REDTOPAlchemy

Im sorry to have to post on this forum, but this is the only plave I can get personal help. It's sorta R related in that I own an ITR. Well...this is a question posed to computers jockeys:

1) I turned my computer off, but did not unplug the power plug from the wall. I was toying with a switch on the back on my power supply becuase my comp has been crashing and I was told its because I have insuffcient power. The switch I flipped was the 115volt/230volt thing. I switched it to 230volts for a bit then switched it back realized this was for European outlets, not U.S. I did not turn my comp on while the switch was flipped. I put it back to the 115volt position then started it. I thought I smelled something burning, but it could just be my paranoid self. Does anyone know if flipping this switch my the comp is plugged in but not turned on can damage your hardware components? Thanks for any help guys!


Modified by PYXITR at 4:48 AM 7/20/2004

Dan GSR

sounds like you need a new, beefier power supply

Enermax 400 watt or more
should be more than enough


<--- rockin the 650 watt Enermax, cuz he's a balla

Splat

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dan GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">&lt;--- rockin the 650 watt Enermax, cuz he's a balla</TD></TR></TABLE>

Daaamn. What all do you have that warrants a 650W PS?

Need more details about your setup, PY. Home-built? Current PS?

Dan GSR

&lt;--- overclocker

REDTOPAlchemy

My computer is a home built 2.6 P4 with microstar mainboard. My power supply is a 350 watt Antec Smartblue. My video card is an ATI Radeon 9800Pro and 1 Gigabite of Ram. Its a fast comp and it has no problem rendering graphics in games like FarCry. Crashes also happen with Rainbow 6 3 and Splinter Cell 2...its not just Farcry. However, for some reason it crashes at random times. It crashes to the desktop and every once and awhile, the comp actually reboots on its own in the midst of playing farcry. Sometimes I get to play for an hour, or sometimes 30 seconds. I searched online and some guys said that random crashes such as the ones occuring to me can be caused by overheating of the CPU or Graphics card getting insuffcient power. Im pretty sure my comp isn't over heating so the prob must be with my power supply. My graphics card manual says the card needs at least 300 watts or more. Anybody have any suggestions on what might be happening? I did not overclock!

Dan GSR

get a better heatsink
and a better power supply

when u run games, its very taxing on the cpu, and will heat up
like driving in vtec all the time 24/7

SlapSmak

1: its gigabyte
2: as a rule, P4 cpu's require 400 watt power supplies or greater (intel recommends) and a radeon 9800 is a power vampire. get over to comp usa or online and buy a 400 or 450 antec.

Slap: overclocking a 1.8 to 2.2 myself...

Ill

That should not cause a problem for your hardware. The 230V setting is to step down a greater input voltage. With only 115 in, you're basically running at 1/2 voltage. With the PS off, no power is going to your internals. Soooo... Double safe.

If you smell burning on power up, and your PS is overtaxed for a long time, it's a good bet it's finally going. THAT can cause damage to your internals. Go to Fry's or another cheap outlet, and get a new one for about $40. I'd suspect this scenario even more if you rarely turn your machine off.

On startup, a lot more juice is pulled than during running. This is when most failures occur. This is even more of an issue if you have a lot of high draw devices like hard and CD drives.

REDTOPAlchemy

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ill &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">That should not cause a problem for your hardware. The 230V setting is to step down a greater input voltage. With only 115 in, you're basically running at 1/2 voltage. With the PS off, no power is going to your internals. Soooo... Double safe.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Im not sure I understand the part about 230v being a "step down a greater input voltage." However, lemme reitterate my problem. I flipped the 230v/115v switch on the power supply when the computer was turned OFF, but still plugged into the wall (ie power still going to the PS). I never started my comp on the 230v setting...I but it back to 115 before I started my comp. I was wondering if flipping that 230v/115v switch may have overloaded the PS temporarily while the comp was still plugged into the wall but never started. Any thoughts?

Ill

The 230V setting is for 230V input. So if you put 115V into it, it's about 1/2 the voltage through the PS primary circuit. You likely won't get much voltage out at all, so you're not going to fry the PC components, even if you did turn it on. But since you never turned it on, no voltage was going to the PC components anyway.

If it still works, you did not fry anything. Get a new PS with more wattage.

Dan GSR

relate it to car terms

if you have some high performance parts, you wouldn't put in 87 octane, so why use a puny power supply on your computer

if you've got serious power, you making excess heat, so you get a bigger radiator, why not a bigger heatsink/stronger fan for your computer

Dan GSR

wattage isn't everything
don't cheap out, buy an Enermax, you won't regret it, it has the highest amperage rating

Splat

PY - what case, how many fans, fan on the processor heatsink? Sounds like a heat-related shutdown to me.

Download some monitoring software and see where're you're at.

ZygSpeed

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dan GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">... if you've got serious power, you making excess heat, so you get a bigger radiator, why not a bigger heatsink/stronger fan for your computer</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have a relatively nice machine a friend of mine put together for me, and I've been having the temp alarm go off once in a while. We've decided to go with an upgraded "pipe" heatsink soon and I hope that helps out. The alarm doesn't sound unless I'm doing some type of video or graphics on each of the monitors at the same time (each rotated 90 degrees).

