PC Randomly Loses Power (Shuts Down)

[SpiderElls82]

Greetings all,
I have had a problem with this PC randomly shutting off in the midst of heavy processing. For instance, I will be backing up a DVD, chatting on instant messenger and listening to some music on Media Monkey, and the unit will completely lose power...as if, the power supply suddenly gave out.

Well, my first instinct was to run a test on my memory. Which I did, and after 300% of testing, I came up with zero errors. Convinced it couldn't be the RAM...I moved on to the next step.

I reinstalled Windows XP Professional on the unit. I nuked the drive w/ Derrik's Boot n' Nuke, and reloaded the OS clean. Still, the problem persisted.

At this point I suspected the power supply...So, I yanked out the 450 Watt PS, and put in a OCZ 700W power supply thinking..."How much bad luck could I have? This has got to work". No...problem persists.

So then, I replaced the 250 GB HDD w/ a 750 GB drive (hehe...couldn't help myself). Reloaded the OS...Problem still persists.

With all hope lost, I finally bought a copy of Vista Ultimate and installed it (with the typical boot n' nuke). Same issue...chronic shut downs.

I tested my 256 MB graphics card w/ three separate downloadable tests. All came back 100%+ w/ no errors.

I'm at a loss, guys. At this point, it looks to be an issue with the mobo. But I don't wanna dish out the dough for a replacement (even if I did, I'd be getting a AMD DC 6400+...which won't help my budgeting practices).

Perhaps there's something I'm missing, any help would be appreciated. Oh, if it will help, the OS also shuts down randomly when I plug in USB devices such as external hard drives or thumb drives. MOBO, right?

OS: XP PRO
MOBO: ECS NFORCE4M-A MAINBOARD 2000MHz FSB SUPPORT
RAM: 2GB DDR2-667 PC5400
HDD: 750GB 7200RPM SATA II
Video:256 MB nVIDIA Ge-Force 7300GS PCI-X
PS: 700W OCZ GameXstream

Thanks for the future help,
Ben

 

[wahnula]

It could be something as simple as needing to re-seat the CPU or NorthBridge chipset cooling heatsink/ fans. Random shutdowns are usually related to PSU or overheating. Especially if you don't get BSOD's. Next time it overheats (confident, huh?) reboot immediately, get into BIOS and see the CPU temp, usually under "System Information".

Sometimes all it takes is a little thermal grease and a good re-seat.

Wait a minute...I just looked at your MB specs...ECS is definitely the weak link, Biostar and MSI both make netter low-priced boards that are more reliable than ECS, B-U-T first try to reseat the CPU or GPU. Then at least you'll know for sure.

Tony

"If it can't take it, I don't want it

 

[BadBigBen]

While in the PC check for clogged HS-FAN (dust bunnies)...

and in the BIOS, look for the Thermal settings, and up them a tad, it might just be that the CPU hits 70 degrees, and the setting is set to 70 and all shuts off...


Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[SpiderElls82]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I'll give it a thorough cleaning and reseat the CPU this afternoon (finally a day off!). I'm also ordering a 120 mm case fan and 2 80mm fans just to make sure things are cool and well circulated in there. Up until now, it was just my cpu fan, and my power supply. I'll give that a shot...but it need me, I appreciate the info on the additional mobo's. That may be where I need to go. We'll see, I'll keep you updated.

Thanks again,
Ben

 

[paparazi]

ECS are pretty budget and so not the best quality.
I was wondering if the Northbridge fan was seizing? that could cause restarts.
Disconnect the front panel switches (sticking switch?)
Check motherboard for bulging capacitors.

This board uses the original Nforce4 chipset and so there are newer/faster budget boards available, ie:the newer, middle ranking Nvidia 560 chipset which represents performance without high end cost.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=ALiveNF5SLI-1394&s=AM2

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/p_spec.asp?model=K9N_Neo-F_V3&class=mb

http://www.foxconnchannel.com/product/Motherboards/detail_overview.aspx?ID=en-us0000344

http://www.giga-byte.co.uk/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2607

Martin



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

 

[firewolfrl]

I have seen this before...take the harddrive completely out of the computer and put it in a safe place...
the first step is to boot the computer and then push and pull on the wire harness to the motherboard. What you are looking for is maybe a bad connection of a connector to the board or a bad solder connection that when hot loses its contact and the system shuts off.
if you pass the wire wiggle test then push down on all the external PCI/Graphics boards.
if if shuts down with any test then pull the board from the case and power up the board with some type of electrical insulation type material (cardboard works in a pinch) on the bottom of the board. what you are looking for here is to see if you have a short to the case.
you can put it all back together and use a common house fan to blow in the open side of the computer and see if it does the shutdown.
try another harddrive in the system and see if it does the same . some harddrives get hot then short while hot then work fine at cooler temps.
from the sound of it your computer is shutting down and not rebooting???

check the outlet the computer is plugged into
is the computer on a UPS?
I have seen old failed UPS's not give enough juice to the computer and shutting down

this may help

 

[SpiderElls82]

Thanks for all your help guys. Turns out, upon closer inspection...The genius that sold me this barebones kit...Hot-glued the front usb/audio/firewire ports to the case. The chip was in direct contact with plastic/metal case/internal racks. Once I removed the frontal usb chip...everything is peachy. Thanks for all your guys' help. Its greatly appreciated.

Peace...
Ben