Power Supply Failing?

[lukatmyshu]

Finished building a system last night with an EPOK-8KHA+, 256 Megs of 2100 RAM, AMD 1800+, IBM Deskstar 40 GIG, and an AGP All-In-Wonder Card (a lot of stuff lying around) .... everything POSTed just fine, and I started installing Windows XP .... right where it was trying to start Windows Setup Itself (it loaded all it's drivers already) it randomly restarts (this happened like 3 or 4 times) ... I tried installing Windows 98 and partway I get either locked-up or a GPF. The only thing strange about my system is that when I look at the 5Volt Line in my BIOS it's only at 4.75 Volts ... kind of disturbing. Is this within tolerance? I thought it should be within 2 percent or something.
VIjay

 

[pantherdan]

I read an article about PSs before I got a new one because I like to be informed before buying. Here is an article about my PS and other important things to know. I cant find the article about PSs in general on that site, but it does say that keeping a very staedy output voltage is very important.


http://www.amdworld.co.uk/antecpp412.htm
http://www.amdworld.co.uk/enhance.htm

 

[lukatmyshu]

Thanks for the info ... I remembered reading somewhere specifically that the Epox Motherboard needed a strong 5 Volt or 3.3 Volt line ... but couldn't be sure ... I called in an RMA on my power supply and am going to try another as soon as a friend wakes up. If there are any other ideas please post. Thanks

 

[lukatmyshu]

Hey all ... I replaced my Power Supply with an AMD Approved Antec 400 Watt and I still get the same problem. Computer locks up during installation of an operation sysem. I've also noticed that my temperatures are rather hot .... around 45 - 50 degrees. I have a friend with the same setup (XP 1800+ and GC-68 with stock fan) who has temps around 35 ... is it possible that I've installed the heatsink improperly or put to much ASIII? If so then crap ... putting on that bloody heatsink was hard enough. Any ideas?

 

[LarryJoe]

Since you have ruled out the power supply, this sounds like a definite cpu problem. Most likely heat because something is not right. Take it off, clean it up with alcohol, re-apply the grease and make sure it is on correctly.

 

[WarCon]

Yeah, what are your temps hitting in bios? Could also be memory settings.

 

[lukatmyshu]

When I first boot-up then climb from about 29 (ambient temperature) to around 45 (this is after I let it sit for about 15 minutes ... I 'forced' a floppy-drive failure so that it wouldn't clear the screen and try to boot up. I am guessing that it is indeed a heatsink problem, since the fan on my heatsink isn't blowing any warm air. My RAM is CENTON 256 Megs of PC2100 (from the CircuitCity deal a month ago) .... I just walked in and bought it so I have no idea what the settings (CAS-2/3) are.

 

[CraigRT]

My friend had that problem happening with his PC.. it turned out to be a stick of memory.. sounds exactly the same... I went through all the troubleshooting with him too.. the odd thing was, it didn't matter at what speed the memory ran at, it would always inflict the same problem. so we ruled it out, but ended up finding out later that it WAS the RAM because we had nothing left to try. we swapped out a PSU too, and it didn't help.. pop in another stick if you can get your hands on one.. it could be the memory.

 

[HappyPuppy]

I've had that problem several times and it's always been the memory (for me). Either you have a bad stick or else your motherboard doesn't like that particular brand, it happens.

 

[lukatmyshu]

Why would a bad stick of memory cause abnormally high temperatures? Or do you think there are two unrelated occurences/ I'll get my hands on another stick by tomorrow and try it out.

 

[smp]

Those temps are totally fine.
Different boards read different and even the same two boards will read differently. Take a look at the temp diode anyways, you could bend it up or down or whatever, a light difference between boards can cause differnece, and 45 to 50 is damn fine.

I am also suspecting the memory, swap it out. The memory ain't causing high temps (your temps aren't the problem) because you don't have high temps to begin with.

 

[lukatmyshu]

Okay I swapped my RAM for a MUSHKIN 512 2100 DIMM. Same exact problem. When I tried installing XP it gives me an error message right where it tries to launch the GUI Setup Screen. The first time it mention an error like DRIVER_NOT_EQUAL_TO_OR_LESS_THAN and reported an error in atapi.sys. I then took out all the PCI cards and tried rebooting .... similar error (except this time it doesn't mention the DRIVER_NOT_EQUAL thing or the atapi.sys ... it just says error check your memory) ... I've swapped my video card as well. Right now pretty much the only thing I haven't swapped out is the Motherboard and Chip. What could be going on?

 

[lukatmyshu]

Any ideas?

 

[The Reaper]

Well I hope this helps, but I got a similar error when my cpu fan died (IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL). After I fixed that I got the same error. Turned out I didn't have the enough vcore voltage to the cpu. If possible try to swap out your cpu.