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I think it could be the GPU, PSU or RAM...

2K views 28 replies 5 participants last post by  Rich-M 
#1 ·
Intel Q6600 Core2Quad
ASRock P43Twins1600
GTX 550Ti
6GB DDR2 (2+2+1+1)

Windows 7 x64

I can't remember the PSU brand, but it was supposed to be a good one. It's 750 anyway.

Sorry for the abundance of text, but I should explain the problem...

So, a few weeks before Christmas my PC (or a part or parts of it at least) died a painful death; it had sporadically rebooted/shut itself down a couple of times, so I knew something was amiss. At first I just assumed it was the CPU or my old graphics card (GTS 250) overheating, but eventually I booted the PC up and although some of the normal text on the POST screen was displayed, there were distorted grey lines/smudges at the bottom of the screen. One of my friends told me over Steam that it was probably my PSU failing, and the grey lines were the result of the card being underpowered.

I left things for a few weeks, though I had planned on getting a new card anyway, so I bought a GTX 550 Ti on Amazon last week as it was very good value and I thought that even if the problem was the PSU, they're not too expensive to replace and I could use the new card anyway. So I installed it earlier with a couple of 1GB sticks of RAM (just to test, as I know one of the 2GB sticks has been playing up) and it booted up fine... I downloaded the latest NVIDIA drivers and shut down the PC to install some Windows updates, but during the last update (#14) the screen went black - which made me think that it had maybe installed some sort of graphics driver (which Windows likes to download automatically, despite me having already manually installed one) and then it shut down about 15 seconds later.

At this point I then put in my other two sticks of RAM and booted up the PC, but it was just black (the monitor didn't register, and hasn't since it went off before it shut down after installing the Windows updates); I tried turning it off (PSU switch) and on again a few times, each time trying different combinations of RAM (sometimes just one of the 1GB sticks, which definitely worked earlier today) but I never got anything on the monitor - the little blue light just kept flashing, indicating that there was no signal from the GPU.

So, nothing... my PC worked earlier today for about an hour, and then it died again after either changing the RAM or installing an update (which would be my guess, as I can't think why the display signal would have cut out afterwards) and so I'm now back to square one.

With all this in mind, is the PSU the likely culprit?

After this I tried
 
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#2 ·
Look at the label on the PSU for the Brand Name & Model Number.
Brand & Specs of the RAM?
Mixing RAM brands/specs commonly results in problems and filling all the RAM slots can cause problems as well.
 
#3 ·
I just tried it again after a few hours with a single 1GB stick and it went to POST; I got the BIOS text screen telling me how much memory I had etc, and then it shut down. So that was only about five seconds, if that.

The memory is OCZ DDR2; the 1GB sticks are PC2-5400 (silver) and the 2GB sticks are PC2-6400 (black)
 
#5 ·
It seems to be working for now... touch wood. I've got the two 1GB sticks in the same coloured slots either side; I'll try the 2GB sticks in a while, as I'd rather have 4GB than 2GB if I'm not able to mix them (which I'd done until recently without issue).

I'll check the PSU details next time I open the case.
 
#6 ·
Mismatched RAM can work periodically and then be troublesome.
When RAM is mixed, the faster RAM is reduced to the speed of the slower RAM.
If the 2x2GB runs with no problems I would stay with it. 4GB is plenty unless you're doing serious graphics/CAD work.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the reply, Tyree.

I was using it fine last night (2GB) - quite slow on a heavy workload (desktop) or when testing Civ 5 (I knew it would be, but I just wanted to see how the game itself looked; more than playable and relatively smooth overall, but a lot of slowdown/bit of freezing when the animated leaders appear on screen) and I shut it down as normal and went to bed.

When I booted up this morning, it got to just before where you enter your Windows password and then rebooted itself, so I shut down and switched over to the 4GB RAM (used the same slots).

Okay so far... hopefully it continues.

Here's my board specs: ASRock > Products > P43Twins1600

Ideally, I'd like to order these next week: Corsair CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 XMS3 8GB Two Memory Module Kit: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories

Should work, right?
 
#9 ·
The saga continues...

Ran the PC all day yesterday, worked fine and shut down as normal. Booted it up this afternoon and I got some beeping noises and it shut down again. Tried again, fan started up then died.

Opened it up and switched the two sticks of RAM into the other two DDR2 slots (I have four DD2 and two DDR3) and it booted up second time and seems to be working so far. When I've got onto the desktop before it's been fine until I've shut it down.

Thoughts?
 
#10 ·
Same problem. PC worked fine on Friday and shut down as normal, and then I when I got back this morning I had to switch RAM slots twice for it to boot up. Going by previous instances, it'll probably (hopefully...) be fine until I shut it down, and then I'll have to do that again.

Why would this happen?
 
#18 ·
You cannot run Ddr3 in a board that takes Ddr2 first of all.
All of this fussing with the ram and then breaks in between is hiding what really feels like a psu issue to me anyway. Psu is the only component than when shut down for a while can appear to be making a come back.
 
#14 ·
I know I haven't got the PSU details yet (can't find the receipt and I keep forgetting to look when I open up the PC) but I do have one query... had the same thing today (fresh boot, got to Windows loading symbol, rebooted itself, went black, swapped memory, booted up fine)... but I noticed it said something like 'loading single-channel memory' on the POST screen, but I thought all of my memory was dual-channel?

Am I supposed to go into the BIOS and manually change something, or does it not work like that?
 
#16 ·
'Some processor performance power management features have been disabled due to a known firmware problem. Check with the computer manufacturer for updated firmware.'

I'm getting this a few times in event viewer/system... I Googled the error but can't really find anything I think is relevant. Any ideas?
 
#27 ·
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