Overheating the Power Supply?

[calgecko]

Hey all... I have a P4 1.7 with a DVD/CDrom, CDRW, 2 HDD's and a floppy, along with 7 (yes, SEVEN) fans... lately, my PC has just been shutting down out of the blue, then re-starting... all by itself, no warning... I'm running a 350Watt power supply... someone mentioned that the Power Supply may be causing the shut-downs... does this sound right? I'm gonna try disconnecting the floppy drive, one of the HDD's, and maybe a couple of the fans... it seems to run around 34 degrees celsius most of the time, so I think the 7 fans may be overkill.... any input? Should I get a bigger power supply?

 

[jihiggs]

350 is enough, though your psu could be failing. a new one may be in order

my computer is so fast, it completes an endless loop in less than 4 seconds!

 

[lhgpoobaa]

7fans arnt really a big load... they only draw a few watts each.
Tell me, when you PC is running at full load, is the PSU putting out alot of heat?
And you should download Motherboard Monitor and check your 5v and 12v voltages... dropping voltages is a classic sign of a struggling PSU.

<b><font color=purple>[Rik_]</font color=purple> I wonder how many people have made their own phasechange system?
<font color=blue>[LHGPooBaa]</font color=blue> I get phasechange whenever i eat a hot chillie :lol: </b>

 

[calgecko]

Hmm... I'm running PCAlert 4, and right now, on the 5V side, running at 5.03, and on the 12V, running 11.88.... what would be considered 'normal' ranges?

Also, CPU is running at 33C, and system is at 27C.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Hmmm. Usually the limits are around +/- 5%... so yours seem ok. Tell me, does the 12v reading change much between idle and full load?

<b><font color=purple>[Rik_]</font color=purple> I wonder how many people have made their own phasechange system?
<font color=blue>[LHGPooBaa]</font color=blue> I get phasechange whenever i eat a hot chillie :lol: </b>

 

[calgecko]

well, I don't really know what to do to put it at 'full load'.. but just typing this post, my +12V is varying from 11.76 to 12.10, and the +5V is at 5.05... I have disconnected 3 of the fans, one HDD and one CDRW... no crashes <yet>

 

[lhgpoobaa]

Basically any program that runs the cpu at 100%.
Sandra benchmarks, prime95 torture test, mp3 encoding.

try anything while watching the voltages.
A fluctuation from 11.76 to 12.1 sounds a little big to me.

<b><font color=purple>[Rik_]</font color=purple> I wonder how many people have made their own phasechange system?
<font color=blue>[LHGPooBaa]</font color=blue> I get phasechange whenever i eat a hot chillie :lol: </b>