Can anyone suggest a PC Healthcheck App?

[chrigil]

Can anyone suggest a good PC health check application that I can use to monitor my hard drives and processor?

My PC is constantly shutting down and I need to establish if it is a CPU or HDD issue.

It definately isn't a Virus or software issue.

Any ideas,



Thanks in advance,

Chris

 

[BernardStewart]

have you tried Sisoft Sandra?

 

[stduc]

Have you checked your application/system logs in event viewer? (Not available in win98/SE etc.)

 

[DragonQ0105]

SpeedFan" is good since it's a very small program, but does everything you asked for I believe. Check it out on google.

 

[chrigil]

I have indeed check the Event Viewer but it doesn't seem to offer any clues at to the reason for this problem.

I'm sure its a hardware issue either CPU/Fan or HDD because its been doing it for a few months and the computer has had 3 OS's in that time. All Win XP Pro but fresh installs.

It only happens when it is rendering a 3D Scene or doing large Database queries etc. Stuff that is CPU/HDD intensive for a long period of time i.e constant workload of 5 or more minutes.

Any Ideas?

Thanks in advance,

Chris

 

[blatin]

perhaps it is your PSU (power supply unit). Do u have a 420 watt??

 

[paparazi]

1) Very unlikely to be the hard drive, heat issues would normally result in errors or blue screens not shut downs.

2) Possibly CPU, if the heatsink is clogged up with dusk or the fan is partially seized, easily resolved with a blow out.

3) Shut down temps set too low in the bios (set to 65C)

4) Heatsink has not been fitted correctly and or heatsink paste not applied properly

5) But as blatin implies: these are very typical symptoms of a failing power supply (thermal cut-out activating)

Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[garebo]

Again, a vote for changing your power supply here!!
What you need to test your existing one is:
digital multimeter (borrow one or buy at hardware or auto store.
tutorial on how to test the rails on power supply that you can google easily, best one is at techrepublic.
Hint - sounds hard but its not!


Or, simply get a good power supply and swap it with the one you have.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[garebo]

Also, yes, power supplies can work fine until stressed and then only certain lines will fail, causing you to think its some other problem, like overheated cpu or hard drive when in fact its the power supply. Very common, in fact the power supplies in the cheap combo case w power supply deals are cheap, cheap, cheap. They are basically built to fail.
I buy case and power supply separately or, if i want the case and it has a power supply, i buy a good power supply, install that in the case and sell the junk one for $10 as thats all its worth.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[chrigil]

It's a Laptop if thats any help. Do the power supply answers still apply?



Thanks in advance,

Chris

 

[garebo]

Sorry, no. Very sorry, indeed to waste your time.
I dont know a lot about laptops so i will stay out of here and leave it to people who do, again, sorry about that.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips