Computer Troubles

I had the same problem once and it turned out to be a virus but since you are also having hardware problems I doubt that is the case this time.

I''ll probably have to reinstall windows... unless someone knows what else could be causing this?

Are you sure your computer is getting all the power it needs? May be your PSU is dieing?

---

"C lets you shoot yourself in the foot rather easily. C++ allows you to reuse the bullet!"

Now I''m starting to think that''s what it is, a bad power supply. It just restarts randomely, even when I am not booting up windows. (It even did it once while I was in CMOS). I tried to use my Windows XP CD to run the recovery console, but it usually only lasts about 5 minutes in there. I hope my HD isn''t bad too, because it always seems to restart as soon as it does anything with the HD. I tried putting the HD into this computer (The one in the house that works) but it gave me a BSOD here the second it tried to boot into it.

Is it possible the hard drive just BSOD''d on start-up because I tried to attatch it to a different computer?

Look, your computer restarts randomly while you are in the CMOS. From this you can gather a few things:

It has nothing to do with Windows.

It has nothing to do with your harddrive (at this point your harddrive isn''t being touched)

What is wrong is that one of your hardware components is physically damaged or not physically attached correctly. The most likely component is the PSU (for instance it may no longer be able to ground itself, and thus builds up a charge everytime you switch it on, leading to death). If it is your PSU it may have also damaged other components, mainly your MB and drives, as well as any power extension/splitter cables attached to the PSU. You really need a second system to test this stuff with.

The second candidate would be the motherboard. Take a good look around for any components that look blackened or melted, or look like they exploded. Bad capacitors are not unheard of (a while back it was discovered several companies where making bad ones that had a habit of imploding), and if one is damaged your system is no longer getting steady power (voltage can drop for a second, so machine dies, voltage returns, machine boots up again)

Thanks Michalson

One question before I go and look for burnt parts:
In the case that I need just a new power supply, are the prices at newegg for real? They seem far too low to be realistic so I'm wondering what the catch is.

[edited by - Senses777 on April 24, 2004 10:55:44 AM]

Yep, PSU is toast. Upon further inspection many of the parts inside are completely melted. Time to look for a new one I guess...

quote:

---

Upon further inspection many of the parts inside are completely melted

---

...Hopefully you didn''t open your PSU, even unplugged that thing can hold a pretty big charge for a while (not as big as a monitor, but it could still be rather dangerous)

You can get a new PSU for next to nothing, however note that there is a big quality gap. Cheap PSUs are also likely to die within a few years (or even within a year), and could damage your motherboard or other expensive components in the process. Read some recent reviews to get an idea of what PSUs to buy.

Thanks for the advice on new PSU''s, I only hope my hard drive isn''t shot as well.

Yes, I opened the PS. (I had to earlier as well when I attempted and succeded to fix the fan inside (It''s a nice fan and I''ll be keeping it, just needed some lubrication). I didn''t see the melted components then because they were under the heat sink.) I unplug it and wait a few minutes before doing anything, and then I am extremely carefull.

Now that I think about it the PSU fan had been buzzing for some time. What I didn't know before today was that when your fans start to make odd noises you should lubricate them, it's very easy. Hopefully someone will benefit from this at least.

Here is where I learned it:
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/print/?TYPE=story&AT=2135514-39020436t-20000009c

I used a good brand of lubricant and then spun the fan around a few times manually to get it in there a little (yes I know you normally shouldn't do this). Once powered up the fan began to spin slowly and after 15 seconds or so it was back at full speed again. Too bad my PSU was already toast.

[edited by - Senses777 on April 24, 2004 12:26:40 PM]

Got a new power supply. Everything is back and running now.

The new one runs much better and has two fans, just in case It also has Power Flow Control and is 420 Watts (my old one was 400).

---

"I''m falling in and out of touch, could someone please explain?."
Clouded Skies

Well crap, I''ll have to crack this thing open too! It restarted like that a while back (like last month) and had the BSOD and everything. I have a similar system too (Athlon, XP Home Edition...). It turned out that we had at least two worms, and that stupid System Restore wasn''t helping anything.

Still, after we killed the worms, it still had some problems rebooting. (I dunno if it still does. I just keep it on all the time now.) Have to check it out.... tomorrow.

---------------
Ben
"You have to struggle in order to succeed." --William Hung

I doubt it''s related to what caused my problems

Still definately check it out though