ABIT IC7-Max3 motherboard running a 3 Gig P4, with 2Gig of memory, dual monitors, with a nice primary and secondary graphics card, DVD R/W combo drive with a second CD drive, and a redundant 120 X2 (mirrored - RAID) 4 HD setup. I'm pretty sure its only using a 350W powersupply.

uNF$@#!

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dan GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">&lt;--- overclocker</TD></TR></TABLE>


gamer?

antec sonata here, and its still focking loud with my wd raptor drive

and Ed, i'm not impressed unless its Raid 6+1

REDTOPAlchemy

I really appreciate all the replies guys. I was afraid to post this because it wasn't car related, but you guys gave been a major help. Gotta hit the sack now...but I'll try to put some more info up on this thread tomorrow to clearify things. Thanks again for breaking down for my computer illiterate self. Before I go, can anyone recommend a specific temp. moniter software/program?

REDTOPAlchemy

Well, I posted on here about a week ago because I was having some issues with crashing to desktop and the occasionly random computer restart when I played games, specifically, FarCry. Overwhelmingly most H-T members diagnosed it as a power supply problem. I have since purchased an Antec 400 watt power supply and nothing has changed. I have run my computer through four different virus scanners and nothing has changed. I even tried two other different games: Joint Operations:Typhoon Rising and Alien vs Predator 2 and out of those two only AvP2 crashes randomly. I have only two ideas as to what my problem might be and I'm not even sure about these: my graphics card or my CPU is overheating (unlikey with my 8 fans in my case) or my memory is shitting out or has been shitty since it was purchased. I have two Patriot 512 DDR sticks in my comp. Can anyone give me a clue as to what my problem might be...I stumped...help me Honda-Tech.

Euro98ITR

http://www.hardwareforums.com. There are some good hardware experts here who will solve your problem for sure.

Bradstard

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dan GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

&lt;--- rockin the 650 watt Enermax, cuz he's a balla</TD></TR></TABLE>

650 WATTS!!! MY GOD! Can you say overkill?

My buddy is running 10 (yes ten) 200gb IDE drives in a RAID5 on a dual P2 400mhz system with 1gb of RAM. The system has a total of 42 fans and all runs off of ONE 400 watt power supply. Never a problem or hickup with it. I'm running 4 IDE drives, two CD-Roms, 128mb video card, yadda yadda off of a 300watt without any problems.

Pack on topic, yes, you need a new power supply. You'll probably get rapped getting one in a retail store but if need it right away that's what you need to do.

Splat

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Fat Bradstard &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Pack on topic, yes, you need a new power supply. You'll probably get rapped getting one in a retail store but if need it right away that's what you need to do.</TD></TR></TABLE>

He already bought one. Didn't help.


PY - Download "Motherboard Monitor" and keep an eye on your CPU and case temps. My mildly-overclocked (2.0 to 2.2) system runs 29 degrees C at idle, and 36 degrees C under full load. Cheap aluminum case, two case fans, PS fan, nice processor heatsink/fan.

Have you gotten the latest drivers for the video card?

REDTOPAlchemy

I have the Catalyst 4.9 Drivers...the most current ones from the ATI sight for my card. I was watching TechTV and the host was mentioning random crash and reboot problems due to cheap/shitty memory. I thought, because of TV, that my memory may also be a culprit. Just finished using Motherboard Moniter...case temp is 39 degrees Celcius and CPU temp is 45 degrees celcius. Is this normal?


Modified by PYXITR at 7:23 PM 7/20/2004

REDTOPAlchemy

Anyone have an idea?

Splat

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PYXITR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">case temp is 39 degrees Celcius and CPU temp is 45 degrees celcius. Is this normal?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Sounds high to me, but I'm not familiar with your chip. Also, what kind of heatsink do you have on it? Got a fan on the heatsink?

What brand of memory do you have? Single chip or 2 512mb chips?

Edwin

Haha this if so off topic.

If your computer still turns on, your machine is fine. We used to switch people's systems to euro for jokes.

Your temperatures are fine. Your CPU can sustain 90degrees C if you wanted to haha

You want to really know if your supply is fine for your setup? take a voltmeter and measure your power rails 3.3V, 5V and 12V. They should be within 5%

You want to test your memory? run memtest86 or gold memory (GM), or if test with a RSTPro2 card.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PYXITR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I have the Catalyst 4.9 Drivers...the most current ones from the ATI sight for my card. I was watching TechTV and the host was mentioning random crash and reboot problems due to cheap/shitty memory. I thought, because of TV, that my memory may also be a culprit. Just finished using Motherboard Moniter...case temp is 39 degrees Celcius and CPU temp is 45 degrees celcius. Is this normal?


Modified by PYXITR at 7:23 PM 7/20/2004</TD></TR></TABLE>

REDTOPAlchemy

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Edwin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Haha this if so off topic.
You want to test your memory? run memtest86 or gold memory (GM), or if test with a RSTPro2 card.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I know...I know...I'm using two DDR 512 Patriot Chips. Never heard of the brand Patriot? I wouldn't doubt it, its cheaper comparitivly. Is memtest86, GM and RSTPro2 memort test programs online that are downloadable?