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muno · 04-25-2004, 03:06 AM

Ok, I built my htpc from some scrap and some new parts.

Some old atx-case, with 200w psu.
msi-6330 mobo, duron 700mhz w/ nexus athlonxp3000+ cooler, 2x 128mb sdr, club 3d r7200, terratec sky 5.1, some nic, wd40gb hd and samsung dvd-rom.

Running wxp sp1.

I have two of those cases and mobos.

A while back I was watching Lawrence of Arabia, the computer crashed to bsod, irql_not_less_or_equal. After that, it didn't start up, no beeps from pc speaker, no video to monitor/tv. It powers up, the fans start spinning and I can hear the hd doing something - for a while, after like 20secs it stops.
//edit: Clarification for the above line. The hd stops after 20secs, the computer stays on.

After removing every single part of it and trying to bootup, with other vid cards (some old pci cards), I switched in the mobo and psu (the other psu was making rather irritating noise on power on) from the other case it booted up fine.

I was happy.

Yesterday, when I was watching some pride fc or whatever, it did it again. I haven't yet tried to switch in the old mobo and see if it works. But needless to say, I got a bit mad

Don't think anything else was in common between the lockups, except I was viewing the video files from nfs.

I don't know why the pc speaker doesn't give me any error codes, even when I remove the rams (that should at least produce beep code) it stays silent.
The mobo must work on some level because the fans and stuff spin up.

Any suggestions?

Tazzin · 04-25-2004, 04:33 AM

It could be the PSU.. 200w seems a little low.
I would get your computer back up and running somehow
clear CMOS.. etc.. get it to boot in Windows.

I would run a burn in program or something..
or at least leave it on for a few days to see if it crashes.

I assume that by nfs you mean network file server.
I don't see how that could be the problem.. but stranger things have happened!

muno · 04-25-2004, 06:52 AM

I calculated the components and their added peak power consumption was something like 170W.

I tried clearing the cmos, no effect.
By nfs I mean network file system, the files I played back were on another computer.

muno · 04-26-2004, 04:15 AM

Guess I remembered wrong, the calculated peak power consumption is 205w.

How do I verify if the components are bad or not? Power does come on because the fans start and all.. There are just no beeps.
I wouldn't want to buy new mobo/psu for nothing.

//ok, I put the mobo in a computer that has 300w psu. Powers up fine, but nothing on monitor...

Messiah89 · 04-26-2004, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by muno
Guess I remembered wrong, the calculated peak power consumption is 205w.

How do I verify if the components are bad or not? Power does come on because the fans start and all.. There are just no beeps.
I wouldn't want to buy new mobo/psu for nothing.

Indeed. Even if it were 170W peak consumption,
I wouldn't use a 200W power supply.

Since it's estimated.
You can easily use up that extra 30W.

Allied 300W Power Supply - $19.99 + shipping
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...154-009&depa=1

I'd rather buy a heavy power supply from the beginning, so should I decide to upgrade, a power supply upgrade won't be nessecery.

If the motherboard doesn't start and the fans go on it's most likely getting insufficient power. Could even be a combonation of insufficient power and a failing part.

First thing is get/try a better PSU.
Then diagnose the problem after you get sufficient power.

muno · 04-26-2004, 04:46 AM

Edited above that I tested it on a 300w psu, didn't work.

I'm located in Finland so newegg doesn't help me.

//edit:
Again for clarification, during these test power ups, there's only 1 sdr dimm, cpu+cooler and vga card in it.

//edit2:
Just ordered a new mobo and psu... Hope it will work after these.