Computer keeps shutting off

davidst

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Mar 14, 2006
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Hello,

My computer has been shutting off latley when I start playing games or transfering a large amount of data between harddrives. I just added in another harddrive and the problem seems to happen more often now. I think it might be the power supply.

I have a A8N-SLI deluxe, AMD 3000+ (512 cache) 6600GT (only one), IDE DVD Player, 4 harddrives (3 x IDE, 1 x SATA) and a 450 Watt power supply.

A link to the powersupply I have is here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817182008

If the power supply is the problem, could you recommend how much power I should need with my current system plus any future minor/moderate upgrades (such as another graphics card in SLI or upgrading the CPU to a dual core model? If it's not the PSU, any other ideas? Thanks.

David
 
Are you monitoring temps? Run MEMTEST86 on the RAM? Do you have BSOD errors you can Google? (if not, then disable auto-reboot and copy the BSOD error)

The PSU should be suficient for your rig - at least a 450W PSU should be sufficient. I'm not a huge fan of Rosewill and would consider it to be suspect, but i'd log voltages while stress-testing before making a final call.

Bottom line - this could be any of a number of issues and some T/S needs to happen.
 

davidst

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Thanks for the reply. Do you know where I could read more about what voltages I should be getting. I'm not getting any BSOD errors, it just shuts off when a run a game for a few minutes or transfering a lot of data between harddrives. I'll run that memory test tonight. Do you have a suggestion of what program I should use to monitor the temperatures? Thanks again.

David
 

davidst

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No, I even uninstalled the Asus overclock on demand thing. I set most of evertyhing in the BIOS to auto.

David
 
Read both FAQs at the top of this forum. The FAQ at the top of Motherboard - General forum is also very useful.

The mobo should have a hardware monitoring utility. Voltages should be within +/- 5% of the rated amount. 10% is the actual specification, but 5% is my comfort zone. If it is shutting off and not rebooting, then I would suspect power. If it is a reboot, then you disable the auto reboot in Windows. When the error occurs, you will then receive an error message on the BSOD.
 

Gfreeman

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Most likely its your power supply though i was having the same problem. Everytime i would run a game it would reboot. You have to remember you have 4 hard drives. What type of cooling do you have?
 

theboomboomcars

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Is your graphics card and a hard drive sharing the same power line?
I have a very similar setup to yours, but I have an Antec 430w PSU and only 3 hard drives. But if I am remembering right when I installed my 6600GT it required quite a bit of power through the line and the manufacterer recommend putting it on it's own line.
May not be your problem but it's easy to check.
 
With that particular PSU it will be difficult putting it on its own rail....with that many hdd/cd drives, he'd have a hard time putting on its own rail on any PSU.

Personally, I'd consolidate some data and remove some older drives...
 

davidst

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Thanks for the replies. I'll check to see if my graphics card is getting it's own power line. The A8N motherboard has an extra power hookup for the SLI cards. I don't have power going to it because I only have one card. I'll also look at the FAQ and monitor the voltage.

I plan on removing one the harddrives once I get the data off of it. When I only had 3 harddrives, I was still having the problem with the computer shutting off. I guess I could cut back the harddrives to 2 if needed.

I have a lian li case with 4 fans in it plus the AMD OEM fan for the CPU and the fan that came with the graphics card. I replaced the chipset fan with a heatsink because it went bad.

David