Topic awaiting preservation: GRR auto power off... (Page 1 of 1)

Ok here's a little problem i encounter.
My comp keeps powering off on unwanted/unsuspected moments.
I go to the bios settings in a moment to see something is wrong.
Just checked the fans they seem to be ok tho the CPU seems to get a bit hot...
Anyone knows more things i should check or why this happens?

This are the specs:
OS: win98SE,
CPU: AMD Athlon TB 800MHz,
Memory: 128MB Ram,
Harddisk: WD 20GB,
Mainboard: Elitegroup K7SEM with onboard graphics and LAN.

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"Art has to be forgotten. Beauty must be realized."
Piet Mondriaan

i had this problem once.. and it turned out to be that the connection between the power supply and the motherboard was loose.
dunno if that helps...

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Cell 1007::SST

I also have the same problem, but my CPU is constantly under 40 degrees celcius (104 farenheit), so I don't think this is the problem. And I didn't overclocked mine. I searched for programs that could cause that, I searched for errors on hardrives, registry... I haven't found anything. And I don't think it's an OS problem, as mine is Win2k pro (and yours is 98).

Really, this problem got me lost. Sorry Rinswind I can't really help you. If someone has an answer...

_________________
Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken. -- Frank Herbert

thanks
lets's make a deal here, if you know the solution you tell me if i find the solution i tell you.
it's good to know there are more people suffering here

__________________________________________
"Art has to be forgotten. Beauty must be realized."
Piet Mondriaan

[This message has been edited by Rinswind 2th (edited 05-04-2003).]

I had the same problem a few weeks ago, seems to have gone away for the moment. And this is a win98se machine as well. No idea about checking the processor temperature, but I had it apart a few months ago, so the connections shouldn't have worked loose. Oh well, look forward to someone getting to the bottom of this.


home

There could be several causes for this kind of problem:

1. Your computer gets too hot. This could be related to any heat producing part in your PC be it the HDDs, the fans, the CUP or your video card. Maybe computers have an auto switch off function that'll kick in if the fans drop below a certain RPM or the CPU or Ambient case temperature gets too high. These settings are almost always controlled in the BIOS and checking the temperatures / fan speeds from the BIOS isn't always going to tell you if there's a problem as you computer will get hotter when it's under load (playing games, processing Photoshop filters etc...).

2. Your devices aren't getting enough power. This will depend on the size of your Power Supply Unit (PSU). If your devices are pulling more power than the PSU can supply then unexpected power off's can happen. This could be caused by a new device you've recently installed like a new video or sound card that's pulling more power than your last one. Maybe you added an extra HDD or maybe, just maybe one of your devices is failing and it pulling more power as a result. AT any event, these problames usualy only crop in when you computer is under load and your devices are runnign full steam.

The best way to try and trouble shoot this problem is to install a software temperature monitor. You can usually download one of these from the company who made your main board. Then you an set it up to beep at you and pop open alert windows when certain parts hit certain temperatures. Also remember that no temperature reading from the probes in your PC will ever be super accurate, their almost always 3-4 degrees at the best of times so don't always assume that a 50 degree reading is just that.

If this doesn't work and all the temperatures seem to be fine then chances are it a power problem. Try unplugging devices you don't really need or use that often (Sound Card, CD-ROM, Network Card...) as if that stops the power outs then maybe you need a bigger PSU or maybe on of your devices is failing and pulling more power than it should or causing power spikes. It could also be the PSU, it might be on the way out and not supplying the same level of power that it once did or having small drop outs or something. I'm not really sure it that can happen. I've usually only had to deal with heat problems and power problems are a bit beyond me.

Anyways, best of luck with finding the problem.

