My PC is driving me nuts!!

[stedeer]

I have had this annoying problem now for some time which is really pissing me off to put it mildly. Once in a while, usually when I am playing a game, the pc just goes off. No shutdown slowly etc, just blinks and everything is off, power and everything. Now I'm trying to come up with some sort of answer here by a process of elimination. I had this problem even before my last upgrade.

Here is what I had before:

AMD Dual Core 4200 CPU
Asrock MB
2Gb DDR2 Memory
200Gb IDE HD
200Gb SATA HD
ATI 1650 PCI-Express Gfx Card
Pioneer DVD-RW Drive
Viper Gaming Case
450Watt PSU

Here is what I have got now:

AMD Dual Core 6000 CPU
Asrock MB
2Gb DDR2 Memory
200Gb IDE HD
200Gb SATA HD
ATI 1950Pro PCI-Express Gfx Card
Pioneer DVD-RW Drive
Viper Gaming Case
650Watt PSU


So by looking at the above we can pretty much rule out the following, CPU, Gfx Card and PSU. Because those three things have changed after I began having the problem. So one of the other bits of hardware is causing this fault.

Does anyone have any idea which one would cause the pc to just go off in a blink?

Oh yes, I have also put in a Power Surge Protected Plug Extension thing just incase it was a spike in the mains that was causing this. Obviously it wasn't. I think that I'm suspecting the Motherboard to be at fault, but I'm not sure. I certainly do not want to start replacing all the hardware just to figure this out.

Any ideas, before I jump ship to a Mac??

 

[witchy]

What temp is your CPU running at under load and idle?

 

[digicol]

Do you have anything enabled on the PC to turn the PC off when it reaches a certain temp?

That could be set at a very low temp thus resulting in the PC shutting down when you are gaming.

 

[stewartthemole]

I tend to go along with witchy`s thinking and recon it`s a temperature related prob
I assume you you upgraded your heatsink and fan and used a decent quality paste on your processor upgrade'

Also you upgraded your psu was it a basic 650 watt model or quality unit as most pci e cards are quite power hungry and may falter under full load when gaming. I have seen basic cpu`s with quite high wattages fail to deliver under full load

 

[Bicbiro]

Of course check the temp but as you say you had the problem before the upgrade so we need to look at the Memory and the Asrock board.
Run memtest and see what results you get, or even try to run with one stick of RAM for a while and then swap them to try and identify if you have a faulty stick.
If the RAM passes all tests and it is the correct type for your board then it must then be the board.

Bic...

 

[wobbly]

have you looked at the system logs to see if they provide any clues ?

If they are not enabled, then enable them and await the next failure.

If your problem is within the PC (hardware or software) the logs should tell you something.

 

[villa_restal]

Your As Rock M/B, is it the same one then ? if so i remember being told that once some of them get conforotable with a cpu they hate to have it changed beleave it or not.

I know i guy who went from a deleron D to a P4 Extream and his motherboard hated it re placed the bm with a better branded one and all his problems were cured

hope this helps

 

[uberjonson]

I had a similar problem. Pc restarting itself randomly, only when I was on windows tho. Found out it was a trojan...DOH! Have a check for anything like that cause there are trojans/virus' that just shutdown your PC.

 

[techquest]

Guess we all assume the cables are ok, especially the drive cables. They can go faulty and since you say all else is changed then start by checking them out. I have found numerous machines with similar problems, got one by the side of me right now, the ide cable is at fault.

 

[Trancemaster]

Urgh, Asrock motherboards can be a pain in the ass. Get rid I say, had no end of problems with my last one. Swapped it out for a DFI Lanparty and its been solid ever since.