Daveinthecave

Hi, I have a self built system (3.0GHz HT prescott, 2gb kvr, 256MB ati 9600pro, 320Gb Sata, ecs 661fxm) which is running xp which runs fine most of the time the only problem is that every so often it will just die

It used to re-start until recently when for a little bit it wouldn't turn back on. This problem has been with me for a while and I have pretty much rebuilt the entire system from the ground up (different OS's and hardware upgrades and replacements) and the problem is still there. About the only thing that made it a little less frequent was a slightly better power supply (quality wise, both were 460/450W). Im starting to think my box is haunted. LOL.

It isn't to big of a deal cause the end result is intermittent at it's worst, but it is very annoying and it always seems to happen when I need it the most.

At first I thought it might have been heat so I turned the auto-shutdown to max and monitor the heat levels myself through mbm5. The heat levels are fine even when under torture testing for several hours.

The only thing that I noticed was that mbm5's readings on all the voltage lines move heaps (-5 line = +1 to 2v several times a minute), and that's when I decided to replace the power supply to my surprise no change to the problem first time I turned it on in fact and mbm5's readings are still the same.

I did get it to bsod on me once which is the only other not-my-fault error for years apart from the the current dieing problem. it produced an error code I wrote it down but I think I threw it out a while ago.

So now I'm here asking for help, so if I could please get someone to lend there intelligence and experience and help me squash this problem for good I promise to help as my other people as I can.

Dave

Tumbleweed36

Please list your complete specs including the power supply watts and brand name. (located on the side of the power supply) While doing that, also enter the bios setup menu and list your temperatures and voltages so we can see the total picture.

Daveinthecave

MotherBoard Model: SiS-661
MotherBoard Make: ecs (Elitegroup)
Chipset Vendor: Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS)
Chipset Model: SiS661FX CPU to PCI Bridge
System Slots 4 PCI, 1 AGP 4x

CPU: Intel Pentium 4 HT
CPU Socket: Socket 478

Physical Memory: Kingston Value Ram 2047 MB
Memory Load: 22%
Maximum Capacity: 2048 MBytes
Maximum Memory Module Size: 1024 MBytes

Power Supply:Coolmaster eXtreme Power 460W rs-460-pcar-a3

Display Adapter: ATI Radeon 9600 Series
Video Processor: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor AGP (0x4150)
Video memory size: 256 MBytes
Disk C: 232 GB
Disk G: 698 GB
Disk H: 149 GB
Disk J: 7815 MB Total

I went into the bios and looked through all the settings and only found these three relating to voltage/heat

CPU Core: 1.23v
DDR Voltage: 2.57v
CPU Temp: 52 ºC

And this was in program I use

Hardware Monitoring : ITE IT8705F
Voltage CPU : 1.23 V
DIMM : 2.58 V
+3.3V Voltage : 2.38 V
+5V Voltage : 3.34 V
+12V Voltage : 10.01 V
Processor Fan : 2657 rpm
Processor Temperature : 101 °C I don't think this is correct
Mainboard Temperature : 44 °C
Power/Aux Temperature : 100 °C or this
ACPI Thermal Zone : 44 °C

Hard Disk Monitoring : S.M.A.R.T
Hard Disk Temperature ST3250823AS : 28 °C

Thats about all I could find that would be of any use. I hope it helps

Thanks heaps for getting back to me on such a short time

Tumbleweed36

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this is not fine while in bios. You are way too hot. In addition, the +12 voltage is way off, so we need more info on that issue.

Download and run SensorviewPro and report what it says about temperatures and voltages at idle or when you first turn on your rig, then do something that makes the cpu work (like a game) and tell what the temps get to. This should give us some clues.

Daveinthecave

I don't think that would be an idle temp because my system also doubles as a file server for my local network and at the time I was using it moderately (6 or 7 windows and 2 progs + sys progs) and it crashed with a restart just when I closed the browser window to posting to this thread last, so I hit del and checked the temp and volts there and then.

anyway thanks heaps for suggesting sensors view, its heaps better than mbm5 but I still think that there's some problems with the sensors as you will see below but I don't think that its too big of a prob as I have an ad-on temp gauge in the front to keep tabs on temps and fan speed and it was just 1 to 2 degrees different from the sys temp in sensors view.

