pc crashing - hard to start even cold

[MiZ]

hi all,

 

ive been having random instant shut downs on my pc, my first thought was that it could be over heating even though i have a case aimed around super cooling, so i have cleaned all fans and checked that there all running. added to this the pc can be very hard to restart with regular shutdowns when trying to get back into windows esp when cold i.e like the first start in the morning though if its been running a while it can seem easier to restart

 

theres no pattern to when it crashes other than if im active on the pc it seems to switch its self off less often, it also seems that it will occasionally switch off when i start a new progarm.

 

any help would be great as my current thinking is its a faulty pcu but i dont waant to waste money swapping parts without trying to narow it down a little first

 

thanks

 

miz

[Dalo Harkin]

Can you please list the specs of the PC:-

MOBO

CPU

GPU

PSU

[MiZ]

yep will do (looking up now)

 

btw as u may of guessed i meant psu not pcu

 

also occasionally 3-4 times total ive heard a click from the pc and had the gpu give distorted pictures and colours in some software

Edited October 22, 2008 by MiZ

[MiZ]

8600 GTS - expert vision

mother board bundle from novatech

ASUS M2N32- SLI deluxe

with matching duel core amd chip and 2gb memory

(i can't find any info on spec other than in system info 3013mhz x2)

soprano thermaltake case

Q-tec 550w psu dual fan gold (kept from my last machine)

[Dalo Harkin]

Right - the fact that you mention 'clicking' indicates the HDD (hard drive) but it is also worth checking that the fan on the GPU is running as a distorted picture is normally related to excess heat on the GPU.

[MiZ]

ive had hard drives go down before but this does not seem to be a similar problem

 

ive checked all fans are running correctly and all seems ok

[Dalo Harkin]

Are you overclocking at all? - the distorted picture could also be a corrupting GPU driver or the Northbridge overheating.

Northbridge is only really a viable reason if you are overclocking -

[MiZ]

thx for looking at this Dalo, no its all running as standard

[Dalo Harkin]

No problem - its all passively cooled so other than it being a heat issue.

 

Have you been in the BIOS at all?

I would next try popping the CMOS battery out and leave it out for 2 minutes and then reinsert it -

There should be no custom settings in the BIOS for any of your hardware and therefore you will lose settings but it should make no difference and we can set them up again later anyway.

 

try that and come back and let us know

[MiZ]

hi again, Dalo,

 

i gave it that a try after college but unfortunatly it didn't help with the cut outs

 

thx again though

[Guest Wolfeymole]

Right - do you know how to enter the BIOS?

you need to check the voltages in there and see what they report - I would bet that some of them are just running slightly over and causing the PC to boot slower than normal as the BIOS will be worried about frying your components.

[MiZ]

hi guys thx for all your help,

 

just got my pc back online, i ended up having to replace the psu and unfortunatly the hard drive as it didn't take kindly to so many instant shut downs but everything is running A1 now,

looks like it was the PSU