Strange Shut-Down Issues

[dbdynsty25]

Everyone,

I've got an interesting issue. I just rebuilt my entire computer with new components. The only items that carried over from my old system were the case Lia Li, the Power Supply (Antec 420 TruePower) and the HD (WD Raptor 36gb). I got a Gigabyte DS3 mobo w/ a e6600, a 8800 GTS (320mb) and 2gb of Geil 800mhz ram.

When I first built it, in the middle of the night, the computer shut off. I thought nothing of it since I had put Windows Vista on it and thought I might have had an issue with the power saving stuff. I realized that Vista sucks for games so I put XP Pro back on it and went from there. It worked fine for a few days and then last night the thing shut down again. It has only happened in the middle of the night and never under load or anything, always just idle. So I don't think it's really a power issue, because if it were, I would think it would be more apparent when the system is working harder, not at idle.

Any ideas what could cause this?

 

[moonbit]

Ok, I know you said it's not a power issue, but you have too much hardware for your power supply. The TruePowers are hardly the best of Antec's PSUs, and you need something more robust to run that high end stuff.

Go buy a new PSU before you fry all your nice new components.

And if that's not the problem now, it will be a problem soon.

 

[dbdynsty25]

You think? Wouldn't it shut down while playing games or something as well...not just in the middle of the night when no one is touching it?

 

[moonbit]

I edited my previous reply.

It is odd that it's shutting down in the middle of the night. Do you have any tasks scheduled to run then? That could be it. Or maybe somebody's toying with the power in your home/neighborhood at night.

 

[dbdynsty25]

No one is messing with the Power as far as I know...I'd notice that my alarm clocks and stuff would be resetting. I don't have any tasks scheduled at all either...it's a brand new install of XP (and Vista previously). So it's not a software issue. The main problem is that it has happened twice in a two week period, so I'm going to spend months troubleshooting it. I went out and picked up an Antec NeoHE 550 at lunch. Maybe that will take care of it...but I likely won't know for weeks.

 

[goatjc]

A memtest wouldnt be a bad thing to run either. My bad memory made my computer shut off at random a$$ed times. . .it didnt matter day, night, middle of a game etc. But, my guess would be power supply.

 

[dbdynsty25]

Yeah, it isn't the memory. I had my old memory in there for the first shut down and then I got a new set of faster stuff and it was in there for the 2nd. So two sets of memory...I know it's not that (or at least it's very unlikely).

 

[dbdynsty25]

I was actually wrong about what kind of PSU I had...I had an Enermax Noisetaker EG425P-VE...which is a 420 watt...but it's like 3 years old it seems. I dropped the new Antec Neo HE 550 in there, we'll see how it works now. I mean it obviously works, since I'm on the PC now, but we'll see if it holds up. My PC was off again when I got home...so that's 3 times in the two weeks.

 

[Puffnstuff]

What thermal compound did you use on the hsf and how much did you use? Did you peel off the protective plastic before you mounted it? Do you use a temp monitoring program and if so what are your temps?

 

[dbdynsty25]

Haha...yes, I took off the protective coating on my CPU fan...LOL. I used some Coolermaster High Performance Thermal Compound and the CPU is running idle at about 43 degrees C according to Speedfan, the program I use to monitor my CPU temps.

 

[dbdynsty25]

Anyone know if those temps are fairly normal or should I be investing in a better heatsink? Maybe even re-do the thermal compound. I've heard people doing crazy overclocks on the stock C2D fan...so it doesn't make sense that mine is running warm at stock speeds.

 

[Elias824]

I have a scythe and I idle at about 40 for my 2.5ghz e6300 so should be reasonable.
maybe its a bios issue id make sure your running the latest version as well. My inital guess though was that its a power issue. Id also try a diffrent cable and power strip too if you can