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System Troubleshooting

A2597A2597 Fanboy
in Zocalo v2.0
OK, this ones annoying me, and has me slightly befuddled.

Specs:
Radeon HD4850
Biostar TA790GXB A2+ Ver. 6.x
AMD Phenom x4 940 3ghz
8GB GSkill RAM

Problem:
Started last saturday / late friday night. Computer went to black screen, no BSOD or error message, just black screen. PC was off, with fans running. In order to reboot, I had to kill the power supply, then restart.

First thought was glitch, then it happened again. Took side of case off to inspect, noted LEDs on the GPU were on. "D1601" and "D1602", Overheating and power loss. Monitored temps while on PC, and temps were rock solid, no issue there. Made more confusing by the randomness of the shutdown, could be watching a video, browsing the web, playing a game...made no difference. Might come at 5 minutes, might be 5 hours.

Decided it was power supply, it was getting old, 500w cooler master, been through it's paces. Got a new one on Monday, PC Power 700w. Hooked everything up, and....same thing happened about 30 minutes in. Then again a couple hours later.

Started suspecting a faulty reset switch, as holding down reset switch duplicated the error. Disconnected reset switch, and...lasted a few hours, then died. Can't very well undo power switch, but it seems to function properly.

Thought maybe something with mobo, so reset Bios. Lasted almost 12 hours (Impressive, it hasn't lasted that long since this started) Thought that was it...but no, it happened again.

Disconnected GPU, and am running onboard video now to see if I can rule out GPU. The problem is, I fear this could give me a false positive.

So how do I narrow this down to GPU or Mobo? Or should I be looking elsewhere?

I get no error messages, windows logs just say "PC Shut down unexpectedly" with no description.

Again, all fans stay on, but total loss of power otherwise. no USB, no audio, no OS. Have to turn off power at the power supply in order to restart.

So, thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks!

Comments

  • EclecticonautEclecticonaut Elite Ranger
    Try to remove half of the RAM modules, then run your computer as long as possible... and if the problem stays, insert them back and remove the other half. Memtest could be helpful too.
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    Can you borrow another video card with a similar power draw?
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    Wish I could borrow another card, but no one around here I know has one.

    @Eclecticonaut:
    How would bad RAM kill power to the board? I did do a memtest for a while, just because, but nothing came back as odd.

    Thanks!
  • EclecticonautEclecticonaut Elite Ranger
    I've heard that 8GB of RAM might cause instability on some mobos. Couldn't hurt to try it.
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    Thinking Mobo now...it did it again. have a new one on order, hopefully arrive tomorrow
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    Seems to be the season for hardware failure. First my laptop died a week or two ago, then one of our desktops died last week. I'm just waiting for the 3rd death to round things out now:rolleyes:
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    new motherboard arrived...I know what I'm doing this evening!
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    You really know how to have a fun friday night in A2597! :D
  • PSI-KILLERPSI-KILLER Needs help
    You did memtest?
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    I did. Nothing odd.

    New mobo installed. The clock sits at 30 mins now...temps are all excellent.
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    Have you tried hitting it with a hammer?
  • BigglesBiggles <font color=#AAFFAA>The Man Without a Face</font>
    That's certainly a valid treatment for the old one, now.
  • Random ChaosRandom Chaos Actually Carefully-selected Order in disguise
    The bigger the hammer, the more likely it is to work again.
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    Actually, no. Does a booted foot count though?
    (BTW, still on, 13 hours. Still hesitant to say done, but looks promising)
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    A booted foot is good for small jobs, but for heavy tech problems I always go for the hammer, if it is really bad, i'll use the claw end...
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    at 38 hours uptime now, I think mobo was the problem.

    [i]...excellent...[/i]
  • ShadowDancerShadowDancer When I say, "Why aye, gadgie," in my heart I say, "Och aye, laddie." London, UK
    You do realise you just totally jinxed it ;)
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    is glad you sorted out the problem.

    Still using the GeForce 3 you gave me... :)
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    [QUOTE=JackN;190173]is glad you sorted out the problem.

    Still using the GeForce 3 you gave me... :)[/QUOTE]

    That things still kicking? Impressive!

    72 hours. s'all good. :D
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    My new laptop has been flakey, it's just an older one that was given to me, but with XP it would run fine, then lock up, then it just would never get past the XP logo screen, i put vista on it, and it loaded once, then locked up, then wouldnt get past the Vista logo screen.

    So i put Ubuntu on it, and it's been running fine for 2 days now, go figure.,
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    [QUOTE=Entil'Zha;190180]My new laptop has been flakey, it's just an older one that was given to me, but with XP it would run fine, then lock up, then it just would never get past the XP logo screen, i put vista on it, and it loaded once, then locked up, then wouldnt get past the Vista logo screen.

    So i put Ubuntu on it, and it's been running fine for 2 days now, go figure.,[/QUOTE]

    Maybe it's Windows that's flakey... :p
  • Entil'ZhaEntil'Zha I see famous people
    Possible, Very Very Possible.

    My guess is that it's the intel driver for the video card, but it's an old laptop that was given to me, that i'm just using for web browsing etc... so ubuntu is fine
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    Ubuntu is always fine! :D
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