Resetting itself.. help.

Hi all,

I wonder if you can help with with an issue i've been having with a newly built machine of mine.

The machine im using (spec below) has been fine recently, until i started to run something like Half-life 2 game, which i appreciate is demanding from a graphics point of view. Issue i've had, is that my machine has reset itself. Note, not shut itself down, but actually reset itself, as though someone manually pressed the hard-reset switch.

I run ASUS Probe also, to register CPU / MB temperature etc. When my machine is idle, the temperature averages between 42c-48c of the CPU, and 45c-51c for the motherboard. When running a heavy graphics task, the CPU averages between 58c-63c and about 58c for the motherboard. I've learned that Intel P4s do run hot anyway, so am not too sure about being concerned with the tempratures, unless anyone disagrees with that? Im not sure if the resetting of the machine is due to over heating. Bear in mind that these temperatures are also the same if i open my case, and blow a desk fan onto the whole thing to cool the whole thing down (as a test).

The interesting thing is that whilst playing half-life2, the ASUS probe warning came on, but for the +12V monitoring... the reading was still 11.something, so i was not sure what was wrong. I have a 400w power supp, and have used several websites where you calculate your total power consumption (+30%) which still comes to less than 400w. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

My system's main specs:
Processor:
Pentium 4 - Socket 775
(max speed 4000MHz - current speed 3000MHz)
Board:
ASUS P5GPL Rev 1.xx
Graphics:
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
+ 2 optical drives, 1 SATA HDD, 1 TV tuner card.

Voltage readings:
+12V = 11.774
+5V = 4.992
+3.3V = 3.232
VCore = 1.408

it could be the psu. is the psu a name-brand? but more likely its heating. those m/b temps seem rather high i think. the cpu temps dont seem to bad. what temp has the 6600gt been running at?

nitestick,

Appreciate the prompt response. Unfortunately my motherboard doesnt seem to have thermo sensors for the graphics card. i have to add, that this is a PCI-Express version of the 6600 GT card, not an AGP one (if that makes any difference).

My PSU is a (comes free with the case) job, so is deffo not a named brand. If i were to buy a named brand one (as a seperate point) and got a 450w or 500w, will the extra wattage make the whole thing hotter / noisier?.. or would that be ONLY if the extra power was being drawn through it?.. but i guess a named brand PSU will certainly not hurt considering i have only got a bog-standard one at present.

if it is indeed the temperature, im not sure how i can get this down, since i did a test by blowing a fast desk fan onto the whole motherboard (with the case open) and it still ran at roughly the same temp. Im happy to hear that you think the CPU temp is within limits, as i imagined having to buy more expensive CPU fans / heatsinks. BTW, the fan and heatsink are the basic ones from Intel that come with the CPU... (in case that is of any use)

Thanks again and look forward to more replies on this... its a strange one.

Machine resetting itself - help.

Hi,

I've managed to get a photo of my PSU for comments...

Be gentle, its a new PSU that came included with the case.

Pug,

I think i've now hit the nail right on the head with looking into the fact that my 20 pin PSU is plugged into my 24 Pin mobo connector.

I've been reading up on 20 pin vs 24 pin, and most literature refers specifically to +12V load sharing... which is exactly the warning that came on my ASUS probe (+12V was flashing). the edivence now all points to this, as even though the CPU temp ran high, the system just simply reset, as though a sudden loss of power, then the load disapeared due to this, and the power was 're-fed' to the machine. I've convinced myself now of the PSU being the culprit.

Im a bit miffed that the people who built my machine did so with a 20 pin PSU, but they probably buy a job-lot of these, and the spec of my machine was something i specifically ordered, so they probably just made do with whatever PSU's they normally use.

So, im now to buy a new PSU for my baby, the question is: which one?

I've been advised to buy something that is a v.2 so that its compatible with future builds, but i want to be extra sure that whatever i get is beefy enough to cope with the load.

Any advice here?

thanks.

thermaltake. can't advice you as to a particular model but its a good brand