Random shutdowns.

I

icudan

Geek Trainee
Hi, i built myself a new PC in September:

AMD Dual core 6000+ 3.0GHz
2Gb DDR2 Ram 800MHz
2x MSI 8600GT's in SLi already overclocked by MSI
600W PSU
320GB MAXTOR hardrive 7200RPM

Now as of recently whenever i am gaming my PC just seems to shut off when gaming. I have noticed this has happened mostly since i purchased Bioshock and installed new Graphics card drivers (from the Nvidia website.) Other than downloading Nvidia ntune i can't really think of anything else i have changed. i have taken the side of my PC case off to see if all of the fans are functioning correctly and they are Both graphics card fans are running aswell as the processor and power supply. The airflow inside my case seems ok as the air is cold when i put my hand by the PC.

Not too good with computer's really just happen to know how to knock one together.

Hope somebody can help me, any help will be highly appreciated.

Thanks,
Dan :)
 
Hi Dan,

Unfortunately from the symptoms, it's tough to say exactly what it is, so you'll need to do some troubleshooting. First off, what's the make/model of your PSU? Insufficient and/or failing PSU's can certainly cause that issue, and may harm other components on the way out.

Next, inspect your motherboard for bad capacitors. Here's what you're looking for: Bad Caps.jpg They don't always burst like that though, sometimes they just swell up, usually on top. Other times they leak out the bottom. So, give all the caps in your mobo a once-over and sniff around for the smell of ozone (like when a battery goes bad).

Finally, after examining the above, try running Memtest86+ overnight. If you get even one error after running that test, you know you've got something wrong on the memory buss. That could mean bad RAM, a flakey motherboard, or even a damaged CPU (though the latter is rare). Let us know the results when you're done and we can go from there.

All the best,
-AT
 
Hi, thanks for the reply, i will run the memtest when i go out watch the football and then see where it has got to and continue overnight i will definitely take the case of and have a nosey.

Thanks,
Dan
 
Anti-Trend said:
Hi Dan,

Unfortunately from the symptoms, it's tough to say exactly what it is, so you'll need to do some troubleshooting. First off, what's the make/model of your PSU? Insufficient and/or failing PSU's can certainly cause that issue, and may harm other components on the way out.

Next, inspect your motherboard for bad capacitors. Here's what you're looking for: Bad Caps.jpg They don't always burst like that though, sometimes they just swell up, usually on top. Other times they leak out the bottom. So, give all the caps in your mobo a once-over and sniff around for the smell of ozone (like when a battery goes bad).
Click to expand...

I am actually having the same problem with my own build figure I'd post it here. Random shut downs while gaming and now the computer won't startup. Everything powers up but the display remains blank like it's not getting a signal, the keyboard and mouse receive no power and the fans wind up and down intermittently (LEDs brighten and dim as well) like it's not getting constant power.

I checked the mother board and there is one capacitor that is swelling at the top. Is all it takes is one?
 
try using a different psu (if you have a spare), it seems it may have failed. Or it could be your motherboard, when I booted up my broken board before in a similar situation my display did not come on.

If the capacitor is near the cpu/ram/chipset it might fail, anything on the left side of your board would only be failed pci cards/audio/drive controller. Or it could just be nothing to do with the board.
 
On the software side, did you overclock your GPUs? Did you change the fan speeds? Make sure the fan speeds are set to 100%, make sure the overclock is rid of, then try running.

Have you got your proc overclocked or are you running it at that stock speed? Is your HSF stock? Or have you got an aftermarket HSF? If it's aftermarket, has it got a built in fan speed controller? If so try getting rid of it (takes re-wiring.)

Anti is completely right in saying that this problem is REAL hard to figure out like this. It can be software or hardware, and it can be a number of different pieces of your hardware. One thing that helps is having spare parts that you know are working that you can sub into this system. Just subbing and stressing is the easiest way to fix this.
 
Anti-Trend said:
All it takes is one! If your motherboard is under warranty, I'd get an RMA. Otherwise, time to shop for a new one. :x:
Click to expand...

Just my luck both parts warranty was expired on. Turns out my power supply failed and took the motherboard with it. I'm just lucky that my graphics card and processor and I think RAM were spared.

Thanks for the help
 
davisphive said:
Just my luck both parts warranty was expired on. Turns out my power supply failed and took the motherboard with it. I'm just lucky that my graphics card and processor and I think RAM were spared.

Thanks for the help
Click to expand...

What board did you have that broke?
 
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