Another "How big of PSU do I need" thread...

[AgSilver]

Wow Slammy, thanks for the detail...I will try all of those things. Thanks!

Lasthitlarry, things are a bit better in there now...still a bit messy though.

PSU is older...probably at least 3+ years. I already did the HD switch. Now with only two HD's via ATA, there isn't as much of an issue with the ribbon cable running about, so that's a lot cleaner now. It's still not perfect and I could probably go to rounded cables. Maybe another day when I remember.

Thanks for the tips and I'll see what comes of it.

 

[Slammy1]

My sig explains my knowledge on the subject. I had several issues, pretty much all driver issues that were fixed by later updates but only after much agonizing on the matter. I still have occasional driver problems with my A2 (when it drops to blue screen, which is actually only ca 1x/week now, it's always a CTxxxx file). I occasionally get problems from my Norton anti-virus, but it's more a freeze on start. Did lots of research, I hope others might gain from some of the things I did. Some of it did help, but I think the latest BIOS update is where my system finally went stable (aside from the occasional Creative shank).

 

[AgSilver]

well, memtest has been running now for a few hours and there are no signs of errors yet

the computer hasn't rebooted, but I turned off that feature...although I'm not sure what the "reboot on error" does...because it's not like the system actually shuts down as much as just powers off and restarts

Looked at the event viewer and there were no actual errors for me to google...it's like...it just stopped when the computer shut down

I'll keep an eye on it for now...will try SpeedFan too

 

[AgSilver]

Alright, so it just crashed for the first time since I made the changes recomended above. I also ran memtest for several hours and came up empty as far as errors go.

This time, perhaps due to the changes above, it didn't actually restart, but instead gave the following blue screen error:

http://www.mlebeau.ca/pictures/error.jpg

Seems the error is in win32k.sys.

After googling, it seems to either be related to the GeForce chipset and/or bad RAM. I, naturally enough, don't have a spare gig of RAM hanging around...but might buy some "test" ram for kicks.

Any other ideas based on the BSOD?

 

[smthmlk]

Rebooting, you say? .... have you turned off the "automatically reboot on BSOD"? Cuz your system might be blue-screening, and that might be caused by a software problem (but could also be hardware). I havent seen anyone mention this yet in this thread, so sorry if it was. But please make sure that option is off:

ControlPanel->System->Advanced->Startup and Recovery->SystemFailure:"Automatically Restart".

 

[Saint Nick]

there's a website around here somehwere that tells how big of a PSU you need. you enter how many hard drives you have and how many fans, the kind of video card, etc etc and it tells you.

 

[Viper27]

If/when you need a new hard drive, ribbon had the right idea with a 250GB hdd, as they are the best bang for the buck right now. The best price I've found for a HDD that isn't refurbished or something like that is on the website:
http://www.dttechnology.com/showproduct.aspx?productid=79&categoryid=17
It's a 250GB WD SATA-150 8mb cache for $90, which after shipping would place it just under $100, which is better than $360 for a 500GB!
No sense in spending the extra money for the 300GB you mentioned before when a 250GB is so much less.
This is obviously a secondary concern as compared to the rebooting problem, but just thought you should know for the future.
(us college students need to stick together and help each other out)

 

[dexvx]

I doubt that system draws more than 150W at load.

 

[AgSilver]

smthmlk, actually Slammy recommended it above...I think that's the only reason I got to see the BSOD this time...usually I just wake up in the morning to a rebooted computer

jndietz...I'd LOVE to find that...link on the forums somewhere? in all my searching, I've never found that site...

 

[AgSilver]

dexvx, somewhere around the other day I found a site that indicates how much wattage various h/w draws...I think it said between 80-100 for the 1gb of ram alone, then about 20 for each hdd, and then a few other things that brought it up to close to 250 by my calcs

and viper, thanks for the link, I picked up a 250 up here in Canada for about $139 (or about 50 cents USD )...if I need more, I know where to look now

 

[Bobthelost]

Originally posted by: AgSilver
dexvx, somewhere around the other day I found a site that indicates how much wattage various h/w draws...I think it said between 80-100 for the 1gb of ram alone, then about 20 for each hdd, and then a few other things that brought it up to close to 250 by my calcs

and viper, thanks for the link, I picked up a 250 up here in Canada for about $139 (or about 50 cents USD )...if I need more, I know where to look now

Bollocks the RAM does, you draw 80-100W for the CPU and it has that funky little heatsink job attached to it. 100W of power disipating passivly in the RAM would start your own barbacue.

