PSU problem or something worse/else?

KaroumKaroum
edited October 2006 in Hardware
My specs:

AMD Athlon XP 3200+
Radeon 9800PRO AGP
2 X Maxtor 40Gig 7200rpm
SBLive 5.1 pci card



Age: A year and a half

Game: -Was installed on second drive. The first drive having the OS and doing the file caching. Both on same ide cable. DVD burner as secondary master.

Symptoms:

-Actions would happen .5 seconds or so later than when clicked (as if the screen just stopped then the data of a movement was accessed)
-An HD made this spinning up and down (like a dvd drive spining up sound, although I am certain it was not the dvd drive) sound and seemed to access a lot of data or accessed it slowly.
-Was listening to background music that stuttered and crashed.
-Rebboted cpu and had similar crashes only while playing WoW (not saying its wow's fault ehre. I only play wow hehe...)
-Computer ran perfectly untill very recently and I did nothing new to it since 2 months ago (when I replaced my DVD-burner drive for a better one)


Troubleshooting:

1)-Verified cables and connections-> System displayed data accessing problems again

2)Deleted WoW from second drive and installed it on 1st drive->System displayed data accessing problems again. Game also seems to stutter and run slowly, from an avergae of 40fps to 3 or 4 at times...

3)Unplugged everything except for main HD and 3d card and played the game just fine for 3 hours straight.

4)Re-plugged the second HD and dvd drive. Even though I am not accessing them, the system stutters again. I also seem to get some slowdowns on internet explorer: while moving my cursor, I saw that it sometimes just stopped moving for .2 seconds or so every now and then...

5)Tried different settings, ide and PSU cable connections---> Crashes still with same HD speeding up sound and ticking.

6) Reverted back to 1 HD+3d card setup and everything runs fine.

My opinion is that it is a PSU failure to soon happen and I ordered this PSU to replace it (I hope it will work with my Athlon Xp...):

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2212229&CatId=1079


Anything you think I may have overlooked? Has this ever happened to you or someone you know? May it be something else?

Thanks in advance folks (logging off this comp untill I know its stable again.Ill check this thread from my friend's a bit later).


Additionally, I ran a software that gave me those readings (with only 1 H installed+3d card):

CPU Core: 1.65V
-+3.3V Voltage: 3.15V
-+5V voltage: 4.76V
-+12V Voltage: 11.76V
-Processor fan: 4218rpm
-Processor temperature: 49.5C
-Mainboard temperature: 37C


Selecting the PSU as my source of problem was correct? Id really appreciate your input into this problem.

Comments

  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited October 2006
    Crashes still with same HD speeding up sound and ticking.
    Ut oh, that sounds like a hard drive starting to fail! Do you have a spare drive you could test in the system to see if the symptoms persist?

    To verify the drive's operability, you should run the manufacturer's drive fitness test. It will let you know if it's a drive problem or not. I would not use the computer much at all until you determine whether it's the PSU or the hard drive. Your diagnosis of a PSU problem may be correct, but I'd put the odds on the hard drive.
  • KaroumKaroum
    edited October 2006
    Whenthe HD is all by itselfit works perfectly and makes absolutely no noises at all. When other devices are plugged-in, thats when the drive begins to fail, each and every time: remove the second HD and the DVD drive and it begins to operate perfectly.

    AT any rate, if the HD fails I'll just replace it with a bigger one. I already backed up the 2 of them after a couple tries.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited October 2006
    I had a heart attack when I saw the price. Then I noticed the .ca.

    I use a number of TT PSUs. I like them.
  • KaroumKaroum
    edited October 2006
    So far, the transplant seems to be wroking great. I will test this ride for a while to check reliability. So far, it works flawlessly. I even saw an FPS boost in WoW...:Seems like I was right.

    :honoes:
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited October 2006
    Thanks for the follow up post. It helps us all learn. I hope you stay active at Short-Media. You're at the right place! :)
  • KaroumKaroum
    edited October 2006
    Sure thing!

    So far I noticed:

    My cpu is on average 15C lower while PLAYING WoW than it was while being IDLE before I cahnge the PSU.

    My drives now work flawlessly and are 10C cooler on average.

    My framerate in WoW went from 20-30 to 35-45 on average as well.

    :)))))
  • The-CoolestThe-Coolest Tel Aviv, Israel Icrontian
    edited October 2006
    Toughpower are good units but I bet you can do better for the price.
    Enermax Liberty 500W
    OCZ GameXStream 700W
    Silverstone ST65ZF - if you have the $$$ is an awesome PSU.
  • KaroumKaroum
    edited October 2006
    Update: My mobo just died on me :( I guess the problems I had came from there as well... Ill check for a new rig tomorrow.
    I guess I want a cpu capable of running pci-e cards, a 3d card, 1 gig of ram, a new raptor hd an the case to fit all that inside. If you guys had 1,3k-1,5k cdn to play with (I know thats not much), what setup would you go for?

    Thanks in advance.


    EDIT: Karoum has continued this thread OVER HERE
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