Is my 3 mth old Antec case/psu/GeForce2 failing? SOLVED

[bvc]

I'm a little ticked but here_goes....

 

Antec SLK2600AMB case /300W psu (single fan)

Abit KD7 MoBo

Athlon XP 1900+

2x 128MB DDR400 PC2100

all above less than 2 months old...no overclocking.

GeForce2 MX200 32MB

 

Everything has been good. I don't say great because I have to boot ML9.1 with

noapic acpi=off

 

Other distros are great in this area :roll:

 

Working fine this morning, went out and got a new dvd for the kids, watched it in the afternoon, and decided to defrag win98 on both machines. Just b4 it finished it rebooted itself. I looked at the externel temp gauge and it was at 54 c. Kinda high but it's been there b4 with a game I have, when it finished rebooting, it rebooted itself again :shock: . Shut it down from grub (cuz it can do that 8) ) and let it cool. Still does it. Tried booting linux's as well they wouldn't even boot, well now win98 won't boot, but then it did :shock: ....it's random. So I went to the bios and set the failsafe option (conservative) and it rebooted itself from the bios :shock: :shock: :shock: Whoa! Wait a minute

 

Another note: Starting about 3 mths ago the monitor/video/gui got wavy. I d/k how to explain it other than the borders of windows are wavy and constantly ...well, wavy. I d/k if this is a monitor issue or nvidia issue or both. Doesn't happen in console/fb and/or (links-graphic) just gui so I'm thinking card but then again maybe the monitor just isn't being pushed enough in console/fb.

 

So I take the side off and notice that the bluelight fan on the front of the case is flickering. The red one in the back of the case does not but you can also here the wine of the, what, cpu fan or psu, flux a little every now and again.

 

I tried my other monitor and checked the GeForce2 in the other machine.

 

I was under the impression that bios doesn't use sys-RAM. Is that right? I told myself to and never did install memtest86, and was trying that but nothing will boot long enough. I thought of trying it with ML9.1's cd1 rescue mode, but I don't know that bios uses the sys-RAM and really don't think it'll let me. I've successfully booted morphix-lite but when I tried to set up a ppp connection and it scanned the ports, it rebooted. Seriously! I mean the sec I hit Enter to scan wham...reboot. So here I am on my old machine in morphix-lite so not to disturb my netconfig/ICS etc...in my current installs on this machine.

 

What do ya think? An Antec failing within 2 mths? :shock: Funky cpu? Bad RAM? I know it could probably be any, or any combo but man....less than 2 mths :!: ...who do I hang :?: ..yes, I'm from Texas :lol:

 

Thanks for any thoughts!!!!!! I'm gonna drink a beer or 2 and attempt to sleep :roll:

[liquidzoo]

The very first thing I would think of is the psu; but if the case is less than 3 months old (for you) I would doubt it. Still, it's a place to start. Remember this thread: http://www.mandrakeusers.org/viewtopic.php?t=7375 ? Turns out that was the psu, but that system is about 2 years old, and the psu came from the system before that (if I remember correctly).

 

If it's not that, I would say RAM. I actually had something similar happen to a friend of mine in Windows XP. Turns out that it was a bad stick of DDR RAM. If you have some extra RAM somewhere, stick it in and see if that fixes the problem. If you have more than one stick in there, try them one at a time and see if you can isolate it (if that is the problem). And yes, when this was happening with my friend, it did reboot the system when I was messing around in the bios. Something to think about.

[Ixthusdan]

The temp is the big clue for me. First choice psu, and I don't care how new it is, and the second choice is the cpu.

[liquidzoo]

I don't think that temp is all that bad for just running a defrag on an Athlon processor. Could be me, though.

 

I agree that the first choice is probably psu; but the rebooting makes me think RAM.

 

Check your bios, what is the warning temp set at for the cpu? it might be set too low by default. That could be it too.

