Computer froze - now cycles on/off

  • Thread starter Thread starter mCassidy
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mCassidy

Looking for a little insight as to what my problem may be.
Here is my system:

-Core2Due e4300 running at 2700 MHz with a Scythe Ninja rev.B cooler
-Gigabyte DS3 rev 3.3 MB with HR-05 Northbridge cooler
-2Gb Patriot eXtreme Performance SDRAM (DDR2-800)
-Rosewill Turbo Series 550W PSU
-Foxconn Geforce 8800GTS factory OC
-Samsung SATA 18x DVD Burner
-Seagate Barracuda 7200 320GB SATA drive
-Windows XP

I built this system a couple months ago and it has been working fine.
My core temps stay at ~36 idle and ~50 @ load. This weekend my wife
was on the internet when the system froze. No mouse/keyboard/anything
- I just had to hit the reset switch. When the system came back on it
started up for ~2 seconds and then shut down...then started again and
shut down...etc. HD came on, fans came on (except for the 8800GTS -
that one twitched a little like it was going to start and then it
didn't).

I unplugged all of my extra connections like front USB, reset switch
(all the little MB connections except for the Powersw). I then tried
unplugging all of my fans. no good. Then I unplugged all of my
drives as well and removed my video card so I had my CPU still
attached and my memory still attached but nothing else. No good. The
Rosewill PSU has a blue LED that lights up the fan when it is running
and it (and the fan) seemed to be dimming as it shut off rather than
just turning off as if the power had been cut. From that I was
thinking that I most likely have a PSU issue and I was going to have
it RMA'd and try out a new one.

Other issues could possibly be my MB having gone bad somehow or my
memory. I suppose I could take out my memory and swap it around, try
just 1 stick, etc and see if that helps. Or just removing it and
seeing if anything at all posts.

The fan not spinning on my 8800GTS concerns me as well but I never
looked to see if it started up immediately before - also I know that
if I do not have a power cable hooked up to the card it beeps like
crazy when you turn the system on so I am wondering if there is some
issue where it won't even allow itself to run (and thus turn the fan
on) if a faulty PSU is hooked up to it. I need to look into any such
possible safety features of that card. Also, the fact that when the
card is plugged in but no power cable to it=mad beeping leads me to
think that it is working in some fashion. And turning the computer on
with no video card plugged in at all should at least get to some type
of POST if the issue was merely the video card.

Anyhow I am by far no expert - just anxious to get my system back to
running again and looking for some additional insight. I did order
everything through Newegg so I am not worried too much about the need
to replace things - but I don't want to waste time or anyones money on
trying things out if I can narrow it down better.

Thanks for any help.
 
mCassidy said:
Looking for a little insight as to what my problem may be.
Here is my system:

-Core2Due e4300 running at 2700 MHz with a Scythe Ninja rev.B cooler
-Gigabyte DS3 rev 3.3 MB with HR-05 Northbridge cooler
-2Gb Patriot eXtreme Performance SDRAM (DDR2-800)
-Rosewill Turbo Series 550W PSU
-Foxconn Geforce 8800GTS factory OC
Click to expand...

my guess is the vidcard
-Samsung SATA 18x DVD Burner
-Seagate Barracuda 7200 320GB SATA drive
-Windows XP

I built this system a couple months ago and it has been working fine.
My core temps stay at ~36 idle and ~50 @ load. This weekend my wife
was on the internet when the system froze. No mouse/keyboard/anything
- I just had to hit the reset switch. When the system came back on it
started up for ~2 seconds and then shut down...then started again and
shut down...etc. HD came on, fans came on (except for the 8800GTS -
that one twitched a little like it was going to start and then it
didn't).

I unplugged all of my extra connections like front USB, reset switch
(all the little MB connections except for the Powersw). I then tried
unplugging all of my fans. no good. Then I unplugged all of my
drives as well and removed my video card so I had my CPU still
attached and my memory still attached but nothing else. No good. The
Rosewill PSU has a blue LED that lights up the fan when it is running
and it (and the fan) seemed to be dimming as it shut off rather than
just turning off as if the power had been cut. From that I was
thinking that I most likely have a PSU issue and I was going to have
it RMA'd and try out a new one.

Other issues could possibly be my MB having gone bad somehow or my
memory. I suppose I could take out my memory and swap it around, try
just 1 stick, etc and see if that helps. Or just removing it and
seeing if anything at all posts.

The fan not spinning on my 8800GTS concerns me as well but I never
looked to see if it started up immediately before -
Click to expand...

bingo!


also I know that
 
mCassidy said:
Looking for a little insight as to what my problem may be.
Here is my system:

-Core2Due e4300 running at 2700 MHz with a Scythe Ninja rev.B cooler
-Gigabyte DS3 rev 3.3 MB with HR-05 Northbridge cooler
-2Gb Patriot eXtreme Performance SDRAM (DDR2-800)
-Rosewill Turbo Series 550W PSU
-Foxconn Geforce 8800GTS factory OC
-Samsung SATA 18x DVD Burner
-Seagate Barracuda 7200 320GB SATA drive
-Windows XP

I built this system a couple months ago and it has been working fine.
My core temps stay at ~36 idle and ~50 @ load. This weekend my wife
was on the internet when the system froze. No mouse/keyboard/anything
- I just had to hit the reset switch. When the system came back on it
started up for ~2 seconds and then shut down...then started again and
shut down...etc. HD came on, fans came on (except for the 8800GTS -
that one twitched a little like it was going to start and then it
didn't).

