Bad Restarts (Solved)

[Krynis]

let me begin by saying this is a continuation of this, but as i no longer see it as a video issue i have continued it here, onto the topic!

About 2 months ago I was playing Half-Life 2(Awsome!) when all of a sudden my machine emits a single beep and the video stops dead frozen, i restart the machine and the leds light up the fans spin but it doesint post, we re seeded everything with no effect we then replaced everything we could (ram, video card, hdd) with no luck, so my friends got me a new mobo for christmas, we put the new mobo in and reinstalled everything but it did the same thing, so we removed the CPU which we suspected was also toast and replaced it with a 1ghz duron, and to my pleasure it booted up normal.

But now a new problem arises, right away after reinstalling drivers and what not just in case (mostly cuz the mobo change) i tried to jump right into Counter-Strike: Source, but the game restarted as soon as the map finished loading(no problems in the menu) after the machine rebooted i tried hl2 and even the menu (which has a map with misc stuff going on) restarted the computer again,i tested some other 3d games all with the same problems and not just Valve games either, i tested some 2d games and what not and at first it would seem they would play but if i had to many programs running in the background they to would crash along with a bunch of other things running in the background(such as steam) which brings me to the conclusion that it must be the powersupply (350w Sparkle) do you think im correct in my assumption?

 

[FNC Jon]

Did you try swaping your video card in the new computer setup? DO you have the latest drivers for your Video card? I have had this happen with my ati card. It was a defective pipline on the card. But that is probably not your problem. When ever I tried to play a 3d application it would just crash and restart. Swap the video card first with another one run some 3d Games and see what happens.

FNC JON

 

[Krynis]

tried it, i my radeon9800Pro in my friends machine and put her radeon 8500 in mine and her pc ran perfect and mine had the same problem, i updated the drivers many times, (uninstalling with the uninstall tool ATI provides now, Thank you ATI!) I even back dated them as far as 4.9.

 

[FNC Jon]

Try unplugging some Cd-roms or dvd-roms what ever u have in there that you do not require to boot up and test the issue. See if its amount of power needed. However I do not belvie it is the lack of power from the supply as I have the same PS in my number 2 Pc and it runs fine. However the power supply could be faulty. Can you swap PS with your freinds computer and try again?
FNC JON

 

[Krynis]

actually hes grabbing a powersupply to test that very thing on friday when i go over there.

 

[Krynis]

ok we never got a chance to test a new powersupply but i did test the ram with memtest and both sticks passed, which is weird cuz i took one stick out the other day and for 3 days it worked almost normal and then returned to restarting in games etc only now it would take a minute or 2 so i put the ram back in and it didint get anyworse, still looking like the CPU or PSU

 

[FNC Jon]

defently try your PS man. WHen you are gammign it is drinking the power form your PS, and if there isnt enough yoru computers goign to cry liek a baby and give you a blue screen of death and rebbot really fast. Get another PS form your freind and test it.

FNC JON

 

[Krynis]

You just described what it does to the T but the problem is he had planned on getting some ones from work that had been removed from trashed systems and as luck would have it they all failed. and i dont have a warranty on this PS anymore

 

[FNC Jon]

Do you have two computers, can you grab it from a working computer and just swap for the test??
FNC JON

 

[resStealth]

help us help you. you should really put your system specs in your signature. i dont know your specs so im just going to spout some ideas. your 1ghz duron may not be quite powerful enough to run your games, maybe your video card isnt powerful enough, could be the psu, also could be an insufficient amount of ram. Hope you get it up and running

 

[resStealth]

a few things shot through my head right after i posted. have you tried hl2 on your friends pc? try your copy. you may need to go to valves website and get a patch for it. you should also run a good virus program and definitely run a few adware/spyware programs.

 

[Krynis]

Dont take me wrong cuz i am extremely grateful for any help and like to encurage it but erm my PC stats are in my sig if you look bah ill change it so u dont have to actually open it.....

As for the HL2 thing his system is nearly identical to mine and he beat the game half of which he played on THIS video card cuz mine is alot bigger then his

Edit: i just realized something funny.... i never reinstalled my 4in1s after i got my new mobo etc.... ill do that now....

