Troubleshooting help!

TomaHawk · 9 May 2008 at 09:02

I have the following system:

Athlon 64 3800+
K8T NEO2
2GB PC3200 RAM
Akasa 400W PSU
Radeon 9800AIW

Now I had problems the other day; I turned my PC on and then a few seconds later it powered down. After it did this I couldn't get it to turn on again. So I bought a new PSU/RAM as I removed one of my old sticks of RAM and the PC had power again and booted up.

Now I replaced these parts yesterday and my PC turned on first time no problems.. but previous to replacing these parts my graphics card did display bands of RGB lines streaking down the screen.. and I had to reboot to have the display come back..

Now I turned on my PC this morning and the same thing has happened again! It turns on and about 2/3 secs later it just powers down ..then it won't turn on. I left it for about 10mins and tried it again and now it has booted up fine?!

Any ideas? Could the GFX card cause these problems? Or am I looking at a new motherboard?

Thanks.

misterPK · 9 May 2008 at 09:46

Whenever I hear about a machine shutting itself down I automatically think overheating, so that's what I'd check first. When you turn it on, go into the bios and see what temperatures you're getting.

PK!

thegoonden · 9 May 2008 at 12:45

Also, given the screen corruptions you mention, check that the cooling on the video card is working properly (fan turning, heatsink/fan not coated in fluff).
It SOUNDS like the gfx card is overheating, or just giving notice that it's off to the big parts bin in the sky soon.

Insanely hot RAM could possibly cause the same, but as the saying goes....when you hear hooves, think horses, not zebra.

TomaHawk · 9 May 2008 at 19:08

misterPK said:
Whenever I hear about a machine shutting itself down I automatically think overheating, so that's what I'd check first. When you turn it on, go into the bios and see what temperatures you're getting.

PK!

Yeah thanks; only problem is when this weird shutting down problem occurs I cannot get anything to boot.. or go into the bios as literally around 3/4 secs after pressing the power button it powers down...

thegoonden said:
Also, given the screen corruptions you mention, check that the cooling on the video card is working properly (fan turning, heatsink/fan not coated in fluff).
It SOUNDS like the gfx card is overheating, or just giving notice that it's off to the big parts bin in the sky soon.

Insanely hot RAM could possibly cause the same, but as the saying goes....when you hear hooves, think horses, not zebra.

As mentioned I think the cooling should be fiiine but maybe my GFX card is on its way out! ..I was talking to my cousin and thinking maybe it could be something shorting (maybe even the power button itself!?) .. as it's only happened when pressing the power button to turn it on.

I mean I'm using the machine now and its been on all day fine and under gone a few restarts.. its a strange one!