I unplugged all of my extra connections like front USB, reset switch
(all the little MB connections except for the Powersw). I then tried
unplugging all of my fans. no good. Then I unplugged all of my
drives as well and removed my video card so I had my CPU still
attached and my memory still attached but nothing else. No good. The
Rosewill PSU has a blue LED that lights up the fan when it is running
and it (and the fan) seemed to be dimming as it shut off rather than
just turning off as if the power had been cut. From that I was
thinking that I most likely have a PSU issue and I was going to have
it RMA'd and try out a new one.

Other issues could possibly be my MB having gone bad somehow or my
memory. I suppose I could take out my memory and swap it around, try
just 1 stick, etc and see if that helps. Or just removing it and
seeing if anything at all posts.

The fan not spinning on my 8800GTS concerns me as well but I never
looked to see if it started up immediately before - also I know that
if I do not have a power cable hooked up to the card it beeps like
crazy when you turn the system on so I am wondering if there is some
issue where it won't even allow itself to run (and thus turn the fan
on) if a faulty PSU is hooked up to it. I need to look into any such
possible safety features of that card. Also, the fact that when the
card is plugged in but no power cable to it=mad beeping leads me to
think that it is working in some fashion. And turning the computer on
with no video card plugged in at all should at least get to some type
of POST if the issue was merely the video card.

Anyhow I am by far no expert - just anxious to get my system back to
running again and looking for some additional insight. I did order
everything through Newegg so I am not worried too much about the need
to replace things - but I don't want to waste time or anyones money on
trying things out if I can narrow it down better.

Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...

I believe your PSU is bad.

Bob
 
..

id try replacing psu and graphics card.... if that dont work take it outside
and pour petrol on.... you can work out the rest.
 
Looking for a little insight as to what my problem may be.
Here is my system:

-Core2Due e4300 running at 2700 MHz with a Scythe Ninja rev.B cooler
-Gigabyte DS3 rev 3.3 MB with HR-05 Northbridge cooler
-2Gb Patriot eXtreme Performance SDRAM (DDR2-800)
-Rosewill Turbo Series 550W PSU
-Foxconn Geforce 8800GTS factory OC
-Samsung SATA 18x DVD Burner
-Seagate Barracuda 7200 320GB SATA drive
-Windows XP

I built this system a couple months ago and it has been working fine.
My core temps stay at ~36 idle and ~50 @ load. This weekend my wife
was on the internet when the system froze. No mouse/keyboard/anything
- I just had to hit the reset switch. When the system came back on it
started up for ~2 seconds and then shut down...then started again and
shut down...etc. HD came on, fans came on (except for the 8800GTS -
that one twitched a little like it was going to start and then it
didn't).

I unplugged all of my extra connections like front USB, reset switch
(all the little MB connections except for the Powersw). I then tried
unplugging all of my fans. no good. Then I unplugged all of my
drives as well and removed my video card so I had my CPU still
attached and my memory still attached but nothing else. No good. The
Rosewill PSU has a blue LED that lights up the fan when it is running
and it (and the fan) seemed to be dimming as it shut off rather than
just turning off as if the power had been cut. From that I was
thinking that I most likely have a PSU issue and I was going to have
it RMA'd and try out a new one.

Other issues could possibly be my MB having gone bad somehow or my
memory. I suppose I could take out my memory and swap it around, try
just 1 stick, etc and see if that helps. Or just removing it and
seeing if anything at all posts.

The fan not spinning on my 8800GTS concerns me as well but I never
looked to see if it started up immediately before - also I know that
if I do not have a power cable hooked up to the card it beeps like
crazy when you turn the system on so I am wondering if there is some
issue where it won't even allow itself to run (and thus turn the fan
on) if a faulty PSU is hooked up to it. I need to look into any such
possible safety features of that card. Also, the fact that when the
card is plugged in but no power cable to it=mad beeping leads me to
think that it is working in some fashion. And turning the computer on
with no video card plugged in at all should at least get to some type
of POST if the issue was merely the video card.

Anyhow I am by far no expert - just anxious to get my system back to
running again and looking for some additional insight. I did order
everything through Newegg so I am not worried too much about the need
to replace things - but I don't want to waste time or anyones money on
trying things out if I can narrow it down better.
Click to expand...


psu.
 
the_slay_er said:
.



id try replacing psu and graphics card.... if that dont work take it outside
and pour petrol on.... you can work out the rest.
Click to expand...

Please learn how to post. I did not write what you show here.
 
SLOW boat from china?
Click to expand...

Well, I got my new PSU. The feedback from Newegg's site in my RMA
section showed a comment where the tech. found almost exactly the same
thing I was experiencing -> "item#17-182-045 can turn on the computer
and it will fade right back off in ~2 seconds, then auto-repeats an on-
off cycle. replacement alex"

This made me hopeful and confirmed my thoughts that it was the PSU.
Then I plugged my new PSU in.

Same problem. Now I am left thinking that either A) I was sent a PSU
that was bad off the line or B) The Newegg tech never plugged anything
in and just saved himself (or herself I suppose being an Alex) some
time by stating that my problem was exactly what they found. I feel
that B) has the greater chance of being the correct choice as it would
be odd for me to have gotten 2 PSU's with exactly the same issue.

So I broke everything down. I unplugged everything so that all that
was left was my CPU, my memory and the 2 PSU connections to my MB.
Same problem.
Next I removed the memory. Same problem.
Then I removed the MB from the case and tried again to see if there
was a problem with the MB touching the case, etc. Same problem.

That is as far as I have gotten to this point. Right now I am
assuming that my MB has gone bad and I will be RMA'ing it soon.

Man I was so happy to open that PSU box and get everything plugged
back in too :(

I appreciate all of the feedback/suggestions that people have given
(well..maybe not the petrol suggestion.. ;).
Please let me know if anyone has any comments with what I have looked
at so far or suggestions to try. I wish there were an easy way to
safely test the PSU without plugging it in to the MB in any way. That
seems to make it difficult to narrow down one or the other.
 
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