Drac : this is not an heating issue, at least on my computer. Like I said I have such a program that monitor the temperature of the CPU and of the whole computer, which never gets high even when my computer has to work a lot (renders during a few hours for example). In fact, the box of my computer (sorry doesn't the know the exact name in English) is a good Enermax, so I don't have any heating issue. Furthermore, the power of this box is quite good enough, and I don't have many external peripherics, just a single hardrive, a network card, a CD burner, a DVD drive and a 3D card. This is really strange because I can connect this problem to another one. Sometimes, my optical mouse gets bugged : it slows a lot, or even stop answering for a few seconds. That is not a really important, just an occasional annoying issue. I've talked of that with a friend of mine and he said it was due to a problem on the VIA chipsets on the motherboards (mine is a KT-333), that didn't allowed enough power to periphericals. When my mouse bugs, it's a lack of energy allowed by the motherboard, even though I have enough energy on my computer. So I htought the problem discussed here could be bound to that... Anyones knows a way to correct it without being obliged to flash the BIOS ?

_________________
Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken. -- Frank Herbert

a) Newer AMDs shut themselves down when they get too hot. Don't think the TB 800 had it, though.
b) Could also be the power main... like living in a 'bad-power' neigborhood, it could be spikes, or even sub-second power outages... most things handle them ok, but computers are somewhat special ;-).

It could very well be the main board or as TP said, something funky could be happening with your mains power.

The TB 800's don't have any auto power off. AMD didn't add that saftey feature untill some tests on removing the fan from their ghz+ chips caused them to go out in a haze of very very hot smoke.

I'd also doubt it'd be power spikes as this usually results in tripping a safety switch in most PSU's that'll put it out of commission for good 15 minutes or so but power outages could very well cause this. Also check how many other things you have plugged into that wall socket. If your running other power heavy devices like a heater or something then this can also trip the power. You might also want to check any adapters running of the same socket as these may be tripping out too.

If you don't think the problem is directly related to heat or a general lack of power but still hardware related then I'd start to try and rule out device faults one by one, leaving the main board till last. The main boards always seems to cop the flack for so many problems that people can't find a solution to and whilst many people have fixed issues by switching mobos more often than not it was later found that some other device was actually at fault.

This might also be a software problem... I can't really fathom how it could be software related but you never know. I once thought I had issues with Photoshop causing power failures on my win2k box but that turned out to be a faulty HDD. Whenever PS was madly thrashing my disk for swap space and the connection dropped for a split second w2k couldn't cope and just switched off. This never happened with win98 (I switched back just to check) and this only ever happened whilst using Photoshop (not when playing games) on win2k so for the longest time I thought PS or w2k was at fault. It turns out I was partially right as w2k has a different method for accessing HDD data and as my disk is a bit flakey then the OS just kinda imploded. Win98 really didn't seem to care about my slightly faulty HDD...

In any event, it's best to always be mindful of what your computer is actually doing when the problem occurs. At least, if it's a faulty device then this may give you some indication as to which device it is.

If all else fails and you computer isn't still under warranty then try swapping bits and pieces with your mates. Maybe even try moving your PCI cards to a different slot. If you can get your hands on a USP then that might also clear up the problem. Actually, you should probably call the power company and ask then if they've been having any problems in your area lately before you try and get your hands on a PSU. Maybe you could try and plug the computer into a different wall socket. If all else fails, try swapping to a different main board.

ok.. when does it happen?
exactly???
when i am playing gta (which i legally downloaded here)
I guess my weak onboard graphics chip is shifting the workload to the Athlon TB. Which in turn has to do too much work and start's getting warmer. My bios has an option to 'protect' the system from high temperatures. I think this protection means the bios shuts down the power when the temp got to high.

But if this is thru then another question remains:
How in the world could and 5 year old game stress an cpu so much that it's getting to hot?
and how could this happen in an completly open case with no side panels at al? (it's my Goof-around-box) There should be plenty airflow...


__________________________________________
"Art has to be forgotten. Beauty must be realized."
Piet Mondriaan

[This message has been edited by Rinswind 2th (edited 05-05-2003).]

does this conincide with spontanious local power outages?

ok, ok... I'm just being a bitch...


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