Hardware crash

[elziko]

Whilst using my computer it sometimes just crashes, no BSOD or anything like that it just instantly resets itself, ie back to the BIOS startup screen.

I dont think its overheating. I have a mother board monitor and I have set it to warn me when my provessor goes over 60 degrees centigrade and the other chips on my MoBo at 45 degrees.

I have an Athlon on an ABit MoBo with an ABit Geforce. My power supply is supposedly OK for Athlons and is rated at 230 Watts.

Any ideas? I have given the most relavent info but can supply anything else!

Cheers

elziko

 

[paparazi]

More system info would be useful.
Min Athlon power supply should be 250watts and be nearer 350 if you have extra drives, roms and powerful graphics cards.
Need more info for further comments. Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[elziko]

OK,

Abit KG7 MoBo
Athlon 1.4Ghz (SoA)
Abit Geforce 2 (MX400)
256 Mb DDR RAM (not sure of brand/unbranded)
LinkSys 10 Mbit network card
Creative 5.1 Player sound
LG 19 inch Flatron monitor
Random PCI modem.

Connected and powered from USB sockets:

Optical mouse & keyboard

Connected by USB sockets but self powered:

Zip-Drive, Scanner & Printer

I have one inlet fan running at half speed.
My power supply fan is running at half speed.
My processor fan speed is variable and is on its lowest setting.
My MoBo chipset fan has been removed and now very large processor fan cools this too.

I have had all fans present and running at full speed so I think this is not an overheating issue. Unless the powersupply itself overheats even when its fan is at full speed. But this would mean a very badly designed PSU!

Remember, this occurs befire I am warned of any temperature problems!

The resetting doesn't occur in any particular application. I've seen it happen:

During Web (IE6/Morpheus/MSN Mesenger)
During Development (VS.NET)
During Games (Half Life Blue Shift)
During DVD (Power DVD 2000)

Here is a link to my case:

http://web6.scan.co.uk/productinfo.asp?wpid=6832

this says my powersupply is 250 Watts but I'm sure mine says 230Watts. I probably can't take it back since I've taken it to bits to half the speed of my fan.

That enough info?

Cheers

elziko

 

[Guest_imported]

by the sounds of things you dont have enough power, i would run a 1ghz processor at less than 300watts atx power supply
im guessing you have an at at the minute, power suplies are very cheap, im in the uk and i can pick the up for about £15 at a computer market, and gat a wicked duel fan for about £40, if you use your computer alot i would always suggest the best parts
hope that helps
jake

 

[Guest_imported]

my last threads first few lines are wrong sorry, instead of would i meant wouldn't... so i wouldnt run 1gz at less than 300 watts atx
jake

 

[Jakespeare]

300 WATT AMD APPROVED P/S is very important.

However, ABIT mainboards are known to do *exactly* what you have described. They are known to not be the most stable MB's, with issues just as you described: INSTANT REBOOTS.

So, between the poor P/S, and the ABIT board, you have TWO very strong candidates for your problem.

 

[irishkiwi007]

I came across a problem on a different m/b once. The computer would just reboot. It was a USB problem and after I updated the bios it was fine.

 

[paparazi]

I would definately replace your Power supply First with something like a 350watt AMD approved unit. 230watts is just too low on a system of your spec.
The T/bird alone cosumes nearly 70 watts
You didn't mention Rom drives, they can really draw alot of current as they start to spin, and if you have several they can put great demands on the power supply.
Just a note* I used to hear a differance in fan tone when I used a rom drive, the extra demand of the drive lowering the voltage and slowing the system fans down for a few seconds.
I replaced the rather cheap generic 300watt unit for a branded 350watt and now when I operate drives you carn't hear any differance in fan tone.
This is a crude but effective method of test! Martin Vote if you found this post helpful please!!

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Quote /"However, ABIT mainboards are known to do *exactly* what you have described. They are known to not be the most stable MB's" /Quote

Sorry, but this is baloney. When posting your opinions, please identify them as such. If you believe this to be fact, please back it up with links to authoritative web pages.

ABit are among the most stable boards you can get, if not the most stable, in the opinion of me, Tomshardware, Anandtech, SharkyExtreme, Hard|OCP, ArsTechnica...

This board in particular is renowned for its stability. When it came out, it was hailed as the right board for an AMD processor, but just a little too late.

The AMD 760 chipset on this board requires good airflow. When the 761 came out, AMD stuck a fan on it. Try running the inlet fan at half speed, and the outlet at full speed.

You may find a BIOS update helps - but check other threads on this subject in this forum - a badly flashed BIOS can bring your computer to a standstill.

250W is not powerful enough for a PSU, as the others have said.

I hope this helps.