Okay. I have spent the last week building my first pc. I used my old drives, RAM and graphics card. Specifications: Pentium 4 3.0C with Thermaltake P4 Heatsink Abit Sis 661 Mobo - 8x AGP (Support P4 w/400 - 800FSB) EVGA - Geforce FX 5900 - 128Mb 1 GB stick of DDR Ram (bought off of pricewatch; website said it was industry standard, compatible with 99% of boards) New Case with Red LEDs on front with Red Led Fan on side and back, as well as psu 450 Watt Powmax Power Supply So, I built my new computer and installed Windows XP and Office and loaded all of the drivers. I started playing Need For Speed Underground when my computer just SHUT DOWN. I couldnt just turn it back on. I had to flip the power switch off and on on the back of the psu, then press the power button on the case. It came on and worked for about another 20 mins, then the same thing happened while I was listening to mp3s and installing another game. I clicked it off and on on the back of the psu, then pressed the power up on the front of the case. This time, it powered up for about half of a second, then cut off. Each time I pressed the power button, the amount of time that it stayed on got shorter and shorter until it refused to power. Is this a sign of a bad PSU? I looked up the PSU brand that came with the case and it was very cheap.(like 10 bucks). Im thinking that the mobo, ram and graphic card are all good since i have used them before. If i wait for like an hour without powering it up then try to give it power, it will flicker on for a split second. I have tried unplugging everything( the extra fans and graphic card) except the necessary needed power components and still nothing. PLEASE HELP. this is really frustrating, being my first computer build. I was so geeked when I powered it on and it actually work. The speed was amazing. Now it pisses me off to look at the thing.
1. I would jump to the conclusion of blaming the PSU although that wouldnt be too hard to test. Check that first. 2. I think you jumped into the "using the computer" too soon without stress/break-in testing. Could it be a temperature problem? Check the temp on the VC too 3. I would normally suspect memory however memory problems usually dont force a computer to be inactive for 20 minutes so i think the mem is ok
When I first started the computer up, i went into the bios and saw that my cpu temp was at a stable 40/41 C. Dont know how to check Video Card temp(Although, I did feel it after the shut down, and it didnt burn my hand or anything; No sign of overheating; I dont OC my VC's either). I used artic silver 5 w/ the thermaltake heatsink on my cpu, so i dont think that should be a problem. I even tried powering up without the video card using the onboard video( 10 hours later), and still just a flicker of life, then nothing. Thanks for your quick response. Just purchased an Antec PSL400 last night for about 55 dollars. Should be here soon. Will see if that works.
Thanks for the help. I will also try testing the PowMax PSU on another PC to see if that is the problem.
Okay, I just tested the PowMax Power Supply on this Pc, and the same thing happened. Just flickered on for a millisec. I could also here something rattling around in the PSU. After shaking it out, I saw that it was a small black cylinder-shaped object the size of a fingernall. It was chipped and looked like half of something else inside the PSU. It also had the numbers 0 on one side and 2 on the other. Im guessing this is a pretty good indication that the PSU is dead. That is a relief. Just hope I havent damaged anything by continually trying to power up the pc on a dying power supply.
Time for a new PSU Antec and Thermaltake make good ones for a reasonable price. The PSU is about the most important part of your system. Without proper juice all those other fancy parts either don't work or get fried.
Sounds like a capacitor. Well even if ur psu was working you wouldnt ever be able to put any confidence in the rails ;-) Thermaltake make excellent PSU (although I wouldnt categorize them as reasonably priced -- i've not experience buying Antec). Enermax makes good PSUs for a good price too!
Yep, it was the power supply. Everything is all up and running. I found that my CPU was running at 65 C after powering it up. Had to remove AS5 from heatsink and heatspreader of P4 and reapply correctly. Fixed the problem and is running about 40C stable/44C Full Load. Thanks for help.
