Desktop

Ask something
Discussion Locked

Can power supply cause these problems?

0 helpful
10 replies

by paul7410 1 view

Closed to new repliesThis discussion is closed. It stays readable, but it takes no new replies.
About a month ago I purchased a barebones system from mwave.com. I purchased an Abit SA6R, PIII 1000Mhz, 256 MB RAM, with ATX case. When I received it in the mail I took my hard drive from my existing PII Dell System along with the Colorado backup, Zip, and CDROM drives... and installed into the new case. When I started it up I got strange errors (i.e. can't recognize CPU, HD failure, etc.). So I took reset all the cables and the CPU, and no go. Since I had another system with the same MB I tested the chip, RAM, and HD in that system, they worked fine. So I sent back the MB (keeping the case, power supply, chip and RAM). And when I got the new one it worked fine for a while. Now, a day later, I am seeing some very strange things. The CPU will only start up at 600Mhz (I verified it was a 1000Mhz chip), the PC will sometimes say the HD failed or Windows system error. I go into the BIOS and change the chip back to 1000 Mhz, sometimes the HD light stays on for hours with actual HD activity. PLEASE HELP.

10 replies

by ckarbach

Hi,

i think the mb is not your problem.
Try changing the RAM. Errors like this are
often results of defective RAM.

best regards

chris

by paul7410

Thanks Chris. However, I have already replaced the RAM. The strangest thing is right when I start up I get a message that reads:

CPU has been changed or is unworkable, please change settings in BIOS. If I go into the BIOS it automatically recognizes the chip as a 1000Mhz. Then I save and exit, again I will get the same message. If I continue past the message without going into BIOS the BIOS startup screen shows that the chip is either 600Mhz or 612Mhz.

Weird, huh?

by netuser

It could be the power supply. Test the voltage of the connectors and see if they are producing the right amount of power.

Check also your CPU clock selection switch on your motherboard and set up the correct speed to support 1000MHZ.

Double check your CMOS and Bios Setup. Set IDE HDD to Auto detection and use LBA if possible.

One last suggestion is to take advantage with the warranty(if there is one). Pack everything up and send the whole box back to mwave.com and ask for a new replacement.

I hope this will help you a bit. Good luck.

by shanghai sam

Thanks gbee2000. The history -

Several months ago I orderd the barebone system. Abit SA6R MB, PIII 1Ghz CPU, 256 MB Micron RAM, with mwave case and 300W power supply. When I received the computer I took the HD, CDROM drive, Tape Backup Drive,and Zip Drive from the existing PC and moved to the new case. I started it up and everything worked great after WIN98 found all the new hardware etc. Then about a week later the "presidents" dog jumped on the UPS power supply switch, and the computer and monitor shut down. When it was started backup there was an error saying that the CPU couldn't be found. Restarted. Then it said Windows protection error, and it wouldn't boot into safe mode or normal mode. I checked all cables, power connections, the UPS (made sure the correct voltage was coming from UPS too.), everything looked fine but no go. So I took the CPU, RAM, and HD from the computer and moved it into another PC with the same type MB, and it worked fine. I then moved them back into this case and they didn't work. So I took out the MB and put it into the other case, and it didn't worked, so I sent back the MB to mwave.com and they sent me a new one. I installed this into the original case with the same configuration and right off the bat I got an alarm. CPU overheating, I added some thermal compound and it was fine. Now it worked for a while but every now and then the PC would power down by itself, and it didn't happen at any specific time, very random. Now this week this happened again except when trying to restart it I got a windows protection error. I finally got it to boot into windows, scandisk, etc.everything fine.Backed everything up.Restarted,CPU changed or unworkable,went into CMOS and changed it, saved,same thing.Finally got it to boot up past the CMOS/BIOS check, and disk read error. Now the HD is bad, no other HD will work either even though they work in other machines.

by elecstix

I had a similar problem a while ago and was really tearing my hair out.
Maybe (like me) you had expected the HD to perform normally with the new MB. What I found was that no end of trouble occured until I re-formatted the drive using the new Mobo(I was able to back the data up on the previous system).

After this the system behaved perfectly. Now I always do things this way.

I know it's a pain for a large drive but I guess you could also try a new drive to eliminate other possibilities.
Good luck - I hope you sort it soon. Rob

by Former member

If you haven't wiped out your drive yet try using fdisk /MBR in DOS.

This discussion is closed to new replies.