Computer has mind of it's own; restarting + freezing + turning off

[Nate1749]

I've a got a desktop that now likes to restart, freeze, or just power off. First it was freezing a lot and I assumed it was because of windows, so to check I booted mandrake (it's a dual boot), same problem.

Then it froze up before the POST test could even start, so I assumed the motherboard had gone bad. I installed a new motherboard (identical model), same problem. However, while I was tinkering around inside I noticed the fan for the video card had stopped moving and their was a brown (burnt) coloring around the fan. So I assumed that the video card may have caused the problem (damaging) the motherboard (or maybe it was just the video card as the culprit) so I bought a new video card and used it with the new motherboard, making sure not to use the burned one (didn't want it to ruin another motherboard if this was the culprit). However, I would have liked to try the new video card in the old motherboard but I had already done the swap before that piece came so I will go back and test that later. Regardless, the same problem STILL OCCURS!!!

Now I think it's the power supply to the actual machine. I noticed when I was down close reading the jumper settings that it still smelled a little burnt (even though the old video card was in the trash), I noticed that the very light oder was coming from the power supply box. I've now got a power supply coming to me in the mail, but if this isn't the problem, what in the world else could it be!!!

At first I thought it could be RAM, and I've never heard of RAM just going bad out of the blue while in the machine. Additionally, it's sometimes locking up even before the RAM can be tested on power on. Sometimes the machine will be on for 30 minutes and it will just freeze, other times 10 minutes then it will restart, then powering off 5 minutes later.

The only other thing I can think of is the processor, which I checked; it's fan and heatsink are secure and fully functional and the light layer of putty (whatever that stuff is) that holds them together is still very much there.

Any ideas on what else this could be? This just happened out of the blue and the problem got worse. I think the power supply went bad because of dust build up. I've since used air duster throughout the whole inside of the machine and cleaned any fans on any of the devices. Again it either freezes, restarts, or poweroffs and sometimes if it powersoff it won't turn back on so I have to unplug it and replug it to get it on again.

-Nate

 

[JasonYip]

Have you checked your fans (throughout the case)? It could be an overheating issue. Also, check all of the transistors on the mobo... make sure they're ok too. I had a video card that blew a transistor on me and in turn took out the board somehow. Just out of curiousity, did you overclock anything?

Jason

 

[YBNormal]

i agree it sounds like an overheating issue, check your fans.

Imagine if every Thursday your shoes exploded if you tied them the usual way. This happens to us all the time with computers, and nobody thinks of complaining.
- Jeff Raskin

 

[Nate1749]

I've got an AMD Duron 1800, which is well capable of overclocking (I even bought the nice $20 fan to handle it), however, the program that came with the motherboard for overclocking always froze up so I never could actually overclock it. I would have thought the same thing (overclocking causing problem), but no it is not overclocked. However, the fan on the processor is making a little more noise than it was when I first bought it, but it's got a heatsink on as well; really hoping the processor is not damaged.

As for fans, there are only 3 in the entire machine 1) video card 2) processor 3) power supply. After I saw the burnt fan on the video card I knew it needed to be replaced, and I assumed that it might have ruined the motherboard as well.

I get the new power supply later this week, if this doesn't solve it then I guess the processor is what I should try next; this is really becoming annoying (& expensive!).

I've never had any overheating problems in the past, so wasn't sure if this was normal behavior for that type of thing, thanks for the tips/advice!

-Nate

 

[paparazi]

More information would be useful.
To my knowlegde there isn't such a CPU as a Duron 1800, Athlon XP1.8+ maybe?
Have you got the heatsink/fan unit fitted the correct way around? the recess in the heatsink base must mount over the socket "A" writing on the CPU socket, if not, the heatsink does not sit squarely on the CPU core so prevents good heat transfer from the CPU to the heatsink base.
You may well have refitted the heatsink both times the wrong way around, easily done if you don't know.
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[JasonYip]

I'm thinking that besides reseating the heat sink, buy a couple of 80 mm fans... that'll help in the long run anyhow.

 

[Nate1749]

I replaced the power supply that came today, along with the processor heatsink & fan (the old one was much louder than it should have been), and it was working fine for about an hour, and now it's back to where it was; just froze up right after it checked the RAM this last time.

It's an AMD Athlon XP 1800 (sorry thought it was duron), machine has 768k ram, umm what more information would you like?

I used to build computers back in high school as a grunt computer worker and although the heat sinks have become a bit more elaborate since then I think I can still do it correctly. I'll check it again though. Is it possible the dull dusty fan that was in before caused the processor to overheat and now the processor only works periodically? I've never dealt with a bad processor before, but I think it would either work 100% or not at all.

 

[Zych]

I seem to have bad luck with memory so I always check that first. I would use memcheck86. It is a free program that boots from a floppy. I would check to see if this runs and for how long.

- Zych

 

[Nate1749]

Checking ram now, I'm actually hoping this is the problem just so I can solve it already! I really don't think overheating is an issue anymore, according to bios it never gets above low 40's, and in windows (got a monitor program for it) even during regular usage it never reaches 50 degrees Celsius (this goes for both system and processor). I noticed it will run in windows much longer if I just let it idle or do something light (email, one webpage, whatever); but if I start using multiple desktops and playing mp3s then the screen will just go blank, but the machine will keep running. I guess on the brighter side I'm running out of stuff to replace; all I have left is the RAM and the processor; if I replace those then I've basically got a whole new pc!

jasonyip: can you recommend a type/brand of fan? I see a lot of them out there and was wondering what you prefer; thanks.

 

[JasonYip]

Nate1749, I really don't recommend a particular brand... they are basically a dime a dozen. So long as you get a couple that work. I've got some Speeze in my computer. They're already encased in heat-shrink tubing and are really quiet.

 

[Nate1749]

it was the ram, how strange that one of the sticks (luckily the 256, not 512) would just go. Thanks!

-Nate