[MottS]

hi guys

 

A computer only need the mobo, ram and a power supply to boot. It does not even need a HD, Cards (sound, video, etc..), cdrom/dvd, etc. So if the computer reboot itself while playing in the bios, the problem is one of those things. I would try to remove all extra stuff first like cdrom/dvd, soundcard and HD. Now reboot and play in the bios. If it does not reboot then the problem is one of those element. If you still have a problem then I would play with the ram (remove one stick etc..). Third I would try another power suply. And finally ... when you have changed the ram and the power supply (just swich with another computer for the test) and nothing is pluged in the mobo, you REALLY have to change the mobo.

 

Computers sucks when this kind of thing happens.

 

Good luck bvc

 

MOttS

[Gowator]

I agree with Motts.

If it fails at bios then the main culprits are CPU/RAM or PSU.

 

It might be that your drawing too much power. Whats it rated at and how much are you drawing?

 

It could be another component though thats faulty and drawing too much power. If thats the case then it will be a pain to find becuase youll have to pull everything out and play with it 1 component at a time.

 

The monitor thing is a worry.

If you degause the monitor and iit isn,t earthed properly where does it do?

 

Well only one place it can into your graphics card.

I once fried a graphics card with this! Its low current but very high voltage so it will punch right through a capacitor or memory.

 

Another thought. When you build a system does it make any sense to spread the peripherals around different power leads? I don't really know but its a thought. i.e. if you have a lot daisy chained off one poerlead.

[bvc]

Thanks everyone! To make the story longer, (on morphix-lite/old machine) I came to check this thread b4 going to sleep and the sound was shorting/crackling and doing weird stuff. Smoking a cig in the bathroom I noticed the lights were dim....then flickering...then I lost my connection and noticed the lights on the powerstrip were on except for the switch :shock: . I connected again to be disconnected. I just wanted to see if anyone had replied. Then Morphix-lite (a cd distro) rebooted on the old sys :shock: Turning on other lights in the house reveal ALL were dim, and flickering. Well, living in a 1983 trailer there was no way I could go to sleep with my wife and 3 children in the house, so I called the electric company. We were having light rain and though it wasn't a power outage, something was wrong, but was it the trailer or their lines? Here's a shocker.......the guy was here 20 minutes later :shock: ....sweet.....the transformer was burning up and smoking. Good news rt? So 30 minutes later full power was restored and I was in bed, and went to sleep, with the peace of mind that all was well with my sys. WRONG! Same prob this morning :shock: I'm now on Morphix again. This sucks!

 

I'm thinking psu because the bluelightfan is flickering (after putting it all back togethter this morning, assuming all was well) and because of the electric prob. I'm guessing something happened to the psu when the transformer (behind my trailer) went haywire. I'm first in line to recieve from the pole :roll: ...wouldn't you know . I'm going to take it to Fry's and have them test the box (psu, ram, cpu).

Check your bios, what is the warning temp set at for the cpu?

Warning is at 65, but it was at 58, I raised it last night..it was the first thing I checked, but it's suppose to shutdown not reboot, so I don't think that's what happened.

I would try to remove all extra stuff first like cdrom/dvd, soundcard and HD. Now reboot and play in the bios. If it does not reboot then the problem is one of those

element.

Did that too.....still hapened.

If you still have a problem then I would play with the ram (remove one stick etc..).

Did that too....still reboots...but they could both be bad...it is cheap OEM/reject mem :roll: .

And finally ... when you have changed the ram and the power supply (just swich with another computer for the test)

Other box is a micro and the ram isn't compat....older is sdram, though I could test the psu, just plugging it in. HHmmmm. But I'd like to have everything tested anyway, and that's less hassle for me.....except for waiting time at Fry's.

It might be that your drawing too much power. Whats it rated at and how much are you drawing?

Rating? You mean 300W? Pulling? haven't a clue....you mean vcore volts or something? How do I check? In the bios utility?

If you degause the monitor and iit isn,t earthed properly where does it do?

