Computer shuts down 2 seconds after i start it up

[sohcrates]

My computer started to randomly shut itself off after a few days of being on. the only way to re-start it was to pull the power, wait , plug it back in, and then turn it on again.

I replaced the power supply and the computer worked great for about a month.

now, the computer has started shutting off almost immediately after i try to power it on.

it is an asus mobo with older 1200 mghz amd thunderbird.

any ideas? i doubt it's heat cause it turns off so quick...

thanks!

 

[mechBgon]

Some more details might help, like brand & model of the PSU, motherboard, etc.

 

[DaSaint]

check your HSF make sure that ure fan is spinning and your Contact to the processor and HSF is good. this can happen if the system is Overheating and the Mobo has a Emergency Shutdown built within it. this will prevent the system from Cooking your Processor. i would check this most definatly. other probs could be bad mobo, PSU. Energy Surges have been known to mess up a mobo but odds are its your Heat Sink and Fan for your Processor

 

[sohcrates]

asus a7v. compusa 300 watt psu

i will check the cpu, that sounds like a pretty good idea considering the heatsink is covered in dust between every fin...

 

[mechBgon]

The A7V could simply be dying. That's one OLD motherboard. I had one about 9 motherboards ago, and I've had boards since then that have died of old age.

Also, CompUSA PSUs are not fantastic either, so there's that too.

 

[sohcrates]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
The A7V could simply be dying. That's one OLD motherboard. I had one about 9 motherboards ago, and I've had boards since then that have died of old age.

Also, CompUSA PSUs are not fantastic either, so there's that too.

i like your style. i'm thinking the same thing about it being time to upgrade. timing is kinda bad right now seeing as how i just paid for a wedding a honeymoon and a new house, and even though i'm sure i could fix it, i'm all about upgrading.

any thoughts? i built this puppy at least 4 years ago and i've been pretty out of the loop since. i'd like either a pentium or athlon 64 bit processor, and a gig of ram and probably stick with an asus mobo?

thanks for any thoughts! i don't even know where to start on newegg

 

[Slikkster]

Sounds like it could be another of many cases of "bad caps", aka failing capacitors.

The pc industry was replete with these a couple of years ago, and the problem still exists to a degree. But there was a run of bad capacitors that plagued many manufacturers of motherboards.

See if you can identify this on your own board. Go to http://www.badcaps.net for some pics and descriptions of what to look for.

Of course, if you've got one or more bad capacitors, it becomes a case of whether you're competent enough to fix it yourself (with a soldering iron) or have someone else do it for $50.

Of course, you might think "$50! Might as well upgrade." Of course, that usually requires more $$$ than just the motherboard. You'd have to factor in the cpu, possible RAM upgrade, etc., etc.

This is all a big IF, but worth checking.

 

[mechBgon]

If you do feel like getting a new setup, you could definitely be looking at a chain-reaction upgrade situation. Here are some possibilities:

Socket754[*]Asus K8N "standard" with a Socket754 Athlon64
[*]1GB PC3200 DDR memory, can be a single module here since Socket754 processors are single-channel by nature
[*]A decent-quality ~350W-450W power supply, here's a good buy on a 20-pin ATX Antec TruePower 380
[*]An AGP video card, perhaps a model with an nVidia 6600GT chip (good bang for buck)
[*]Maybe get a $10 Firewire card if you'll need Firewire

Keep in mind that a really old AGP card is dangerous to any modern AGP mobo. If it's Geforce-class or later, or a member of the Radeon family, then you're ok.

Socket939[*]Abit AN8 Ultra (unlike competing Asus A8N-E, this one has a fanless heatpipe cooler for the mobo chip, where the A8N-E has a noisy whiny fan)
[*]Venice-core Socket939 Athlon64 3000+
[*]1GB PC3200 DDR memory, 2 x 512MB kit of Kingston ValueRAM would be a safe bet here. Socket939 processors have two memory controllers, so 2 or 4 modules is what you want.
[*]A decent-quality ATX 2.0 (24-pin) power supply like maybe an Antec TruePower 2.0 430W
[*]PCI-Express x16 video card, again it could be a 6600GT if you want good bang for buck

I haven't kept up on the Intel scene quite as well, but the dual-core Pentium4 830 at 3.0GHz, combined with a compatible motherboard, DDR2 memory, a PCI-Express video card and a pretty beefy ATX 2.0 power supply, would be one way to go. Or get a single-core Pentium4 with Hyperthreading. The Pentium4's can put out a fair amount of heat and you would want to keep your case airflow in mind so they don't approach their self-throttling temperature and begin to slow down on you.

/2¢ worth

 

[sohcrates]

much thanks everyone! btw mechBgon, YGPM