Anslap

I have been having intermittent power failures for a couple of months. The system will run fine, but then it will "turn itself off" at random moments. It doesn't seem linked to any particular event, like running a program or game or anything. When it does this, the num lock LED remains on,and the monitor still has power (hooked the monitor to draw power through the PC).

When it has turned itself off, I can't get it to turn back on again. The power LED will turn on for around half a second, but then nothing. Or it will go for about 30 seconds, and then shut down. Again, it seems to be at random moments in the boot sequence.

the only way I can get it back on is to drain the charge in the PC by unplugging it from the mains, turning on the monitor, turning off the monitor, then plugging it back in and trying again. Even this doesn't work all of the time.

I initially thought that it was a temperature problem, so I downloaded hmonitor and everything looks to be fine, the CPU is running at around 22C (I've never seen it over 25C). I have checked all of the power cables and they all seem to be fine, so I think that it is a hardware problem...

The system specs are:
Intel P4 2.8GHZ with HT
512MB DDR 400 RAM
128MB nVidia 5200 graphics card
CD ROM
80GB 7200rpm HDD
350W power supply

Can anybody give any suggestions as to what is causing this and how I can fix it? It is driving me crazy!

mark3567

Hi,

I would suspect that you might want to look to the poiwer supply and the output readings. Do you know what voltages are being produced for all areas? A 350 watt power supply (maybe Antec or Enlight could do it) of an off brand name (you didn't say the brand) will not produce enough voltage to make the thing work when under load, but will do fine for "at rest" or "low usage" time. Did I miss the name of the motherboard or did you not list it?

Also, have you tried only one stick of ram at a time? I would give that a try also.