Random shutdowns

Tical · 6 Jun 2007 at 13:17

Hey guys. Having some serious problems with my mothers PC. It completely shuts down at random intervals while shes gaming, and sometimes wont turn on again until the power cable is unplugged and plugged back in. Or starts up for 5 seconds and shuts down again.

The fan on the heatsink is very sticky and sometimes wont start turning at all without giving it a push start, quite literally. In the BIOS its showing as 0 RPM while is chugging slowly around.

I've gone through the computer and unplugged everything one at a time to find the culprit, tried different ram sticks, windows error reporting is turned on but doesn't give BSODs. Theres nothing in windows event viewer. The only thing I couldn't try is a new PSU.

I'm not 100% sure wether a dodgy heatsink & fan could cause the computer to not turn on at all and have to unplug and plug the power cable back in. Heat sink and fan needs replacing obviously but I think something else is causing the problems possibly? Or is this the symptoms of a dodgy heatsink & fan?

I know its a pretty stupid question as chances are all I have to do is buy a new heatsink & fan to fix the problem. But the nearest dependable PC component shop is a very long drive away.

So any suggestions or someone more knowledgable reassuring me that it is the fan will be greatly appreciated.

steve258 · 6 Jun 2007 at 13:21

Full spec?

It can well be the fan tbh if it causes the CPU to overheat and thus results in PC shutting down to avoid any damage to the CPU.

firewallblocked · 6 Jun 2007 at 14:16

I would at least get the fan replaced asap if you think its suspect, an overheating cpu will cost a lot more than a fan should it die. Could be your psu is on its way out, but I would go for a new fan first and see what problems you still have after this.

Tical · 6 Jun 2007 at 14:17

steve258 said:
Full spec?

It can well be the fan tbh if it causes the CPU to overheat and thus results in PC shutting down to avoid any damage to the CPU.

Thats the thing though, the computer was turned off for 12 hours today before I tried it and it shut down within 5 seconds, the heatsink was still room temperature.

Been playing with it for a bit, unplugged the CD/DVD-ROM and took out an old 56kb modem and it finally booted up. Cleaned the fan out as best I could, while its still making some very odd noises its moving a bit faster for the time being until it gets replaced, and the CPU is running at 55c idle. When it came to start windows (before I unplugged the DVD & modem) it was giving a "no signal" error on screen.

To me it looks like theres not enough power getting around for everything? I can't see how that is though, as the system has been running fine for the last 12 months on the same setup.

2.5GHz P4
1gb ram
nVidia 128mb 6200 AGP
Onboard sound
XP SP2

As for the PSU, i'm not really sure without pulling it out. Its a bundle PC from PC World (

). So it'll be some tat.

At least its booted to windows now. Guess time will tell if it'll crash again.

steve258 · 6 Jun 2007 at 15:22

PSU will degrade with time especially when used hard so it maybe on its way out. A 400W FSP bluestorm 2 for £35 plus a generic skt478 cooler should solve that.

Tical · 8 Jun 2007 at 11:26

steve258 said:
PSU will degrade with time especially when used hard so it maybe on its way out. A 400W FSP bluestorm 2 for £35 plus a generic skt478 cooler should solve that.

Thanks mate, i'm gonna do that. Wanna buy it from OcUK as usual but the Bluestorm 2 is out of stock. Well every FSP is out of stock.

Can anyone suggest a similar good PSU for around the same price?

steve258 · 8 Jun 2007 at 11:34

Antec Trio 430W is about £10 more, or the Akasa ultra quiet Paxpower 400W for £41 seems pretty decent too.

The Enermax Noisetaker 535W is great value for money for £58 if you want something beefier and will last you a long time.

Tical · 8 Jun 2007 at 11:55

steve258 said:
Antec Trio 430W is about £10 more, or the Akasa ultra quiet Paxpower 400W for £41 seems pretty decent too.

The Enermax Noisetaker 535W is great value for money for £58 if you want something beefier and will last you a long time.

Cheers i'll check them out. Probably a silly question but, will there be any problems with the size and fitting it into the case? Its just a generic Compaq case. Had that problem a few years ago and its a pain in the rear.

steve258 · 8 Jun 2007 at 12:08

All suggested PSUs have standard ATX specifications so unless your compaq case is not ATX or has very little room at PSU bay then I don't see why it won't fit TBH.

Did you try fitting one in the same case before?

Tical · 8 Jun 2007 at 12:18

steve258 said:
Did you try fitting one in the same case before?

Naw, its just a standard ATX case so it should be fine, I was just wondering.

Thanks for all your suggestions mate, its much appreciated and helped me a lot.