PC Reboots

[time-to-die]

Originally Posted by Donatoo

How do I rule out overheating?

I bought 2weeks ago a laptopcooler on bol.com Now my laptop isnt hot anymore

[Wield_II]

Originally Posted by time-to-die

I bought 2weeks ago a laptopcooler on bol.com Now my laptop isnt hot anymore

So you suggest another fan, I already have 2.
Dont know if there's space for another. Not sure if this is the problem though.

[ieti]

Sometimes if power supply is not enough it leads to such problems. Newer graphics cards need alot more power and when you start some game they overload the power supply. This can result his parameters to go out of spec and computer to start to act strange.

Try some power calculator to see how approx your computer needs. Then compare with your power supply. Keep in mind some cheap supplies are for example 350W, but in fact they are not even 200W.

Look at matherboard for strange looking capacitors.

[Wield_II]

Originally Posted by ieti

Sometimes if power supply is not enough it leads to such problems. Newer graphics cards need alot more power and when you start some game they overload the power supply. This can result his parameters to go out of spec and computer to start to act strange.

Try some power calculator to see how approx your computer needs. Then compare with your power supply. Keep in mind some cheap supplies are for example 350W, but in fact they are not even 200W.

Look at matherboard for strange looking capacitors.

I'm on it, thanks very much.

------ Edit

By calculations im going to need around 390 - 410.
That's a huge diffrence from what I'm using at the moment.

Just weird that it used to work fine.

[ieti]

Good ones usually got some reserve put by manufacturer. Keep in mind that higher temperatures at summer makes things worse too.

If you do not know what to put you can get the machine to some friend or service and try and test. If this do not solve problem - well it is not there.

[bois]

Of course we forgot to ask (as it is win xp) did you get any flash of the "blue screen before it went down? If that is happening and you could pull some info off of that , it would help a lot.

If your fans are working well I suppose we could rule heat problems out . The sure way to know is that you will not be able to reboot the system immediately. The system would have to cool within set parameters before it lets you boot again.

You said you recently updated that video card. Like Ieti mentioned, those 5000 series need juice. Usually a 400watt for the 5400series and a 450watt for the 5700 series. Checking the needs of the video card can't hurt.

I would also keep an eye on the RAM as well. A dusty stick or loosely connected one can cause blue screens and trouble when the OS tries address the malfunctioning array. I had a similar problem about 2 months ago and it was a dodgy stick of RAM at fault.

Regards
Artec

[Wield_II]

Originally Posted by bois

Of course we forgot to ask (as it is win xp) did you get any flash of the "blue screen before it went down? If that is happening and you could pull some info off of that , it would help a lot.

If your fans are working well I suppose we could rule heat problems out . The sure way to know is that you will not be able to reboot the system immediately. The system would have to cool within set parameters before it lets you boot again.

You said you recently updated that video card. Like Ieti mentioned, those 5000 series need juice. Usually a 400watt for the 5400series and a 450watt for the 5700 series. Checking the needs of the video card can't hurt.

I would also keep an eye on the RAM as well. A dusty stick or loosely connected one can cause blue screens and trouble when the OS tries address the malfunctioning array. I had a similar problem about 2 months ago and it was a dodgy stick of RAM at fault.

Regards
Artec

Yeah, they need alot of juice.

I'm going to check my RAM stick's tomorrow, as these are kinda old though. And clean my fan's as far as possible.
And I'm definitly going to replace my power supply, I'll let you know tomorrow.
My computer used to be standing on a sorth of small closet, a open one.

And it's currently standing on a carpet in the corner.
Like 5 inches from the wall. Any idea if this could make it worse?

Thanks alot for your time and effort, Artec Ieti and everyone who posted!

[bois]

If the wall is facing sun and hot that could be an issue over time, however once the side and rear are not blocked it should be fine. 5 inches is okay.

Remember if it is on the ground it is more at risk for dust getting sucked in.

Lastly, carpet builds static so be careful and ground yourself off ( touch metal case with power plugged in) before touching internal components. Static could kill components.

Regards

[ieti]

In general it is good to remove once a year every board from the slots. Graphics cards, RAM, Network card, Sound card. Then put back again. Sometimes slot contacts get oxidated or cards starts to get out. So problems can occur.

In all cases as bois said careful with static.

You can do same with power plugs, interface cables etc. In all cases be gentle and put back good without too much force.

Dust cleaning is good to do too.

Last you can check is CPU's. Between CPU and sinks there is and heat transfer compound(dunno how is in english). Sometimes his params get worse with time and CPU's start to overheat. Do this only if you know how to do it.

[blood-raven]

is it a good idea to clean your computer with dust cloth? cause my computer is on the ground so i need to clean it a lot.
i used to do it with the vacume cleaner, which isnt a great thing to do since it hardly sucks anything and you can't get everywhere.
I din't want to try a dust cloth before i know it's ok to do