PSU or MB problem?

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Thread: PSU or MB problem?

  1. #1
    Catfish
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    PSU or MB problem?

    Gateway PIII 700mhz system. Here are the symptoms. PC stays on for about an hour, and then windows locks up, then I'm forced to power off system. When I try to turn the system I hear the fans spin, but no post. I leave the system off for several hours, it posts, boots into windows, and then locks up.

    This PC has had the same heatsink and CPU for 3-4 years, and this problem was relitivly sudden. I've pulled RAM one at a time to see if this was a memory issue, same deal. Built in video, sound, & modem. Pulled HDD. Same results. Reseated heatsink. same results. So would this be a heat issue, bad mainboard, or bad PSU?

    KG
    -------------
    Gigabyte 7xde Motherboard
    AMD 1600+ Athlon XP CPU
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    20 gig Seagate
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  2. #2
    Mako Shark Lord Vetinari's Avatar
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    Assuming you checked the HS for dust build up when you pulled it, I would check the PSU for the same. Might be the PSU is just full of gunk and overheating plus check the PSU fans are ok.
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  3. #3
    Catfish
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    I've never heard of this happening to a retail brand computer like Gateway or Dell, but check to see if you've got any bad capacitors on the mobo. There were some mobos of that era with leaky capacitors (the big ones near the CPU). They will bulge or even show signs of leaking.

    -Bash

  4. #4
    Hammerhead Shark Z3R0C00L's Avatar
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    And finally, keep in mind that (win98 I assume) old OSes tend to be really crappy. Maybe the OS is just totally messed up?

  5. #5
    Catfish
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    heatsink

    The heatsink doesn't have a fan. It's just a large *** heatsink on the CPU. And the haetsink looks clean. I haven't pulled the PSU to check for dust though.
    -------------
    Gigabyte 7xde Motherboard
    AMD 1600+ Athlon XP CPU
    512 meg DDR 2100
    64 meg Trident Video card
    48x CDR burner
    20 gig Seagate
    40 gig Maxtor

  6. #6
    Hammerhead Shark Hammerstein's Avatar
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    It sounds definitely like a power/PSU problem. I have a Gateway Performance 700 hanging around at home that is probably the same/similar machine to the one you're talking about. It only uses a big aluminium heatsink on a Slot 1 P3 700 and relies on the PSU for cooling. You could always check to see how hot the HS is just after it dies. Be sure to ground yourself first, but that might help.
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