Computer turns off abrupty, but it's not the power supply.

So long story.. I'm not familiar with hardware at all so I had a friend who builds computers help me to build one. We built a strong computer but we/he forgot to check that the power supply we got was strong enough (550 watt). This didn't become an issue until a month or two later when it began to abruptly turn off, as if the the plug had been unplugged. Unaware of the dangers, I turned it back on whenever this happened. It happened more and more frequently until it was happening every 1-2 hrs. Then it wouldn't start at all. Someone told me I was overclocking but I don't know what that means, despite reading a few articles on the subject.

So.. I was told to get a 750 watt power supply to handle all my hardware. So I got a 900 watt power supply to make sure it would work and even handle any upgrades I get in the future. I installed a fresh hard drive, and had a professional install the power supply and it worked ok for the first day, and then the same crash happened on the 2nd day. I turned it back on and It had the same power-crash 1/2 hr later. What could it be? Someone suggested that some hardware may have been corrupted due to all the crashes, such as the motherboard, but I have no idea how to go about figuring out what's going on.

I'm on windows 7
ASUS p5p43TD motherboard.
Nvidia geforce GTS 250 video card
Intel quad core processor
Rocketfish gaming 900W power supply.
With 4G ddr3 ram (not sure the make)
a 160G hard drive partitioned into 50G/100G with windows on the 50G partition

Notes: The keys on my keyboard are light up, and they do not loose this light when the computer loses power, despite their only source of power being USB connection to the computer. (thus, not a lack of power from my home's circuitry?)

There's literally nothing on the hard drive other than windows, Mozilla, and flash. And I've only visited facebook and youtube with it before it crashed, so I really doubt it's anything to do with malware.

A friend also said (although I have no idea what it means): "an unset multiplier may have added up over time"

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Other than that I'm completely stumped. IF you need more information from me about my computer or logs or anything, please include steps on how/where I would find that information as I doubt I would know.

Thank you so much!!!

Edited by uzra, 18 October 2010 - 02:24 PM.

I would probably first look at CPU overheating. Is the fan for the CPU working? Is the heatsink/fan unit securely attached to the motherboard?

After Midwest's advice, and if you didn't find anything wrong, I would go into bios setup and reset to defaults.

2.6.5 section of the manual list hardware monitor from bios setup

I looked inside, all fans were working. I searched the site for the manual you mentioned that had a section on resetting the BIOS, but I couldn't find any. Could anyone please link this to me? Or were you talking about a physical manual I should have?

I looked inside, all fans were working. I searched the site for the manual you mentioned that had a section on resetting the BIOS, but I couldn't find any. Could anyone please link this to me? Or were you talking about a physical manual I should have?

This should be it:
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?model=P5P43TD%20PRO&f_name=E4696_P5P43TD_PRO-manual.zip&f_type=12&os=29

Try unplugging your graphicscard....I know it sounds strange, but I recently had the same problem with a customers computer,
and in some odd way, the graphicscard was the problem......

Your problem is NOT power related :-)



Glen

Edited by hamluis, 21 October 2010 - 09:11 AM.
Spam link removed ~ Hamluis.

Ok so.. after reading as much as I can on the issues my best guess (keeping in mind that I'm less than amateur with hardware) is that the Processor is overheating. I added two new programs to the fresh hard drive, speedfan and Cupid's HWMonitor

1) All four of my quads, along with my AUX (whatever that is) are at 65-75C (with peeks up to 100C) WHILE IDLE! From what I can gather from google, my quads should ideally be around 30C idle, and no more than 70/71C on "full load"

2) As long as I leave the computer idle, It doesn't shut off. But when I start to use it for "heavy" things it tends to crash.

3) I also added a stress tester program and all components survived the stress tests except the CPU (which is supposed to heat up during the test). Starting this test turned off my computer in 10 seconds. (I should probably do another CPU stress test while watching the temperatures if I want to confirm, but I'm scared to cause damage)

1, 2, and 3 seem to point to overheating, but I could easily be wrong as I have no knowledge of hardware. Does the information I found seem correct? Are the temperatures too high? What do you guys think? And if it is a cooling problem, what's the most effective solution?

EDIT: Sorry.... also, I read a lot about heatsinks being incorrectly connected and/or not having appropriate "thermal paste" ??? I know the first response asked me to check the heatsink, but I don't even know what a heat sink (or thermal paste) is... I sincerely appologize for my ignorance, but could anyone link/write a step by step on how to check the heatsink?

Thanks again!

Edited by uzra, 21 October 2010 - 08:51 AM.

so I had a friend who builds computers help me to build one. We built a strong computer

You'll need someone with a little more expertiese to disassembly your HeatSinkFan and reapply thermal grease, it might not even be securely attached now.

Are any of your other components getting hot?

Screen shots from the two programs I found. First one is idle, with the program running only a few seconds (average and max is often higher). Second one is with a CPU stress test running for 3 secs, the temp readouts on AUXTIN and CPUTIN went higher after the screen shot.


Idle ^^^
---
Stress test vvv

Take the side off your case, point a small fan into the case, retest

Sorry.... also, I read a lot about heatsinks being incorrectly connected and/or not having appropriate "thermal paste" ??? I know the first response asked me to check the heatsink, but I don't even know what a heat sink (or thermal paste) is... I sincerely appologize for my ignorance, but could anyone link/write a step by step on how to check the heatsink?

Heatsinks sit right on top of the CPU and help transfer the heat away from it. The thermal paste is applied on top of the CPU before it's clamped down to help with that transfer. When you're looking inside your computer, just look for the long, thin metal blades all in a row and that is securely attached to the CPU. If it wiggles at all then that is definitely cause for concern. The CPU is almost always on the top left of the board usually just below the power supply. Lastly, make sure you touch the outside of your case or something metal (not inside the computer) to discharge any static electricity BEFORE you touch anything inside.

wow, thanks a lot guys! (and girls)

I took off the side panel. The heatsink seems ok, but there's definately zero thermal paste. With the side panel off and light breeze from outside (my room is around 17C, maybe 15C in the breeze) the cores all dropped down to 50-60C. However the AUXTIN is still at 80C. I noticed that in the 2nd screen shot I posted, there is a 3rd fan that had worked, but was not working then (and generally is never workings) and it's called AUXFAN. Is that normal? Do the RPMs look normal? Do you want another screen shot with the side off in idle mode? I also shut down the comp, discharged myself and felt the heatsink. It was sorta warm, but nowhere near the 80C+ that the cores and AUX are at. (btw, what is an AUX or AUXTAN ?)

Thanks again.

Aux temp maybe the northbridge? Way too hot?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=13-131-395-S03&SCList=13-131-395-S01%2c13-131-395-S02%2c13-131-395-S03%2c13-131-395-S04%2c13-131-395-S05&S7ImageFlag=2&Item=N82E16813131395&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=ASUS%20P5P43TD%20Pro%20LGA%20775%20Intel%20P43%20ATX%20Intel%20Motherboard

Do you see 3 fans in your computer and if so, what is the AUXFAN attached to?

North bridge felt fine. Will take me a few days to get the heatsink properly checked and reset the BIOS cause I'll need to see a professional for both. Be back soon with news.