[Blargsphemy]

Hello, new to this board.

So for the past 2-3 months I've had random shutdown issues which I believe are due to my MSI K9N SLI Platinum Mobo. The shutdowns would occur only when the system is under some sort of load, such as gaming, downloading, streaming, or occasionally even web browsing. The shutdowns would occur most often while downloading or streaming, though the time interval seems to be random (i.e. 1 minute to a couple of hours). Shutdowns would also always occur when attempting to burn a CD or DVD right at the beginning of the burn. That particular problem has been around for the last year or so. These shutdowns are of the "someone flicked off the switch" type. If a shutdown did occur, I found that the system was more susceptible to more shutdowns upon reboot. Disconnecting the computer entirely overnight and allowing any residual charge to dissipate didn't seem to help.

I've replaced the PSU and switched RAM sticks without success, so they're definitely not the issue. Of note, I found that these issues really started to crop up after I found that the graphics while gaming were "exploding", after which the system basically froze. I opened up the tower and found dust bunnies all over the place and the cpu running hot. After clearing out the dust, I installed some temperature-checking software and found the temperature of the CPU hovering around 55ºC which shouldn't be a problem. However, it was at this point where the shutdowns began to occur. They weren't that frequent 3 months ago, but they're increasing now. I found this article which led me to believe that the Mobo was really the issue all along:

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1041920/msi-k9n-mobos-suffer-random-shutdowns

So at this point I'm debating whether to RMA the Mobo and wait the 6-8 weeks (It's 3 years old now), or to buy a cheap one to use for the next 1-2 years before I upgrade. I'm looking for one that I can easily do a "Mobo transplant" on, basically I only want to replace the Mobo not half my system. I found this one:

http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=30184&vpn=M3N78-EMH HDMI&manufacture=ASUS

It looks to have all the basic parts that I'd need to run my gaming apps (Final Fantasy XI for the most part), though I don't see anything that replaces the nForce 570 chipset unless I'm missing something obvious?

If you have any other advice or suggestions, I'd really appreciate them.

Also, here's a quick list of my specs:

Mobo: MSI K9N SLI Platinum (nForce 570 Chipset)
CPU: AMD Athlon 3800+ X2
Graphic card: nVidia GeForce 7600 GT (SLI)
OS: Win XP w/ SP2
PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty 550 W

 

[Tumbleweed36]

found the temperature of the CPU hovering around 55ºC which shouldn't be a problem.

If those temps are at idle or light load, they are way too hot and that is a problem. The CPU should idle at less than 40c and not go over 60c under heavy load.

Please use only the bios at this point to check temperatures and voltages so we have a base line to use for comparison. The bios is the most accurate when checking temperatures and some after-market programs do not read correctly with all cpu's.

 

[Blargsphemy]

Oh sorry, that temperature is a bit inflated. I've taken steps to reduce the temperature further (opening the cover, continual cleaning of the fans). The BIOS temperature upon restart was 35ºC (no load). Voltages:

CPU Core: 1.24 V
+12V: 12.46 V
+5V: 5.145 V
+3.3V: 3.392 V

As I mentioned in the past post, the PSU was replaced so these readings are with a new PSU.

 

[grimx133]

Take out one of your video cards, see if that helps with the shutdowns. The ATX specification says within 5%, but issues do tend to crop up before that. We see them on the low side, starting around 11.7 volts, and you're closer to the edge of spec on the high side. Doesn't help that for SLI a larger psu would probably be a very good idea.
Wonder if it's common with ocz, I've got a 600 watt GameXStream, the +12 on that runs at a smidge over 12.2v., I don't like that too much, but it's in my bottom machine, and I never use that one.

Try it with one card anyway, if that eliminates the problem, then consider a single card till it's time for a whole new kit. Wouldn't go any higher than a 9800GT on that psu though.

The board you linked to at ncix doesn't show an Athlon X2 3800+ on the cpu support list. 3600+ and 4000+ do show, as does a Semperon 3800+. Not much on amd, but doesn't appear to be supported. My brother only does amd, but I don't hold it against him eh.
http://asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=ryGzBV1GQs8llkev&templete=2

 

[Blargsphemy]

I only have one video card hooked up, was just trying to be thorough in describing the type of video card.

 

[MH32U]

I'm new to the board, but I seem to be having this problem. My system starts to boot Win XP, then suddenly reboots. I can see a BSOD, but cant read anything as it dissappears to quickly. Can anyone help with this? Thanks. BTW, my power supply is a RocketFish RF-550W.

MSI K9N SLI Motherboard
AMD X2 64 (5200) 2.7 GHz
6 GB Total RAM (2 x1GB/2 x2GB)
NVIDIA 6600GT Video Card
WD 250 Gb Hard Drive (Primary)
Seagate 1TB/500GB/200Gb Hard Drives
Sound Blaster X-Fi Sound Card
CD & DVD burners

 

[boyes]

I had the problems described above on my K9N SLI Platinum that I've owned for nearly 3 years, but it only started occuring after 2.

I managed to pin point the problem to a dodgy ram stick and since have removed it (only ran 1 stick while trying to re-install windows) and it installed fine without the rebooting problems.

So try each individual stick of ram on it's own and see how the system copes, this should help pin point the problem.

Also windows xp won't recognize 6GB of ram in the 32Bit edition, only 2/3Gb.

 

[BobbyBriggs]

Hi i was troubled myself with random shutdowns... this i solved by setting the cpu volt up from default with 0.15v. Tho this might not be your issue i have come over a lot of similar problems in my quest to find out what was wrong with my pc. So heres a link to other some other soloutions also:

http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=99924.0