[joe2tiger]

Weird Power issue, and self-restarts (Problem Solved)

My custom computer:

• Venus ATX Case
• 500 Watt Power Supply (Antec I believe)
• AMD XP 1700+
• Asus A7V333 Motherboard
• 1024 MB DDR 333MHz RAM (2 x 512MB Modules)
• Asylum GeForce FX 5600 Pro
• Creative Sound Blaster Live 5.1 Platinum
• Maxtor 200 GB Hard Drive Serial ATA 133 through PCI slot
• Surge Protector, but I don't know what the name is...

When problems started, it would happen when I'm away. I leave my computer on 24/7. I come back home, and find that my computer's fans rev up then die down at 1-2 second intervals, all the LED lights outside the case are light up. The DVD-ROM and CD-R/RW lights are on, and they each spin the discs that are inside. I'm not sure if the signal to the monitor is cut off, but I at least know that it is blank screen when it happens.

After weird power fluxations in my home from a recent storm. E.g. the power in all the home would cut off then back on, I have to. Sometime during the same day after this, I smelled a burning electrical smell. I turned off the computer, and the smell went away, it hasn't come back in a while. I was able to use the computer for a while, but the next day right when I started to play a video game (Raven Shield). The computer restarted itself. I did a system restore and reinstall the game to earlier point, the computer still restarts itself for no reason. I put my hands to the power supply...feels hot, higher than normal body temp. When the computer reboots itself, the CPU fan revs up then dies, then revs up again to normal. I went into the BIOS, checked the temperatures and RPM, it looks normal.

If I power off the computer by holding power button, and leave it off a least 60 seconds, the computer stays on longer without self-restarting. If I let it restart itself after restart, the computer won't even make it past the BIOS screen, it restarts again.

I tried running diagnostic software such as Sandra Professional 2003 and trails of other diagnostic stuff, it doesn't point out anything is wrong.

My guess on the matter is I feel that there is a burn out somewhere. Part of me felt it was a power supply issue, but the BIOS reported voltages at normal levels. Another part of me thinks it is CPU or memory.

Can anyone give me their opinion?
Should I take my PC in for professional help?:dead:

 

[SPEEDO]

The first thing I would try would be another power supply. That storm could have taken out part of the power supply.

 

[GameDude]

Speedo is right it sounds like the power supply

I had one do that because of a storm where i used to live in Oregon swapping it worked.

I learned also the hard way now i have surge protectors between the wall and the system. 12 dollars for a gd one at the hardware store.





Knowledge is power read it, think it. use it.....



Computer Tech. Jim

 

[joe2tiger]

Well, it could be more than power supply. I don't have a spare power supply around. I brought my computer to Intrex Computers in Durham, NC. They are going to charge me 30 dollars to do diagnostics on my computer. Too late to buy a cheap power supply now and try it out myself. They said they would get back to me in 3-5 business days and tell me what the problem is. Since it there is no sales tax, and students going back to school, their workload is stacked...

 

[Deadlus]

Definetly sounds like the power supply got damaged. If you don't have a surge protector when you get it fixed, get one. It's better than paying $30 every time lightning strikes.

 

[joe2tiger]

Problem Solved..

Problem solved.. It was my power supply that was screwed up. I discovered my 500 watt power supply was not Antec or anything related, it was some cheap brand poorly built. The guys at the shop said that they've had a lot of problems with the power supply company of L&C Technology Inc. I'm going to try to return this to manufacturer.

Thanks everyone for the help.