Linsday, Thanks for the suggestions. I have tried removing and reseating the CPU. As far as I can tell it is fully seated. My graphics card is powered from the bus (no external power connector) and I have tried removing and reseating the card to no avail. I also tried removing and reseating all cables from the PSU including the motherboard power. With it being out of warranty I am thinking the only option left is an upgrade box or a insurance claim :( When we bought G's laptop we got a 5 year warranty with it. If only I'd elected the same option with the desktop (different stores and different warranty options but you get the idea). I'm going to head into PBTech (Where I bought the kit from) today to ask Jann if he has any more suggestions. They were the ones to install the kit to start with... all bar the o/s. Ironically G's laptop is exhibint a fault that seems to plague Acer laptops. Namely when on battery power it intermittently bluescreens or freezes completely with purple and white vertical stripes on the screen. We will take the lapy into DSE to have it repaired under warranty. Google searches for the issue seem to suggest it is either a graphics card problem or a battery problem. Neither of which I am even going to attempt to fix myself because if it didn't work I've just voided the warranty. J On Sat, Mar 1, 2008 at 8:44 AM, Lindsay Druett <lindsay(a)wired.net.nz> wrote:

So other than the obvious power connector on the motherboard, there are actually (at least) two other power connectors, one for the CPU, and one for the graphics card (and another for a second graphics card).

Also, is the CPU seated correctly ?

On Fri, 2008-02-29 at 17:03 +1300, James Pluck wrote:

Hi All,

I have been having an intermittent fault with my PC which has now become permanent and I'm wracking my brain to resolve it.

Firstly - PC Spec AMD x64 X2 AM2 3800 CPU ASUS AM2 Nforce 570 mobo Nvidia 7600GT 256 video card (Point of View is the manufacturer) 1 GB DDR2 667 ram 250GB SATA2 Seagate Barracuda HDD 80 GB ATA133 HDD DVD writer Thermaltake Soprano case with stock thermaltake 430W psu

Symptom: On Powerup system starts to power up - fans start (2x120 mm case fans, chip fan, GPU fan), hdd's start, DVD starts - then before POST whole thing shuts down. No bios beeps - nothing. I don't get the GPU POST or the system POST.

I've done everything I can think of * Undo and reseat all cards and cables - test - same problem * disconnect all DVD and HDD (only mobo, ram and video connected) - test - that worked lat the beginning of the week but fault recurred last night. Redoing all tests so far doesn't work. * Removed and reseated ram - test - no go.

I'm not sure if I have a PSU issue (fail or too much connected for the rating of the PSU), a graphics card failing, a ram card failing, a mobo fail or a chip fail. I don't have the hardware (this is my only pci-e system and my only sata capable system) to swap out components to isolate.

Oh... and the warranty expired in November :(

Can anyone suggest anything else I could do to troubleshoot this problem?

Cheers James.

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On Sat, Mar 01, 2008 at 12:33:22PM +1300, James Pluck wrote:

Question: Is it possible for a USB device to draw too much power from the port and cause the psu to overload on boot and shutdown to protect itself?

I've seen an accidentally shorted USB port immediately power off the laptop and not boot again until after the power and battery were removed for several minutes... John

Usama Malik wrote:

Are you able to check the voltages at the PSU?

I don't have a meter of any kind to check with. J

On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 10:42 AM, Roger Searle <roger(a)stepahead.org.nz> wrote:

You don't hear any different bios beep codes prior to the failure?

Can you loan a spare power supply from someone for a couple of days?

I had a similar frustrating intermittent failure on new gear late last year that took some time to pin down. Appeared on the surface to possibly be power supply. Disconnecting any non-necessary hardware (DVD drive, second hard drive, sound card etc) seemed to resolve it - a few times. Next, swapping out the PSU got it booting OK - but only a few more times. At some point in the middle of this I intermittently got different beep codes from the motherboard indicating motherboard failure - fortunately it was only 7 months old so still under warranty.

Thanks for the info Roger. Sounds very similar to what I'm experiencing; however I'm not getting any BIOS beep codes or anything. I've been asking around if anyone has a known good PSU for me to put in. My current one is a 430W. I've discussed the issue with the company I bought it from and they have suggested that the kit I have may be sitting on the borderline for the maximum drain for the PSU and I should consider upgrading to a 500W or 600W. I'm not convinced personally. All that is academic, since I haven't managed to find anyone who can loan me a 430W or greater PSU to be able to proove the fault into the PSU before I fork out for a replacement PSU. J -- James Pluck PalmOS Ergo Sum "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list..."

On Wed, Mar 5, 2008 at 1:49 PM, Roger Searle <roger(a)stepahead.org.nz> wrote:

Probably stating the obvious, but you have connected the second power cable to the motherboard - the one with 4 pins, close to the heatsink?

Yep - I know the one you are talking about. On my mobo this plug connects into the same socket as the 20 (?) pin plug to form "one continuous plug" as it were. I'm pretty sure there are no other sockets that require power that I can think of - but I'll double check anyway just in case. My PSU has another white power-looking plug which I am reliably informed is designed to connect to a video card if required. My video card has no such requirement drawing it's full power requirement from the bus.

While no expert on hardware like the guys at the shop should be, I don't think you need one too large just to test if another one will boot it for you if you try to do so without the dvd and your second hard drive connected. In other words, if you were able to borrow a 350W, do that.

That sounds like a good suggestion. I have a friend who has a couple of spare 350W psu's since they recently upgraded their boxen. I'll ask them if I can borrow one for a few days. It should at least be enough for me to prove the fault *out* of the mobo which will be a good step. replacing a mobo is a wee bit more expensive than a PSU. Especially considering I have "Champagne" tastes in comp hardware - well champagne tastes on a beer budget anyways *grin*

Does someone on the list have one to lend - if we knew what city you're in. Otherwise, you're about at the end of the road for what you can do on your own and either have to guess what to spend money on or give it to (pay) a technician.

I'm in the thriving metropolis of Hamiltron-on-the-River :) J -- James Pluck PalmOS Ergo Sum "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list..."

On Thu, Mar 6, 2008 at 1:05 PM, elroy <elroy(a)ihug.co.nz> wrote:

Hi James.

I can bring my 500W+ PSU plus a meter :-) around (or would it be easier for you to bring PC here? - am in Fitzroy) when we can tee up a time.

Also somewhere here I have a cable *cough* PSU breakout box *cough* that I made up when I was having suspected PSU issues...

Thanks Elroy. I'm in Livingston/Dinsdale/Nawton (depends on who you ask) Is Saturday evening ok with you? I will have the lil fella because my wife is on the Relay for Life so I'm kinda chained to my house but if you're willing to bring the PSU and tester around, it would greatly help my peace of mind to be able to work out just what exactly I need to arrange to stabilise this beastie. I only have the one box so it's got my windows drive for games and my linux drive for software development (just upgraded recently to 7.10 "Gutsy" which I'm quite happy with. I tend to do java or LAMP programming. but I'm working on a fork of Tremulous which is c++) you can contact me on this email for the street address and phone number. We should probably take any further arrangements off list :) Thanks again! J -- James Pluck PalmOS Ergo Sum "Dear IRS: I would like to cancel my subscription. Please remove my name from your mailing list..."