hardware diagnostics

[pantz]

hey TLB,

I have a desktop that keeps going down hard (power off) after about 10 to fifiteen minutes. I 've reloaded all the software at least twice and the problem still exists.


As you can tell I have no idea about computer, yes i am a plug and play kind of guy. I pretty good at unscrewing bolts and adding new ram chips but that is the extent of my knowledge.

Would you guys know of any diagnostic (software) tools that pretty gui that can tell me whats going with this machine. I want to make sure I dont end up replacing things that dont need to be replaced...

Thanks..

pantz

[pantz]

sorry about the sloppy grammer but I've just had a twelve pack of beer....

[jrrk]

sandra professional 2004 is a pretty good hardware diagnostic tool. I used it do do my burn in.
As far as software tools I have no idea.


http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/

[[TLB]Kyle_W]

izheetmipantz']sorry about the sloppy grammer but I've just had a twelve pack of beer....


Perhaps thats your technical malfunction? :shocked:

For it to seem like a PC is functioning at the optimal level, youll need an entire case. :tard:

[PsB|Silz]

First things first, the thing isn't overheating is it?

[pantz]

Kyle the PC has lead me to drink the amber sustinance....


MMMMMMMM........Beer

Silz, its not getting hot at all...

[pantz]

I have a berry berry sneaky suspicion that it may be my hard drive......

[[TLB]Milito]

Check the fan on the cpu. It may be dirty, making it overheat. Check to see if it is turning as fast as it should. Sure sounds like a overheating problem to me.

[[TLB-HC]BartBandy]

It's not the case that'll be getting hot. If the heatsink can't dissipate the heat fast enough (i.e clogged with dust, dead fan, etc.) then you could see random reboots.

The next possibility is inadequate power supply. In fact, I'd suspect the PS first. 300W is a bare minimum. I run an Antec 450W, runs quiet with lots of power.

[[TLB-HC]Worthington]

yup. See if you can download a copy of Motherboard Monitor. Make sure the all 3 rails (of power.. from the powersupply to the MB= 12V, 5.5V, and 3 V) are running where they should. If any one of the 3 spikes or drops that could be your issue as well. Motherboard Monitor will give you your temps. Make sure your CPU temp is under.. I'd say 60C but technically anything under 70C is ok.. under load. If you at your desktop and the temp is 50 something thats "not so good".

[PVT_Panic]

If it's not a temp issue, check to see if you've got an Intel P4 motherboard with the 865 chipset. There was an issue with boards having this chipset spontaneously shutting down that has been addressed by the most recent chipset drivers.

[SQUEAK]

Does it abandon ship whilst gaming, or just 15 minutes after power-on? The software Worthington suggests is good, because it will write to a log file that you can look at following a crash to try and ascertain what went wrong. A memory checking program will tell you if you have any faulty sticks in your case, which can also be a cause of a crash as activity reaches a certain level, but not normally a full reboot. Have you upgraded anything recently, or did this just start to happen out of teh blue?

[Toby]

BartBandy']It's not the case that'll be getting hot. If the heatsink can't dissipate the heat fast enough (i.e clogged with dust, dead fan, etc.) then you could see random reboots.

The next possibility is inadequate power supply. In fact, I'd suspect the PS first. 300W is a bare minimum. I run an Antec 450W, runs quiet with lots of power.

Bart, Is there software that I can D/L that will tell me what my puter is drawing for watts? I got that 5700 ultra card and it won't work for me. I plug everything in(extra power cable) and sometimes I can play the card for a day and sometimes it won't play at all. The colors get all wacked out... My thought is it might be my power supply as it recommends a 400W and that is what I have...

[SQUEAK]

You checked your drivers Tobe? Try the card in someone else's PC. It's also not just the total output, you also need to get the right oomph in the right areas, and some PSs have different ranges than others. Try asking nVidia if they know of any issues with your card/MoBo/Power supply. the outputs from your PS will be on the case, so give them all teh numbers from that too. Keep smiling, and FIND ANOTHER AVATAR, you sicko.

[JoeDirt]

I installed a 1ghz ram chip that caused me to reboot time and time again. Run this diag to check your memory.
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

[pantz]

thanks, I will try the diag tools and see what happens

[[TLB]Trig]

Toby -- see if you can increase your AGP voltage in your mobo bios. Default is probably auto, and you can choose 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 usually. Start low and and go up and see if you can tell any difference -- going from 1.5 to 1.6 worked wonders for me.

Pantz -- kinda hard to tell from what you've described. Make sure it's not overheating -- your bios will have a hardware monitor if it's not too old that you can check. Press the DEL key as your computer is booting up -- the screen with the mobo graphic or DOS commands. Then look around for the hardware monitor -- usually in the Power Control tab. When you exit, just exit without saving changes and you won't hurt anything. Other than that, make sure all your drivers and firmware are up to date.

[pantz]

It was the freakin power strip......dooh

[[TLB-HC]BartBandy]

Without the low tech power bar, the high tech computer is useless. lol

Glad you found the culprit.

[Toby]

Trigger']Toby -- see if you can increase your AGP voltage in your mobo bios. Default is probably auto, and you can choose 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 usually. Start low and and go up and see if you can tell any difference -- going from 1.5 to 1.6 worked wonders for me.

Sorry Trigger, I just seen this post now... Where will I find this in the BIOS?

I will give it a try after work as I've sent the card to BFG and they sent it back saying there is no problem with it. BASTARDS!!! Anyways I will give it a try this afternoon... If I can find it that is...