PSU problem?

[Fireman]

One of my computers in the house (daughters) has been randomly shutting down/re-booting, giving me the famous "windows has recovered from a serious error" message after every re-boot.

[T_O_A_D]

You can buy one of the same size or larger.

You can use this page to find out your required wattage.

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I recommend sticking with a name brand like

Antec, Thermaltake, Sparkle, not all PSU are created equal, just because they say they put out 300 watt, doesn't mean its continuous wattage at that level. The Name brands do a better job of sticking to the advertised units and heavier gauge wires and such.

And yes its just a simple plug and play change out.

[B16Enk]

Have a look in the event log too, system pages, to see if Windows is trapping an error for you (start > run and enter 'eventvwr' then hit return).

300W I would think could be a little on the light side unless it is a good quality PSU..

[Fireman]

Have a look in the event log too, system pages, to see if Windows is trapping an error for you (start > run and enter 'eventvwr' then hit return).

300W I would think could be a little on the light side unless it is a good quality PSU..

what kind of errors should I look for in the eventviewer?

300w is what it came with, but for the extra few bucks i could jump up to a 400watter.

[Perfesser]

Electronics like clean, steady power.

That means get a quality name brand PSU and never let it get to the point where it's supplying it's peak rated power.

I calculate power needs and add 50% (or even double if I intend to upgrade later).

Try to make sure it's the PSU before you go buy one.

I seem to recall getting the same kind of errors when a USB device(rudder pedals) was shorting out the port.

Unplug extra stuff and see if you still get the problem

[B16Enk]

what kind of errors should I look for in the eventviewer?

Any critical errors (red symbol beside them) especially anything disk related.

Another possibility is RAM, Memtest86 is worth running to check it, and perhaps a reseat.

As it is an ASUS board and you are using AsusProbe (always makes me smile that..err that ain't going to read back right is it JP?) you can set it to log the voltages, if you get a significant drop then you know it is PSU.

[Fireman]

thanks guys...I'll check the eventviewer thingy for red warnings. and also try the memtest86 thing as well.

[Fireman]

well, I tried the eventviewer and there were a few red errors, most related to I/O issues. (nothing HDD related)

Ran the Asusprobe and after a few minutes the monitors indicated that the CPU fan, chassis fan were not working.

[B16Enk]

well, I tried the eventviewer and there were a few red errors, most related to I/O issues. (nothing HDD related)

These indeed are usually HDD related, however the voltage drops could indicate the IO issues are triggered by insufficient voltage to power the chipset.

Ran the Asusprobe and after a few minutes the monitors indicated that the CPU fan, chassis fan were not working.

[Fireman]

well.....I installed a new (600W) PSU.

entered the bios to make sure everything was OK.....yep

re-booted and couldnt get windows to load...........

Hangs on the windows (progress bar) or re-boots and asks what I want to do (ie: last known good/safe/normally/etc/etc)

cant get it to go past that........arrrrrgh

[B16Enk]

Bugger.

Sounds like the IO messages presaged disk corruption (not surprising if volts had dropped so low).

Do you have an XP install disk?

If so you will need to run a repair, you may find the first stage repair is sufficient if you can run a chkdsk c: /f

This you will do via the second option after setup starts by pressing 'R'

If that fails you then need to do an in-place re-install, again boot from CD this time at the setup screen press enter, accept license by pressing F8, then on next screen press 'R'.

This will re-install XP to the CD version (so possibly no service packs).

Once booted run windows update then start to wory about what programs may need to be re-installed.

[Fireman]

cant even get that far....

If I put the CD in and try to boot from the CD it hangs or cant find a certain file ( "\i386\ntkrnlmp.exe cannot be loaded.

[B16Enk]

In a word.

Memtest86

http://www.memtest86.com/download.html

You want the ISO, burn to CD then test RAM, this sounds like faulty RAM.

[HH_RitterCuda]

Rog knows this much better then I but if you have to you might be able to run on a linx (sp?) cd to reformat your HDD. but check your ram like he said first.

[Fireman]

cant check ram with memtest if I cant even get into windows............

nevermind, I think the web page said it was a bootable ISO disk.........

why would bad ram have anything to do with windows setup not finding that certain file upon load up (which is the error I get even when try to start normally or from last known good, btw)

it ignores the fact that the winxp cd is in the drive and goes straight to the "start normally/lastknown/etc" options page........

[DD_Brando]

You will need to enter BIOS and set your CD as 1st boot device

B

[Fireman]

it already is.......

and so the memtest86 thingy wont load and neither will the winxp cd......

kinda screwed right now until I can get the damn pc to recognize either of those cd's so I can at least get into the os........

If I get into the bios it sometimes tell me the hangup was due to improper cpu speeds , but I dont see how this is possible.

[Perfesser]

This is where it's very handy to have a second HD with an OS installed.

Boot off the second drive and you can still access all the data on the first drive with the corrupted OS.

You could pull the HD out of another computer, use that as your primary(boot) and the corrupted one as the slave.

If you can get it fired up, copy important data off the corrupt drive (assuming you have any access to it), and then you can reformat the corrupted drive.

[Fireman]

there is nothing on the drive I need.......I just want it work work....

I've reset the BIOS (F5 default settings) then re-ordered the boot sequence....it is recognizing the cd now

currently it is running the memtest86...........

it looks as though it is stopping at an error

"unexpected interupt - halting cpu0"

"eflag" error of some sort

it was at test #8

it was testing

[DD_Brando]

Try the with 256Mb only first

[gec]

i would say that the memory or the motherboard is bad. my first option would be the mobo. look at the big capacitors around the processor. if their top is little bit swollen (it needs to be flat) thats a sign to change the mobo. if u have multiple memory's try to put them ine by one and testing with memtest each time.

and yes, bad memory CAN be the cause to bad CD reading

[Fireman]

Im hoping memory not mobo..........

just got back from another turkey dinner.......pulled the 512mem chip and testing the 256meg chip.........fingers crossed

[Fireman]

ok the 256chip says it passed (although the test seems to be carrying on.......nevermind, it looks like its re-running again...lol)

gonna try the 512, but I guess I know what the results of that will be....lol

windows xp isnt gonna like running on only 256meg ram.....lol

[B16Enk]

Reseating the RAM may be the charm Worth a test..

Try running XP from current install, it may be OK and a few minutes testing will tell you, before you resort to the re-install/repair hammer.

[Fireman]

the 512 ddr stick failed the test...........

windows did boot up on it own without any problems with just the 256megs......it's really sssslllllooooooowwwwwww, however.

And since I needed a new HDD for my PC, which I was about to order anyway, I just added a 1 gig memory stick for her pc for 29.00.......

Funny thing is she had a 512 and a 256 PC2700 333mhz for a total of 768....now shes gonna have a 1 gig PC3200 400mhz stick in its place.....win win, I guess for her.

thanks for all your help guys......

(I wonder if the wonky PSU had anything to do with the memory stick taking a crap......)