Here is what I got:-


Idle - pre-test


While doing a global benchmark


CPU Bench mark


Voltages while idle


voltages under load

Thanks heaps I hope these help

Dave

Attached Images

	cpu_bench_mark.gif (9.2 KB, 11 views)
	Global_Benchmark.gif (9.2 KB, 0 views)
	Temp_idle.gif (4.8 KB, 9 views)
	Voltage_idle.jpg (55.1 KB, 8 views)
	Voltage_benchmarks.gif (12.6 KB, 11 views)

Tumbleweed36

I found the power supply information that I mentioned earlier and am concerned. You may not be underpowered with a good power supply (although it is close to the line), but the one you have is not a great quality supply. The only really good Coolermaster is their "Real Power Pro" series of supplies.

Your voltages are all over the place and should not vary that much. In addition, the +12 line is way low a good bit of the time and out of specs. I think the power supply has a lot to do with this and in addition, can cause heating problems. The CPU listed at 100c is most likely a bad sensor since that is not normal even for one overheating.

Tumbleweed36

Do you know anyone who has a good power supply you can try in there to see what it does to your performance. Don't misunderstand, you also most likely have some heat issues, but as mentioned, some of these might be tied to a tired power supply.

Daveinthecave

Hi, the power-supply thats in it was brand new when I got it from a friend so it should be ok, It was a replacement for a thermaltake xp480 400w power-supply which was a replacement for a generic power-supply that came in a pre-built machine which I just re-housed and slowly re-built and up-graded.

I have often thought about getting an line-interactive UPS to help shape the power before it even gets to the power-supply, what do you think? I have heard these can help, especially if one lives in a "high line noise" area.

I'll try to find a good power-supply, I checked out the list of rated power-supply's in the forums, so I'll try to get one of these to borrow for a little while.

Cheers heaps

Dave

Jtsou

Thats not the only lines that ware way off:

Tumbleweed36

Yep, all of them are off, just caught the one that stood out and missed the rest. That power supply is either dying or his sensors are all off which is highly unlikely. Good catch Jtsou, you caught me sleeping on that one.

Jtsou

No problem.



Since the +12V is the most important(and the most likely to fail), that is probably why you only "saw" that one :).

Daveinthecave

We'll no luck finding a decent power-supply to borrow, I think I might just buy a another, I had a look for something that I could afford and I found an Thermaltake Toughpower 600W Model W0103, I was wondering what your opinon of this power-supply is and if it would be considered a "decent" power-supply to upgrade to?

Cheers

Dave

Jtsou

That is a great power supply. Of course, the Corsair and PCP&C are also good. :)

Daveinthecave

Hi just a bit of an update with my power-supply, I found a review online on a similar power-supply (420w) which did a load testing on it and they found that the "noise" on the +12v increased dramaticly when it reached about 80% load .

but I don't think that it is completely the power-supply's fault because of where I live there is alot of heavy equipment (motor, freezers etc.. major port) not far away (2 or 3 km) but it shouldn't really matter with a decent power-supply, so I think that a UPS or some sort of line-filtering device should be suffice to smooth the power out but whether or not I will need UPS and a new power-supply of if a UPS will help enough.

well as always I'm open to suggestions and comments

Dave

Tumbleweed36

Quite honestly, I don't think a UPS, while a good thing will suffice for a power source that is basically very weak. Therefore, I would recommend that you need both to take care of that issue.

BTW, here is a list of excellent power supplies:

Seasonic – Any Model
Corsair – Any Model
PC Power & Cooling – Any Model
Thermaltake – “Toughpower” Series Only
Coolermaster – “Real Power Pro” Series Only
Silverstone – Any Model

Daveinthecave

Thanks for all the advice, I went out and brought a new 500w Highpower PS (it's the only one i could get with active pfc, the tec's didnt even know what it was) and I still have the same problem, wierd voltages and in-stability, I thought it might have something to do with my g-card (took that out) same thing, replaced the cpu same thing, replaced the ram same thing, right theres only one answer left, the mother board. I think.

What do you think, cos if its not the mobo then I'm buying a mac. lol.

Jtsou

Mac = Bad; That Psu = Bad

Daveinthecave

Hi, well i've had my new p/s for about 2 weeks and it seems to be ok, the power is still fluctuating and i found out the my mobo is considered to be of not good quality and i also got a line-interactive UPS to add to the mix. Unfortuantly my sensors view pro trial expired so i downloaded cpu cool which reports my temps and voltages, it sez it runs about 3 or 4 deg lower than it used to, but the voltages are still whack. Anybody got any ideas on what a good replacement mobo there should be something out there thats good and cheap now that p4's are consierd obsolete.

ps. my ups is an APC Back-Ups 280 and before you go say'n "why in the world would you buy something like that" It was free and i read it was a line-interactive UPS so i thougt i might give it a go.

Cheers dave

Daveinthecave

Hey i was just wondering what anyone thought of a GA-8IPE1000-G as a replacement.

Cheers Dave