Sudden shutdown!!

[SVCD4Me]

Hi all,

I just upgraded my computer a few weeks ago, and last week I picked up an acrylic case by Sunbeam. That same day, the computer started crashing strangely. It would just shut off suddenly; all fans, hdd's, cold cathode, dvd/cd rom, everything but the power light on the front of the case shut off. After doing some research on the net, it seems that all devices that run on the 12V rail were failing. I disconnected 3 case fans, and that seemed to limit the crashing somewhat, so I just ordered a new PSU yesterday. I just wanted to get some input if anyone has seen this problem before or has any ideas.

My current PSU is generic 400W, with 3.3V@28A, 5V@40A, 12V@14A. I found some info on the web about max power consumption and it seems that I'm drawing at or around 14A on the 12V. I ordered an Antec True430 that supports 12V@20A and hopefully this problem will dissappear.

Below is my system spec for anyone who might be able to confirm or deny my PSU idea.

Thanks.

5 x QuadLED 80 mm fans
1 x 3Color cold cathode
3 x Western Digital HDD 100GB,120GB,200GB
1 x LiteOn 16xDVD
1 x Toshiba SD-R5002
1 x Floppy
1 x EPOX 8RDA+
2 x Kingston HyperX 256MB Cas 2-2-2-5T
1 x Tt Volcano 7+ running @ 6k RPM constantly
1 x 40 mm fan on MoBo lead
1 x XP 2500+ @ 2800+(12.5x166)
1 x GF4 Ti4200 128MB
1 x PCI Lan
1 x PCI ATA100 card
1 x PCI Dazzle DVC II

[brashquido]

The Antec True Power series are among the cream of the crop. I'm sure that it will rectify a lot of your problems considering the amount of components in your system.

[Virus Suriv]

i can give you a ggod advice.
If you have room on your case for 2 PSU
you could connect both of the PSU and power them
tohether at the same time your PC starts.
You can find that Mod at
www.virtual-hideout.net (http://www.virtual-hideout.net) on the articles section

[harrya]

Virus:

YES, I'VE HAD THE PROBLEM TOO... but mine was not a power supply issue.

Long and short of it... There was an incompatibility between my processor and my video card. I was using a Athlon XP 2200+ with a ATI 9700 Pro video card. While that sounds normal, there was an issue. I ended up contacting a friend at a large corporation that deals with virtual reality products. What he said is there are two factories that fabricate the video card. One factory produces a card that seems to work better with Intel processors and the other produces a card that works better with AMD processors. The friend did not believe it at first, so they really began researching the problem and found it to be legit.

Basically, within the first second of turning on the computer the powersupply sends a request from all the AGP and PCI slots in the computer to respond with a confirmation of having enough amperage to run them. Without the confirmation signal the powersupply will turn itself off. The parts in the computer pull juice on startup at different times. There is a conflict of starting times between these devices (as in my computer).

Secondly, certain powersupplies do checks of this as the system is running, and sometimes receives a negative response and kills itself.

Therefore, my suggestion... Simple, change the powersupply to something else or add a second one.

I took care of my problems by requesting a new ATI 9700 from the other factory as I love my case and power supply, not to mention it didn't cost my anything to exchange the video card.

Hope this helps. I apologize if it is no help or confusing. :)