivers, event logs, device drivers, temps (can be the cooler being unseated), and run some benchmarks and stress tests first. OCCT has a CPU, GPU / PSU (furmark, but I really don't like it at all, tends to cook graphics cards).

So yeah, monitoring software, checking the temps and voltages idle (although software reports of voltages are sometimes unreliable), then stress testing and monitoring (prime95, unigine, with MSI Afterburner running to monitor the GPU health status).