More of an annoyance than an emergency

SwettacularSwettacular Utah
edited February 2004 in Hardware
Lately my computer has been shutting off all of the sudden at random times and I can't figure out why. It always seems to happen when I'm writting code and haven't saved for a while, causing me to lose everything that I had just done :werr: . Any Ideas on what could be causing this?

system specs are:

AMD Athlon XP 2400+
1 gig of Samsung DDR333
Abit AT7 Motherboard
Seagate 30GB HDD
Chaintech GeForce 4 ti4200 (yeah I know)
Realtek NIC
Windows XP Home

Comments

  • Geeky1Geeky1 University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
    edited February 2004
    Ps?
  • SwettacularSwettacular Utah
    edited February 2004
    350 W Enlight psu
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    It's either the PSU or the motherboard - but I suspect the PSU.
  • SwettacularSwettacular Utah
    edited February 2004
    whats the best way for finding out which is causing the problem?
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    The easiest way would be to swap out the PSU with a known good one. I don't know if that's the "best" way, but it's the easiest.
  • Al_CapownAl_Capown Indiana
    edited February 2004
    wtf prime? www.memtest86.com
  • SwettacularSwettacular Utah
    edited February 2004
    I already ran memtest, and I'll have to wait untill the weekend when I can go home and get a psu. thanks for the help
  • Straight_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited February 2004
    primesuspect wrote:
    It's either the PSU or the motherboard - but I suspect the PSU.

    Also possible the innards of computer are very dusty and overheating. A PSU with lots of dust in it can do this exact thing, they now have thermal safeties in them. Problem is, once it has done this 8-10 or more times it is not a good PSU any more and replacing would be what I would do second after cleaning dust out of computer if there is any visible at all inside. This cleaning includes blowing air through fins in CPU heat sink and checking under fan on heatsink for dust up high in fins that is keeping fan from drawing enough air volume. Most common place for dust is on intake vents under front plate of case. Block air flow there, you prevent good cooling. An air can or data-safe(ESD safe) vacuum cleaner\blower is safest way to clean out, and if major dust gathered expect a cloud of it when you clean box out-- do ti where you do not mind cleaning up a lot of dust or you have box out in garage or in a workshop with good ventilation.

    John D.
  • SwettacularSwettacular Utah
    edited February 2004
    I clean my case out often, because the dorms that I live in seem to have a ton of dust all over the place. my CPU temp stays around 42*C under load usually, so I don't think it's getting overly hot in there
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