Computer runs for a few minutes & then turns off

[wart]

Hi ,

Homebuilt system worked ok for brief while appr. a year ago- Was able to load apps then. not used since.

Turned it on today and it worked for a few minutes and shut off. Tried using with only keyboard & mouse - same problem. Will boot up long enough to load win 7 and see apps but soon shuts off. Variable lengths of time ( a few minutes to 7 minutes) before shutting off. Fan at back works, cpu fan and graphic card fans all working.

Seems like a hardware problem. All new stuff.

Someone mentioned that it could be a bad heat sink - haven't tried new paste yet.

Win 7 unlimited, not much on Hard Drive.

MB: Gigabyte GA-MA780G-UD3h with AMD athelon 64x2 5000 chip

4 mg ram on 2 chips Corsair DDR2

Nvida GeForce 7600 cgraphic card

550 watt PSU

Any help appreciated.

 

[Buckshot420]

What PSU do you have? Download CoreTemp and see what your temps are @ idle and @ load and post them.

 

[wart]

re psu

psu is ULTRA 550 watt ATX

I'll get the software & try it if i can get the machine on long enough to install the software from a usb stick before it crashes. I tried blowing cooling & fans out with a small compressor & am now going to put new thermal gell on the cpu - fan

a friend here who helped set up the machine last year thinks it may be the board as it was hell to get it to finally boot up back then- help from gigabyte last year was a disapointment

thanks for tip I'll post results if i can get them

 

[wart]

cpu temp

I installed core temp software and had trouble reading it because the temp varied so quickly and then my machine shut off.

The tmax for my athelon chip is 55 and 68 degrees

For core 1 - i saw ( briefly) a temp of 101 degrees at 48 % ???

and core 2 was 74 degrees at 98%


I can't get the machine to run long enough to get the proper stats -try again tomorrow.

I have an Ultra X-Wind Aluminum Socket K8/AM2/AM2+/AM3 CPU Cooling Fan -cheapy

Should i get new paste & a better cpu cooling unit ? I have to mail order that as I'm out in the boonies.

 

[wart]

core temp reading

I managed to get readings from core Temp before system crashed:

At 0 load

core 0--- 34 degrees min 34 degrees and 61 max zero load
core 1--- 31 degrees min 29 degrees and 49 max zero load

running with load before crash

core 0 --- 109 degrees at 77% load
core 1 --- 71 degrees at 30% load

Looks like overheating for shure.

I plan to buy new paste 7 a better cooling fan. Could the overheating be due to the CPU chip or the board ?

Thanks, in advance for advice.

 

[Zilpha]

Sounds more like a bad job of thermal paste application to heat sink.

 

[wart]

no solution yet

Purchased better fan - no fit despite specs that show it should with AMD2 chip - gigabyte board.

Applied liberal amount of new thermal paste - booted up with rear fan graphic and & chip cooler fan all going - stopped after five minutes - again.

Might try different box if my friend finds his.

Any more suggestions ? thanks,

 

[wart]

reply from wart

I have tried resetting CMOS.

Assuming that the beast stays on long enough, how do i set memory timing down in BIOS ?

PSU is Ultra 550 watt unit.