 

[FNC Jon]

Did you put your power supply in his computer or grab his power supply into yours and see if it still happenes??

 

[Krynis]

No, and i doubt i will he really dislikes removing his ps but i do have some intresting news, i switched the 4pin coming to my video and HDD and the problem seems to be mostly gone the games still freeze now and again but its random and i can go for hours with no problems (like last night in HL2 for like 4 hours lol) some games still dont handle to well but it seems more isolated, as stated above im also about to download and install via 4in1s to see if that will help.

 

[fishmonger12]

your CPU isn't in your sig :|

 

[FNC Jon]

glad to hear it seems ot be fixed. But i cant tell you one thing looking at your specs, your power supply is at bar minimnum for cpacity for your computer. You will need a bigger one. you will notice less crashes, freezes and a performace boost.

Its to bad your freind wont lend it to you, its always annoying when somone wont help out because of thier loving of thier own equipment. anywas I do recommend upgrading your PS when you have some extra cash, at least find somone with a named brand PS with 400watts+ and you will see ifti makes a difference.

Later

 

[Krynis]

Cuz its in question and being replaced atm its a 1ghz Duron at stock speeds but god willing it should be a Sempron 2800+ soon..

 

[Krynis]

OK so first off lets clear 1 thing up my friend is the only reason i have this computer more so now then ever seeing as he and his wife got me the new motherboard and he would likely let me try his PSU and may still let me but im just not sure its a good idea if something is wrong i dont want to harm his hardware.... as for new psus, the problem is have a small budget of $200 Canadian (thats $166 USD) to get the psu and the cpu so u can see the problem.... as for wattage yeah i was just near the max but i never had troubles before the big incident...

 

[Insomniak]

Judging by whats in your sig, I wouldn't think 300 Watts would be enough...especially not from Sparkle, as they are a love/hate brand - some people dig them, while others, like myself, don't trust them. I would go for a brand everyone is in agreement upon - Enermax, Antec, OCZ, PCP&P, et al.

 

[Krynis]

thing is this PSU ran flawlessly for about a year and a half during which time many other things failed and if i was to get one of the mentioned brands that would sap about 50% of my budget and i dont want to use some tiny litte CPU...

 

[FNC Jon]

Yah my rig 2 has a sparkle 350, but i never use that machien, my friends do who come over so i was never wooried about power on it as I dont use it. I use my number 1 rig with the antec 550. I see your issue with money, everyone gets those issues and its not fun. The only reason why i got a rig liek mine is because of a few reasons one, i have to jobs one full time and another one on top of that that i started up, so i work more then 40 hours a week. Second Ive been blessed by God man, he gives to me so I give to everyone else. Ive built at least 10 systems for freinds and familys that cannot afford it a my cost and what ever has been given to me. IF you want a work around with yoru power issue, when your gamming unplug the cd-rom drive thats 25 watts there, that will help out probably enough.

And its smart not wanting to use his if yournto sure how dangerous it is. I persoanlly have not blown any power supplys easily from putting in one to the other computer, but rather safer then sorry.

Sory if i offended you in the

Its to bad your freind wont lend it to you, its always annoying when somone wont help out because of thier loving of thier own equipment.

It jsut soudned like your freind wasnt being to nice, but if it was you not wanting i miss read it.

anywas try unplugging your cd r-om drive and it will give another 25 watts

also when you tried the two video cards, the radeon 9800 takes alot more power then the radeon 8500, just keep that in mind.

Good luck

 

[Krynis]

I just realized that the led on my fan and my cold cathode should be off aswell for now, and no worries no ones offended i just thought i should get it straight

 

[FNC Jon]

Yah fans are about 3-5 watts and the cathode more, so turn off as much as possible. Is it possible that you added the cathode later and then the problem started to happen? Or did you always have the cathode, or maybe you added a fan. One of those things will put you over the limit if you are close.

Let me knwo if it works better with all that unplugged.

 

[Krynis]

well until this incident i had been running the rig with no changes for over a year with no issues....

 

[Anubis08]

Do you have multiple HDDs, it looks so in your info. If so make sure they don't spin up at the same time.