R.I.P my power supply?

Ash · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:25 pm Post subject: R.I.P my power supply?

I am having a problem and I think it's my power supply. Whenever I play 1 game my PC swtches itself off I have no idea why. I asked another forum I am part of if they knew why this would be and they said that it could be dust covering fans and other things or my power supply dieing so i opened my pc up and got rid of nearly all of the dust inside and it's still doing it. Could this be my PSU?

Etheryte · 100+ Club Joined: 16 Mar 2008 Posts: 191 Location: Estonia

It technically could be, but it might not be. What game are we talking about? Do You use any hardware over-clockers? What are Your computer specs? Any extra info is usually helpful.

Ash · Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:07 pm Post subject: Re: R.I.P my power supply?

World of warcraft.

I've had it for a year or more now and it's only recently started happening.

No.

Nividia GeForce 5500256mb gfx card.

Tomi · 500+ Club Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 810

What you could do, is buy a new power supply from a shop (not online) put it in your pc for a day or two. If it fixes it, keep it, if not, take it back. I'm sure they won't have a problem, you will have to make something up like it was a present that someone didn't want lol

Ash · Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:03 am Post subject: Re: R.I.P my power supply?

But surely if it was that it'd happen alot more not just when I play World of warcraft and I don't know anything about them...

nighthawk · 250+ Club Joined: 11 Jun 2006 Posts: 415 Location: SFRJ

Download and install everest (or some other program that can monitor temperatures). In everest go to Sensor page and see the temperatures and voltage. Temperatures should not be higher than 60-70 C, and voltage should be in 5% of specified values. Than run some program like super pi (or anything else that would keep your cpu at 100%), and monitor cpu temperature. Even if there is no visible dust on fans and coolers there could be other problems with cooling (maybe cooler is detached from cpu or something else).

If the temperatures are ok the problem is 99% in power supply unit. There is 1% chance that motherboard is making that problems, and you can easily check that. After your pc has been on for several hours open it up and touch each electrolytic capacitor with your finger They should be warm, even hot, but you should be able to hold them without burning yourself. If only one of them is too hot than the problem could be in your MB.

The best way to test your PSU is by using external voltmeter, if you have one, measure voltage with it. Another indication of faulty PSU is computer failing to start, or switching on and off one or several times before starting.

EDIT
Overheating of your graphic card could also cause your pc to crash, especially if graphic card has passive cooling (no fan).

Edit2
I deleted the link because it was too long and it was ruining the page

Ash · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 10:56 am Post subject: Re: R.I.P my power supply?

My pc does overheat too easy. Last night I was ripping CD's after a pc reformat and it happened. the heat coming off the CD's after I ripped them I could have cooked eggs on them. I don't think my gfx card has a fan on it. I think it is this as when I'd take portals in world of warcraft it'd happen.

This is the tempratures
http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/9246/tempraturesdq2.jpg

nighthawk · 250+ Club Joined: 11 Jun 2006 Posts: 415 Location: SFRJ

High temperature of cd/dvd burner could only destroy that device, it cannot crash you pc. 67 degrees is not a lot (I've seen Intel working on 96 C), but should be lower. I would recommend you to take your pc to repair shop and ask them to clean it properly (this may include removing cooler from cpu and putting fresh thermal paste), and test your power supply. This is the best way, they have all the tools to do the job.

One thing that you could do is to test your memory. Use bootable (this is important, do not run test from windows) version of memtest or goldmemory, burn then on the cd, and run test for at least two hours, that's minimum time, five hours is recommended time. If your memory show any errors within two hours replace it.