What it has always done I guess, but it makes no diff. I've move the machine around to diff outlets, with and w/o the powerstrip, and get the same result. I have ran from this outlet and this powerstrip for over 2 years.

Powerleads? They're spread out pretty good. I ran all the same hardware/peripherals in the old sys (the one I'm on now) with just a 120W psu. This Antec 300W should laugh at what it's having to do rt now. The only diff is one more fan.

 

Thanks again and I report what I find. BTW, morphix is cool. This is the only reason I had it, and had only booted to it once b4 just to test that it worked. I tried the hd install but it's got probs, so I'm on cd/ram rt now instead on hd like I wanted.

[MottS]

Wow .. it's either the MoBo or the PSU then. But since you got problems with the transfo behind your house I guess it's your PSU. The tranfo is there to transform higher voltage to smaller voltage (120 Volts, 60Hz required by all electronics components like fridg, oven, light .. and computer). Now if the transfo pushed 130 V - 70Hz or 110 V - 50 Hz for a couples of minutes before to burn it may have damaged your PSU. Of couse this is just an idea but that may have happened.

 

Well, let us know !

 

MOttS

[bvc]

I've heard that powerstrips can be a joke but isn't that what it's for? To stop this sort of thing? I was basing age on a thread about my abit mobo, not thinking that that was after I bought the box. I just called Fry's and after 15 days they want $65.00 to test . I can get the cpu for that and another $80 for a 400W psu. So I guess I'll go get a psu and if need be, make a second trip for a cpu. :roll: There goes the overtime $.

[Gowator]

Gowator wrote:

 

 

If you degause the monitor and iit isn,t earthed properly where does it do?

 

What it has always done I guess, but it makes no diff. I've move the machine around to diff outlets, with and w/o the powerstrip, and get the same result. I have ran from this outlet and this powerstrip for over 2 years.

 

What I meant was when you degauss it has to go somewhere. It should go down the earth into the power strip and then out through the trailer earth. However if the trailer earth is faulty (along with the other stuff that was faulty) your pushing thousands of volts through your video lead into the graphics card and your system board.

Since you said you had the wavy monitor I thought there was a good chance this happened, did the electric guy check the earth when he checked the rest?

 

Checking power cunsumption is a pain.

The easiest way is all together, I use to have a powerstrip I put a break in the cable and ended it with the screw connector block thing. You can then put an ammeter is series. Multiply volta x amps for power.

You can pick up a multimeter for 10$ or so at radio shack.

 

Good look!

[bvc]

Have to go to my mothers but wanted to post that I got a KingWin 350W Dual Fans (adjustable 3 speed) for $50. The least expensive 400W was $120, and the only Antec was out of the box in a basket. It works now, no rebooting and feels/sounds strong. I'll do more testing of ram etc...later tonight. BUT.....

...the monitor is even more wavey. I see what you're saying now Gowator, but no, I didn't ask or think to ask about the trailers grounding (earth as you say?) and I highly doubt the tech/repair guy did more than he had to at 3 in the morning. Why would 50 more watts cause the monitor to be unbarable. B4, you couldn't notice if the fonts were effected, and now you can barely read anything, it's so wavey.

 

Thanks again! Gotta go.......

[Glitz]

What I meant was when you degauss it has to go somewhere.  It should go down the earth into the power strip and then out through the trailer earth.  However if the trailer earth is faulty (along with the other stuff that was faulty) your pushing thousands of volts through your video lead into the graphics card and your system board. 

Since you said you had the wavy monitor I thought there was a good chance this happened, did the electric guy check the earth when he checked the rest?

 

No. Degaussing is the process of removing any existing magnetic field on the shadow mask of a monitor. It has nothing to do with static electricity, super high voltages, or even high currents. A coil around the shadow mask is energized with an AC current starting at a large voltage that is gradually reduced to zero over many cycles. This removes the magnetic field on the shadow mask and prevents any residual magnetic field from forming due to hysteresis of the shadow mask material.

