Power Supply problem!?? HELP PLZ!!

CremeSoda · 12-06-2004, 11:38 AM

Ever since I got my new computer I've had this weird problem where it would either restart or freeze up when I leave the computer IDLE for about an hour. It starts out an hour, but after a while it got worst. It started doing it when the comp is idle for half an hour. and it got even worst.

During the time that it happens I noticed a that after I restart the computer, some programs would cause it to crash. Programs that take up a lot of memory like Starcraft, Kazaa, and Bittorrent. It's also worst when I run two of them at the same time. But if it's a memory problem then why hasn't this happened on my old computer which has a lot less RAM this one? Also whenever it happens you can hear clearly a lot of clicking sounds inside the computer, but I can't tell from which hardware it's coming from. The clicks sound like mouse clicks. (No not the rodent mouse! I'm talking about the computer mouse you idiot!) lol

Due to the crashing, a lot of my system file became corrupt and I had to reinstall windows. But during the installation of windows, it still crashes if I leave it idle!!! Even If I'm installing Windows 98 in DOS mode! Anyway, when I got the Windows running again, everything was going great and I thought I had everything solved, but when I try to leave the computer on overnight it would crash still... Whereas on my older computer(a very slow one) I would just leave the computer on for days and it would never happen!

Anyways, I think it could have to do with my Power Supply switch. What do you guys think? I NEED HELP BADLY, plz help!

Windows XP Pro
420w total Power Supply switch
Pentium 4 3ghz + Hyper Threading
512mb ram(1 stick only)
one floppy drive
one 40gb harddrive
one CD-burner drive
5 case fans
3 case mod LED lights
5 USB port devices(mouse, webcam, scanner, PS2 converter, cable modem)

Animosity · 12-06-2004, 12:45 PM

My friend had clicks coming from his computer before and it ended up coming from the Hard drive. You might wanna stick a different one in there and see what happens.

crazijoe · 12-06-2004, 01:24 PM

It sounds like bad memory. Even though you have enough memory the stick of memory may be bad. I would run a diagnostic program like memtest to check its stablility.
http://www.memtest.org/
This could also be a heat related problem. Try and run the computer with the side cover off to see if you have the same problem.

CremeSoda · 12-07-2004, 01:49 AM

thanks crazijoe for the link, but it turns out that it was the harddrive like animosity said. I plugged in a different harddrive and set it as master, and I set the broken harddrive as slave, since it still has a lot of my movies and it's bigger. I'm just wondering if it would still crash even if the broken harddrive is set as slave..

crazijoe · 12-07-2004, 07:13 AM

Probably not. You might want to run scan disk on the drive to see if there are any bad sectors.

12-06-2004, 11:38 AM	#1 (permalink)
CremeSoda Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 54 OS: XP Pro	Power Supply problem!?? HELP PLZ!! Ever since I got my new computer I've had this weird problem where it would either restart or freeze up when I leave the computer IDLE for about an hour. It starts out an hour, but after a while it got worst. It started doing it when the comp is idle for half an hour. and it got even worst. During the time that it happens I noticed a that after I restart the computer, some programs would cause it to crash. Programs that take up a lot of memory like Starcraft, Kazaa, and Bittorrent. It's also worst when I run two of them at the same time. But if it's a memory problem then why hasn't this happened on my old computer which has a lot less RAM this one? Also whenever it happens you can hear clearly a lot of clicking sounds inside the computer, but I can't tell from which hardware it's coming from. The clicks sound like mouse clicks. (No not the rodent mouse! I'm talking about the computer mouse you idiot!) lol Due to the crashing, a lot of my system file became corrupt and I had to reinstall windows. But during the installation of windows, it still crashes if I leave it idle!!! Even If I'm installing Windows 98 in DOS mode! Anyway, when I got the Windows running again, everything was going great and I thought I had everything solved, but when I try to leave the computer on overnight it would crash still... Whereas on my older computer(a very slow one) I would just leave the computer on for days and it would never happen! Anyways, I think it could have to do with my Power Supply switch. What do you guys think? I NEED HELP BADLY, plz help! Windows XP Pro 420w total Power Supply switch Pentium 4 3ghz + Hyper Threading 512mb ram(1 stick only) one floppy drive one 40gb harddrive one CD-burner drive 5 case fans 3 case mod LED lights 5 USB port devices(mouse, webcam, scanner, PS2 converter, cable modem)

12-06-2004, 01:24 PM	#3 (permalink)
crazijoe Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Omaha, The Center of the Universe Posts: 7,632 OS: WinXP, Win2K3 My System	It sounds like bad memory. Even though you have enough memory the stick of memory may be bad. I would run a diagnostic program like memtest to check its stablility. http://www.memtest.org/ This could also be a heat related problem. Try and run the computer with the side cover off to see if you have the same problem. __________________ Microsoft MCSA + Messaging, MVP, A+, Network+ http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...other/Help.jpg Do you want a real Republican? HDD diagnostic tools / HDD data recovery software

12-07-2004, 07:13 AM	#5 (permalink)
crazijoe Registered User Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Omaha, The Center of the Universe Posts: 7,632 OS: WinXP, Win2K3 My System	Probably not. You might want to run scan disk on the drive to see if there are any bad sectors. __________________ Microsoft MCSA + Messaging, MVP, A+, Network+ http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b3...other/Help.jpg Do you want a real Republican? HDD diagnostic tools / HDD data recovery software

12-06-2004, 12:45 PM	#2 (permalink)
Animosity Registered User Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 131 OS: Windows XP	My friend had clicks coming from his computer before and it ended up coming from the Hard drive. You might wanna stick a different one in there and see what happens.

12-07-2004, 01:49 AM	#4 (permalink)
CremeSoda Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 54 OS: XP Pro	thanks crazijoe for the link, but it turns out that it was the harddrive like animosity said. I plugged in a different harddrive and set it as master, and I set the broken harddrive as slave, since it still has a lot of my movies and it's bigger. I'm just wondering if it would still crash even if the broken harddrive is set as slave..