HELP, please..New build crashes...

[metallideth]

I just built a new comp with.. Asus p4b533, p42.2ghz, 512mb memory. Everyhting is compatible. But the computer crashes randomly. It might turn off 2 minutes after the comp has been on. Or it might turn off 30 minutes later. I got as far as installing windows ME(I will get XP when i get the thing running) 17% done and it crashes. I dont know what the problem can be. And when the computer turns off, the monitor will stay on and it reads, "power saver enabled, monitor will shut off in a few seconds"

My first thought was not enough power. But it is 300 or 350 watt.
Please respond, i need help.

[Blakhart]

Greetings!
If everything is mechanicaly right, as in drive cables and mem slots and what not all in their right way, I bet you need xp to pull this off. Plus have you been mucking about in bios any? Defaults may get you clear of you present problems. Bios is the last place someone new should fool around.
Welcome aboard.
:D

[glc]

How many leads from the power supply other than the 20 pin ATX connector have you connected to the motherboard? What is the brand and exact wattage rating of the power supply? What kind of heatsink/fan are you using on the CPU and is it installed correctly?

[metallideth]

How would XP do the trick, i still need to go thru the same process to install an OS. And it shuts off in the middle of the process.

Its a 300 watt. And i have 3 power plugs on the motherboard.

[metallideth]

The CPU fan is the one that came with the processor.

[Cricket]

Hi metallideth,

Welcome to PC Mech.

When installing the OS, you only need the motherboard, CPU, heatsink, video card, 1 stick of RAM, power supply, CD-ROM, hard drive and floppy (if you're using a boot/startup disk). The other parts are installed after (soundcard, modem/NIC, etc...).

Try using only 1 stick of RAM for now (unless that 512MB is only 1 stick, then try to borrow a known good stick of RAM). Faulty RAM can cause all sorts of problems.

And provide the power supply info that glc asked for. The power supply you have may be a sub-standard one that doesn't provide good clean power to your system. That could cause random rebooting or system lockups and freezes.

:) Cricket

[metallideth]

I have all those things, the mem is only 1 512mb

[Penguin]

I had this same problem with my last build. What I found, was that I was not getting good contact with the cpu and the heatsink. The thermal paste wasn't set right. Since the cpu wasn't getting cooled, when installing ME the cpu would be under load and heat up and when it reached a temp the system would automatically turn off.

Try reinstalling the heatsink with new thermal compound and see what happens.

[metallideth]

what is thermal compound, how would i know if mine already or doesnt have it?

[Penguin]

Thermal compound, or thermal paste should be between the heatsink and the cpu. It is a transfer medium that transfers heat from the cpu to the heatsink.

The only way to check is to take it apart. But if you bought it already assembled, it should be there. The only question is that maybe when it was assembled something may have happened and yours may not be making good cantact between the cpu and the heatsink.

Just something to look at maybe as a last resort.

Someone else on this board had the same problem as you as well and this suggestion was also their problem.

I'm not saying this is the answer, but something you may want to check.

But before you do this, also make sure the heatsink fan is working too. maybe the fan is bad and that is causing the cpu to over heat.

I would check to make sure the heatsink fan is running first, and then check the thermal paste.

[metallideth]

You the man penguin!! It wasnt the paste, i just need to lock in my CPU fan. But if it wasnt for you, i wouldnt have thought of it. Thanks a million dude!!!

[Penguin]

Your welcome.

Good luck with the rest of the build.

[Cricket]

Hi metallideth,

The heatsink wasn't clipped in tight? I hope your CPU didn't burn out. The AMD Athlon's can burn out in less than 10 seconds without any cooling.

:) Cricket