 

Besides, a thousand volts applied to your graphics card would not cause "wavy" lines. It would cause a complete failure of the graphics card and possibly your motherboard too.

 

Make sure you don't have anything near the monitor that causes magnetic fields (speakers, dehumidifiers, computer power supplies, other monitors, etc...) A friend of mine tracked a similar problem down to a dehumidifier that was placed on the other side of the wall (in another room) right opposite the monitor. If no such sources are present then suspect the monitor itself.

 

Good luck!

 

Glitz.

 

PS. Make sure the video timings are within the monitors specs as well. Timings that are slightly out of spec can cause weird things to happen to the display.

[MottS]

Have to go to my mothers ...

:mystilol: You have more than one? :mystilol:

 

... but wanted to post that I got a KingWin 350W Dual Fans (adjustable 3 speed) for $50. The least expensive 400W was $120, and the only Antec was out of the box in a basket. It works now, no rebooting and feels/sounds strong. I'll do more testing of ram etc...later tonight. BUT.....

That was the power supply then. Why can you just bring the Antec back to where you purchased it? Just tell that it's not working anymore and cry a little .. they will replace it for you. Those things usually comes with a warranty don't they? I know you purchased this computer recently so that may worth the try.

 

...the monitor is even more wavey. I see what you're saying now Gowator, but no, I didn't ask or think to ask about the trailers grounding (earth as you say?) and I highly doubt the tech/repair guy did more than he had to at 3 in the morning. Why would 50 more watts cause the monitor to be unbarable. B4, you couldn't notice if the fonts were effected, and now you can barely read anything, it's so wavey.

 

Thanks again! Gotta go.......

I think your monitor is going bye bye .. NOOOOOOO (sorry). With the money you save by asking to replace your Antec PSU, buy a second hand monitor. I bought mine (17 inches NEC MultiSync E700) about 2 years ago 100$ (Canadian! .. so about 70$ US) and it is still running great!

 

MOttS

[kmack]

Ditto on what Glitz said. Degaussing is magnetic and only involves the monitor(shadow mask portion). When you start a monitor, it normally degausses before it starts. Sometimes you can unplug it and wait a bit and then reconnect it and get rid of minor problems. Those kind of symptoms are in the realm of what happens if you disturb the magnetic field around a monitor or tv by having powerful speakers beside it or some other strong magnetic field. If you don't have any magnetic fields disturbing things, then I'd suspect the monitor might have a problem.

 

Can you switch monitors temporarily to check it?

[bvc]

Thanks for the explainations!

PS. Make sure the video timings are within the monitors specs as well.

Yes, it set within range as it has been for 2.5 years. Thanks!

Why can you just bring the Antec back to where you purchased it?

The Antec psu came in the Antec case bought May 23rd. Way past Fry's 30 days. There's a One Year with Antec but they'd probably want the entire case (their way of getting out of psu replacement) and also it's not honest. The electric co. fried it not an poor Antec product. :wink:

buy a second hand monitor.

Gonna have to because

Can you switch monitors temporarily to check it?

Yep, and it is the monitor, which really bites because I was planning on a better nvidia :roll: . I have my mother in-laws 3 year old DellP990 19" FlatScreen that's on its last leg and acting weird (she replaced it with an some NEC 19" Flat). It goes dim minutes after it's turned on. You can brighten it but it's slow at rendering. It's better than this font thing on the 17" eViewp from emachines, so I'm gonna see if it can handle dvd's and games and adjust the color settings, and if that doesn't work I will have to get another.

 

Everything else seems ok. Memtest86 showed the RAM to be ok. Thanks again for the help everyone, and if anyone has a clue on the DellP990 I'm all ears. :)

 

BTW

That was the power supply then.

Yep, I originally got the Antec because the 120W in the emachine couldn't hande the nvidia any longer. It's fine now with the Intel i810 8-12MB AGP onboard :roll: If another psu fails, I'm getting a 580W :lol: ....sheesh...do those bad boys run from a 115V outlet?