PC restarts abt 20mins into games.

[i4h]

Hello guys, Ive had my computer for about 4 years, throughout these four years the only thing i have changed are the gfx card and power supply.

My computer can stay on for hours, days if i just use it to download and browse, however when i play games it restarts.


My comp Specs are as follows.

Windows XP Pro
AMD Athlon 3200+
2.19HGz
1GB of Ram
ATi 9600PRO

here is an image from SpeedFan while on idle and not doing anything.



Any help would be very much appreciated thank you.

[ben31]

I Dont know much about this sort of thing, but I bet its over heating, what temp is it running like 15 min into the game?

[af3]

Please play a game for 10 minutes, quit and check the temps.

EDIT: Please share the details about your power supply. Make/model/watts...?

[i4h]

well i dont know what my power supply is

but all i see on the white sticker is

QC PASS
SP30469915

it has 2006 2007 with a letter H written on 2006
then it has numbers from 1 - 12 and a black dot under number 8

[af3]

You could find the information on a sticker on the power supply inside your PC, if you are comfortable with opening it.

What I do is I turn off my PC, touch metal part of the computer case with both hands, unplug it, and push the power button. What this does is gets rid of any static electricity I may be charged with and burns up any excess power in the computer by pushing the power button whilst unplugged.

This does not completely uncharge the power source, but it reduces some risk.

When you open it up, only touch the metal parts of the computer case, and not any of the components. The power source's sticker should be visible from the side or top.

Depending on what manufacturer made the computer, the power source specs may be in the manual. Check that first.

Please don't open the computer if you don't comfortable doing so.

[i4h]

Ok i took out my power supply and on the sticker has BTX-500W

[af3]

YOU TOOK IT OUT?! lol

BTX-500W, okay... any model number?

[i4h]

ah.. **** i didnt have a chance to get the model number :(

[af3]

Do you have a digital camera handy? A pic of the label would be helpful.

[Valdeam]

Sounds like it's most likely overheating. Did you check the temps?

Valdeam

[Mcninjaguy]

your power supply is probably on its last legs
your 12V line is reading 11.67

I don't know what that temp of 127C but thats about 60C TOO HOT! for whatever component it is.

can you take a can of compressed air and spray out your computer. may just have a case of "Dustilitus" dust... lol

well I can kinda assume that since you leave on your computer for days on straight its probably running at an actual voltage of around 350W and your power supply can't handle games anymore. I took about a 30% inefficiency (its what you get for wear and use of a power supply after 4 years.

I can recommend this PSU for you
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817703005

PC power and Cooling PSU 610w
$94
after rebate - $59

[Tiber Septim]

11.67v is still within the +/- 5% margin so that's okay.
Pretty sure those temps are reporting wrong though, -1C and 127C doesn't sound right.
Also 7000RPM for a fan seems pretty high.
Try downloading Coretemp and GPU-Z from my signature, they are usually very accurate. Checks temps when idle, then again after a few minutes playing.

[Mcninjaguy]

ohh ok so the limit of safety is to 11.4 or 12.6? is overvoltage bad, I've never seen overvoltage myself. I'm sure it is though.

7000rpm can a computer fan even go that high?

The highest I've seen personally is around 4700rpm(replaced the heatsink/fan)

My GPU lowers to 50C on idle
and around 72C on full load

I have a GTX 260 and it auto lowers clock speeds on idle, so yours might be different

[Tiber Septim]

Originally Posted by Mcninjaguy

ohh ok so the limit of safety is to 11.4 or 12.6? is overvoltage bad, I've never seen overvoltage myself. I'm sure it is though.

7000rpm can a computer fan even go that high?

What I've been told (and read about in various stickies over various forums) is that +/- 5% is the limit of safety.
I guess if it was drawing too much power (overvoltage) it would either fry the internal rail in the PSU or damage some components.
I'm pretty sure they usually have some sort of fail-safe to prevent too much power going down the line though.

The fastest RPM I've ever seen on a fan was about 4500RPM, 2000 - 3000 is pretty standard.

[af3]

Who's to say what it does durring the game?

Originally Posted by i4h

here is an image from SpeedFan while on idle and not doing anything

This image was captured in idle, not under stress. Could it spike above 12V durring a game?

i4h, its hard to tell what component is at 127C, maybe using Everest, CPU-Z, or SensorView will yield it's identity. SpeedFan seems to be hit-or-miss sometimes.

[1 g0t 0wn3d]

(my top fan runs at 6000 rpm)

Anyway yes it could most definatly drop underload, i would clean the power supply out of dust and see if it gets better (heat can lower the output)

However if it does not there is a high chance it is the power supply , i would take a picture of the case so we can best find the psu for you


Side note, while 11.4 is the min, you WILL start to see issues at 11.6

[1 g0t 0wn3d]

Another side note, that 127c is a misreading, anything that hot would be fried in a matter of seconds

[i4h]

how do i clean the power supply from dust? i see dust but its all the way inside... actually how do i clean dust from my computer overall... i tried using a vacuum once LOL..

[af3]

Oh no, not a vacuum! You could suck, or blow a delicate component off the motherboard.

Use one of these:


It's safer, but don't spray it off with the can upside down, very cold liquid will come out.

[i4h]

hmm where can i buy those in australia lol