Random system lock-ups - DVD drive is the cause ?

[UrbNCwBY]

Hey all!

I had been having random system lock-ups (complete lockup, display freezes, mouse doesn't work, keyboard lights don't respond) and I think I isolated the problem to either of the 2 DVD drives I have on my system (a Pioneer slot-load DVD player and a Philips 824 DVD-Rewriter) After removing those drives from my system, I haven't had any lockups... My question is, is it possible for DVD drives to cause such lockups or could my lockup problems be related to lack of PSU power (removing two drives saves same of the PSU power) I have a 420W Raidmax PSU and I have a P4 3Ghz HT running on an Intel D865Perl motherboard with 1Gb of DDR ram, 2 SATA harddrives, 1 IDE harddrive, 1 GeForce FX5200 card, a PCI Firewire card and about 6 Thermaltake fans (besides CPU fan)

I would appreciate any and all responses.

Thanks

UrbNCwBY

 

[Liquidlen]

It is the Drives for sure if everything is fine with them removed.
I would install them one at a time (after testing extensively )
You should have enough power,But it may be close (Lot of Fans ,3 Drives,???)
I am sure you checked to make sure Jumpers are set correctly.
Also Make the Writer the Master( I had that problem before with DVD drives)
Are there any error messages from Authoring Software in Event Log,Turn Windows XP writing Software off if you are using Third party.Do you have more than 1 Software?
Let us know.

 

[UrbNCwBY]

Ok so far my system has been running for almost 18 hours with no problems with the DVD drives removed. So I'm really starting to believe it was one of those drives (or the PSU for that matter)

Liquidlen: All jumpers are set correctly and these drives work fine when you install them but I guess at times they randomly cause lockups. I will install them on a different computer I have to see if they will do the same on that one. If not, I'll assume it is the PSU and either get some external DVD-Writer or buy a better case with a better PSU. As for my system, yes it has 2 fans in the front, 2 in the back, 1 side, and 1 inside the PSU and 1 outside the PSU plus the Thermaltake CPU fan. CPU fan is 5500rpm and 4 Thermaltake fans are 3000rpm. And I also have 2 SATA drives and 1 IDE drive. So yes 3 harddrives. All of this a little too much for 420W PSU maybe ?

 

[danielb]

I doubt its the psu if its not faulty. You can add the wattages up yourself to check. 70watt P4 is the highest i think? under 15 for each HDD etc

Plus the computer would turn of at start up when the biggest drain on the PSU occurs when all components are tested.

 

[UrbNCwBY]

Daniel what you say might be true but what if city voltage goes down a little and PSU which is barely supporting drives can't provide enough electric anymore as a result ? Coz I noticed that these lockups were occuring more so towards night time/midnight when chances of voltage ups and downs is the greatest. (especially in the summer)

 

[danielb]

You first step would be to add the wattages up i think. or/and take all the fans out leave side off and put the drives back in, and see what happens.

 

[danielb]

If something hasnt got the wattage on, use the voltage and current
Its A x V =W

i think.