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Power Supply Issue?

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 9:26 am
by Todd_Z
Sometimes im workin away on my comp, and all of a sudden, the comp restarts. No warning, no nothing. Just the system beep of the comp restarting.

Is it possible that the computer needs more than the 550 watts of power that my power supply is rated for, and because of this, it reboots? I'm nearly positive that its not a linux issue (running ubuntu) because there is nothing in the logs about the computer needing to restart.

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 9:32 am
by ptrpan
I dont know all that much about hardware, but what I know is that 550watt PSU is enough for the average machine.

Unless you are running something hectic from it, I dont think it would be the PSU.
But then again, I have been proven wrong before. :?

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 9:42 am
by Todd_Z
My comp is far from average.

GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
4X Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
3com hardware raid controller
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model

And thats just the cool stuff :D

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 9:45 am
by guitarlvr
Having it restart by itself doesn't mean that the power supply isn't powerful enough. Usually that means there is something wrong with the power supply itself. How it delivers power, conditions power, etc. A 550 Watt PS is a pretty powerful. If you have the ability to swap it out for another one try that and see if it does the same. If it doesn't, you've found your problem.

Wayne

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 9:46 am
by Jenk
550w's fine for that hardware. You'd only want more if your PSU was running hot.

memtest your ram, and also watch your voltages with something like coolmon/mbm. Check your temps, too. Dust is a pc killer.

If memtest fails, new ram time. If voltages are not stable, new psu time.

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 9:56 am
by Todd_Z
memtest: passed everything 3 times

Code: Select all

todd@diesel:~$ sudo mbmon

Temp.= 39.0, 255.0, 36.0; Rot.= 3443, 8035,    0
Vcore = 1.25, 3.20; Volt. = 0.00, 4.78, 11.00,  -0.00, -0.00

Temp.= 39.0,  3.0, 35.0; Rot.= 3443, 8132,    0
Vcore = 1.25, 3.20; Volt. = 0.00, 4.78, 11.00,  -0.00, -0.00

Temp.= 39.0, 254.0, 36.0; Rot.= 3443, 8035,    0
Vcore = 1.25, 3.20; Volt. = 0.00, 4.78, 11.00,  -0.00, -0.00

Temp.= 39.0, 255.0, 35.0; Rot.= 3443, 8132,    0
Vcore = 1.25, 3.20; Volt. = 0.00, 4.78, 11.00,  -0.00, -0.00

Temp.= 39.0, 254.0, 35.0; Rot.= 3443, 8035,    0
Vcore = 1.25, 3.20; Volt. = 0.00, 4.78, 11.00,  -0.00, -0.00

Temp.= 39.0, 254.0, 36.0; Rot.= 3443, 8035,    0
Vcore = 1.25, 3.20; Volt. = 0.00, 4.78, 11.00,  -0.00, -0.00

Temp.= 39.0, 254.0, 36.0; Rot.= 3443, 8132,    0
Vcore = 1.25, 3.20; Volt. = 0.00, 4.78, 11.00,  -0.00, -0.00

Temp.= 39.0, 254.0, 36.0; Rot.= 3443, 8035,    0
Vcore = 1.25, 3.20; Volt. = 0.00, 4.78, 11.00,  -0.00, -0.00

Temp.= 39.0, 254.0, 34.0; Rot.= 3443, 8035,    0
Vcore = 1.25, 3.20; Volt. = 0.00, 4.78, 11.00,  -0.00, -0.00

Temp.= 39.0, 254.0, 35.0; Rot.= 3443, 7941,    0
Vcore = 1.25, 3.20; Volt. = 0.00, 4.78, 11.00,  -0.00, -0.00

Temp.= 39.0, 254.0, 35.0; Rot.= 3443, 8035,    0
Vcore = 1.25, 3.20; Volt. = 0.00, 4.78, 11.00,  -0.00, -0.00
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Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 11:02 am
by jayshields
What temperature does MBM say your CPU is running at? Might be a heatsink issue.

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 12:10 pm
by nickvd
What brand of power supply do you have?

It might say 550w, but the cheaper ones will only put out that kind of power under PERFECT conditions (temps < 30c).

I would agree that with a QUALITY PSU (enermax/ocz/thermaltake/etc...) you will be okay with 550...

On that note, I would NEVER, EVER spend less than $100CDN on a power supply... (in that price range you get modular ones, MUCH less cable hassle :))

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 3:09 pm
by Todd_Z
cpu: im getting around 39 and 43 for the two readings

antec truepower 550w

Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 3:47 pm
by Jenk

Code: Select all

Temp.= 39.0, 254.0, 35.0;
I hope for your machines sake that 254.0 is because of an incorrect multiplier :P

p.s. this doesn't rule out that it could be a software issue.. if your kernel has a corruption, or perhaps a module/driver missing it would quite easily just die and reboot. Might be worth fsck'ing your disks for bad sectors, too.

Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 12:37 am
by AKA Panama Jack
nickvd wrote:What brand of power supply do you have?

It might say 550w, but the cheaper ones will only put out that kind of power under PERFECT conditions (temps < 30c).

I would agree that with a QUALITY PSU (enermax/ocz/thermaltake/etc...) you will be okay with 550...

On that note, I would NEVER, EVER spend less than $100CDN on a power supply... (in that price range you get modular ones, MUCH less cable hassle :))
That's 100% true. I tried 2 different cheap 550 watt power supplies, $20 and $45. They claimed 550 watts but when you really looked at the specs the amps just didn't add up to 550 watts. What they were rating the power supply at was 550 watts at PEAK. This means the maximum the power supply can put out under extreme load for a SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. Most of the cheap 550 watt power supplies are really around 350-400 watt. They are just uplabled for what they can put out at peak.

It's pretty hard to find a decent 550 watt power supply under $100. A decent one will have multiple 12 volt rails to provide the most stable amp and voltage output. A single 12 volt rail power supply is stressed too much and they tend to fail fairly soon with extended use. The voltage converters just slowly burn themselves up. So you start having problems like random reboots, hard drives that make clicking noises and start having read/write failures and other odd things.

If you need a 550 watt power supply spend the money for a really good one.

Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 6:38 pm
by alvinphp
An Antec 550 is a good power supply so you might have just got unlucky and have a defective one. It could also be the memory or your CPU fan is not working well. If the CPU gets too hot it could also shut down your computer.

Posted: Sun May 13, 2007 11:49 am
by Chris Corbyn
Linux kernel panics don't usually cause a reboot (they just freeze). It sounds like a hardware issue. Taking a stab in the dark but does this happen when someone does something like turn the kettle or the vaccuum cleaner on, causing the power to surge?