Hey guys, I've been trying to build my own computer but I've hit some trouble. I ordered all the parts and foolishly tried to install a AGP video card with a motherboard that only had PCI Express slots. I bought a new compatible video card but now my computer keeps randomly shutting off. Sometimes it will shut off during startup while other times it will run for like 20-25 minutes and then shut off. I dont think its a heating problem because I have three fans built in the casing along with a pci slot fan and heatsink. Ive tried monitoring the temperature and sometimes it will turn off only when the computer is 35 degress Celcius or so. I was thinking maybe I shorted out my motherboard when i tried installing the AGP card but the computer does stay on sometimes for an extended period of time, so is that still a possibility? The next thing I was gonna try and do is unconnect everything from the power supply just in case i connected something wrong when i put in the new graphics card, but do you guys have any other suggestions?
No, that sounds like a heat problem. Check and remount your CPU cooler, making sure you use the correct amount of proper thermal paste.
as sam as said it does sound heat related, but if you post the whole specs for the system we might see another issue that you are unaware of.
The computer has: - Mach Speed Venom MSA2-6100V NVIDIA Socket AM2 MicroATX Motherboard and an AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 2.80GHz Socket AM2 OEM Processor - 2GB kit (1GBx2), Ballistix 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-6400 memory module - XFX GeForce 8600 GTS / 256MB DDR3 / SLI Ready / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV / Video Card - Ultra / X-Finity / 600-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm Fan / SATA-Ready / SLI Ready / Black / Power Supply - Windows Home edition service pack 2 along with 2 320gb Seagate Sata Hard drives, 2 optical drives and a floppy drive. I tried taking off the heat sink and reinstalling it, as well as checking the 3 case fans and the pci slot fan and all are working. The tower is not in a close area so there is a steady airflow but its still turning off.
I assume that's after having removed the old stuff? Have you checked the temperature of other components such as your Graphics card? It could also be your power supply. I had one that did that. If it's a cheap Power supply (tell me the brand and I can tell whether it's any good or not) then that can happen, along with worse things.
My power supply is a Ultra / X-Finity / 600-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm Fan / SATA-Ready / SLI Ready / Blue / Power Supply. Its definitely an overheatin issue because when i checked the pc health in the bios screen, it was detecting the temperature in the high 90 degrees celcius area, yeesh! Like I said before, there is no dust since i just got the parts and its in a well ventilated area. Im gonna try to unplug everything from the power supply and then rearrange everything to get a good air flow going. But other than that and maybe trying to adjust the heat sink again, what can i do?
If your CPU is getting to 90C the heatsink isn't working properly. Fully remove the old thermal paste from it using Arcticlean or Akasa TIM (you can get away with some alcohol based products) and then apply a new layer, using proper thermal paste such as Arctic Silver V. No heatsink should ever let a CPU get too hot, unless you bought a heatsink that wasn't designed for your processor.
hmmm, maybe thats it. The heat sink I got was a brand called thermaltake i got from radio shack. I just picked one with the same dimensions as my cpu slot and it does lock in and fit well, can it still be incompatible? btw - before i got the new video card i was running the computer with the onboard videocard and my current heatsink and i didnt have any problems at all. Its still possible that its the wrong heatsink?
If it's a problem started by your graphics card being added, then I'd normally say no, I'd say it's a power issue, but if your CPU temperature is 90 Celsius or so after the shutdown, then that is definitely the issue. Was the heatsink powerful enough to deal with your processor?
before the new video card i would say it was. Although I dont think i checked the temperature, I never did encounter a sudden shutdown of my system with my current heatsink.
Hmm, download a program called Speedfan, that'll tell you your CPU temperature. Play a game for a couple of minutes (or whatever you do to make it turn off) and then check the CPU temperature.
I'll definitely give that a try. One thing i have figured out though: I took out my video card and just ran the computer with the pre-install video card on the motherboard. I restarted it a couple of times and it didn't overheat; the temperature never rose beyond 45 degrees celcius. So maybe my power supply cant handle my video card?
I used speedfan and I could see when I had my video card installed and tried running a program, the temperature skyrocketed and then the computer shut down. Once I take out the video card, i can run the same program without any overheating whatsoever, so it seems like the video card is sending me overboard on power. But I typed in my computer configuration into a power supply calculator and it said the recommended wattage was 339, when my power supply is 600. Any ideas guys?
the fan gets it's power thru the pci/e slot but does the card itself need extra power besides the pci/e slot?
The card will run on the computer even if the it isnt attached to the power supply, but i can see that the fan on it doesnt run. I might have hit a set back though. I left the computer on over night without the video card in and when I woke up this morning it was off. I did not check the power settings before I did this so it might have just shut off automatically after being idle for so long, but it also(and i really hope not) might have overheated. When I get home from work im gonna make sure the settings are set not to automatically shut off and see what happens. If it is still overheating without the video card, im probably just gonna cry