250W is realistic.

I'd be more concerned about other things than the PSU and powerdraw myself, but consolidating your data to a few larger hard drives is more sensible than lots of little ones.

 

[AgSilver]

Ran memtest86+ over night last night for 7 hours...not an error to be found. Cycled through 13 tests or something along those lines.

So I'm satisfied that it's not the ram. That's a start, at least.

 

[AgSilver]

Oh, and I also have been running speedfan and it doesn't look like it ever gets up over about 45º if it's not under load. And usually when it crashes, it's not under load, so I don't think that has anything to do with it.

 

[dwcal]

Originally posted by: AgSilver
Hi Bob, thanks for the quick reply.

The machine reboots...whenever. It used to always do it when I right clicked on a file, then I reinstalled, and now it just does it randomly, or so it seems. I haven't been able to determine any pattern. It'll do it when the system's not even being used. It's not uncommon for me to wakeup to the logon screen.

If the computer reboots at random (even when it's idle) the problem is probably not cooling or power supply. There's a huge difference in heat and power between idle and full load. The last time I had a problem with a PS too small, it would freeze in 3d games when CPU and video card load was highest.

Try these things:
-As bob4432 said, look for blown or bulging capacitors on the motherboard.
-Could be a bad PS (as opposed to an underpowered one).
-Could be Windows. Try booting up a Linux CD like Knoppix and see if that reboots.

 

[Yreka]

Didn't the sasser virus cause this type of problem ?

 

[AgSilver]

Yreka, I'm not talking about the window popping up saying the computer will shut down...I mean that I'll be sitting here writing a paper or something and then suddenly, it's POSTing and loading into Windows.

dwcal, I gotta be honest, I'm not sure what I'd be looking for if looking for blown/bulging capacitors. I'm not a total noob or anything, but that's outside my realm of understanding and expertise.

I don't *think* it's Windows, I've reinstalled twice - so of the three installs, two have been with my "legit" copy and one was with the latest less than legit copy, just to see if using a new build made any difference. Doesn't mean it's not WinXP, but I think it reduces the chances.

I need to find somewhere that has a good return policy for PSUs and stuff so that if it's not the problem, I can return it!

I should probably stop wasting my time and just pick up a new system, with the amount of trouble I'm putting into this.

 

[dwcal]

Originally posted by: AgSilver
dwcal, I gotta be honest, I'm not sure what I'd be looking for if looking for blown/bulging capacitors. I'm not a total noob or anything, but that's outside my realm of understanding and expertise.

You definitely need to check the capacitors before buying a PS. Look on the motherboard, they're the vertical cylinders. The tops of the cylinders should be flat and shiny. This is how the bad ones look:

http://www.vp6-board.com/images/caps/RAM3.png
http://www.pcstats.com/articleimages/200302/capblown_3.jpg

 

[PingSpike]

If I were you'd I'd disconnect all the hard drives except the boot drive and see how it went. Drives don't use a lot of power I don't think, but with the amount you have its probably the straw that broke the camels back kind of situation.

 

[Saint Nick]

Originally posted by: AgSilver
smthmlk, actually Slammy recommended it above...I think that's the only reason I got to see the BSOD this time...usually I just wake up in the morning to a rebooted computer

jndietz...I'd LOVE to find that...link on the forums somewhere? in all my searching, I've never found that site...

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

i think thats it... let me know!

edit: yep thats the link... that should give you a really good idea what you need. you should probably get a little more powerful one than what that website says, just to be safe. like maybe the next step up.

 

[AgSilver]

Looks cool jnd, came up with suggesting something around 400W, assuming full load. So I guess with my 350 I'm probably kinda on the cusp.

dw, I'll check on those capacitors later when I have a chance...those pics are very helpful, thanks!

After exams I'll try the disconnecting everything but the boot drive thing...it's not that practical of an option until then...need the muzack to keep me going, for now!

 

[AgSilver]

alright, checked the capacitors, everything's good...currently testing with only one of the sticks of 512, because it happened 3 times in the past day...can't stand it anymore

after googling every one of the hardware errors, it appears certain to be a hardware problem...it does reference device driver problem potential, but considering this has been happening through various different series of drivers, it doesn't seem that likely

The potential hardware seems to be the usual culprits: PSU, CPU, RAM, and mobo. Surprise, surprise. Now maybe if I want to shell out $500 or so CAD, I won't have these problems anymore. Stupid machine...