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New CPU needed ? advice please

NE5

NE5

NE5

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2 May 2012
Posts
153
A few months ago I got the occasional desktop crash, suddenly, like a power cut.



I also got the windows message about it being overloaded, etc, and restore chrome pages etc.



I didn't think about it much. Just re-booted, and presumed it was because i had speakers running, external hdd playing music etc, maybe my pi was running, maybe not.



Anyway, in the last few weeks it has happened far more, and sometimes cuts within minutes or even less. Once or twice the on off switch illuminated on and went off immediately.



So I've took the case off, gave it a good dust inside, etc, using an air duster spray, and it made no difference.



So I'm now thinking is it the power box, switch, or something else like the mobo which due to the age of the desktop , about 8 or 9 years, it was originally windows 7 and i upgraded it to windows 10 etc a couple of years with more RAM but that was all.



Does anybody have any suggestions please, I am reluctant to upgrade as I like windows 10 and so long as they support it I don't want to change again.
 
I did a speccy report, it isn't overheating.

Also since I attached a new power lead its been fine, and now I'm reluctant to move it back or put the cover back on in case it disturbs it. I supposed blowing the dust out could have settled it down now and nothing is wrong.

However, if the CPU is being overloaded, or crashed, how dangerous is it, is buying a new CPU still the best option.
 
NE5 said:
However, if the CPU is being overloaded, or crashed, how dangerous is it, is buying a new CPU still the best option.
Click to expand...

It's not really possible to 'overload' a CPU and they are generally the least likely part of the system to degrade. From your description, I suppose it is possible that you were exceeding the current limit of a USB port.

NE5 said:
Also since I attached a new power lead its been fine, and now I'm reluctant to move it back or put the cover back on in case it disturbs it. I supposed blowing the dust out could have settled it down now and nothing is wrong.
Click to expand...

It could be that simple, one thing I've noticed with kettle leads is that they lose friction over time and can get loose on their own.
 
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I'd like to think so.

The first few times it cut out, I got the F1 bios setup on reboot but ignored it, and did not get a BSOD at any time.

I also had problems with a new external HDD, copying from another one, it slowed right down and stopped working a few times, but is perfectly fine copying from the PC or a flash drive.
 
NE5 said:
I also had problems with a new external HDD, copying from another one, it slowed right down and stopped working a few times, but is perfectly fine copying from the PC or a flash drive.
Click to expand...

What is the model of your motherboard and of both of your HDDs?
 
Your Motherboard : ASUS H81M-PLUS

main External HDD is a My Passport ultra 0827
new one is a Seagate (plugged into my raspberry pi / squeezebox )
 
You have two USB 3.0 ports (blue) on the rear I/O and one USB 3.0 header for the case front panel, as long as you are using those, I think you would be fine, though the My Passport drive says it supports USB 2.0 (at least, it does with the interface).
 
Thanks, I use a USB hub, but using the actual ports make no difference, I've just put it down to needing more RAM. Maybe this is wrong. I'd like to find why I got these cut outs in power though, maybe it's only been dust.
 
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The motherboard is potentially 10 years old if you are getting issues with the BIOS setup screen appearing it could be the CMOS battery needs replacing. If the BIOS is unable to retain it's settings this could explain the wierd issues.
 
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The only time I've seen the overloaded message was as mentioned by Tetras if something was pulling too much power from the USB ports. In my case, the USB ports on the case was damaged and caused it to not ground properly.

If you're using a USB hub, does it use external power or does it depend solely on the motherboard? If just board powered then I would imagine having two externals doing transfers is enough to trip the power.
 
Two cheap easy things to do are replace the CMOS battery - it's just a CR2032 - and switch to a powered USB hub. I would take a long hard look at that motherboard and see if there are any swollen capacitors. Next in line would be to replace the PSU. Don't worry: you'll be able to use the PSU in future builds.



Orcvader said:
If just board powered then I would imagine having two externals doing transfers is enough to trip the power.
Click to expand...

A note on this: on the motherboard the USB ports are usually paired, with each pair of ports - maybe more - being driven by one hub and the power draw limit is per hub, not per port. So if your hub is using one port only for power then it needs to be plugged into a separate hub.
 
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