computer freezing

[frenat]

My computer has been freezing in and out of windows for the past week now. It is not a heat problem and the memory and hard drives have also been ruled out. My board is a DFI AD77 with what looks like good caps. They all have KZG written on them which I beleive are United Chemicon. There is no bulging, leaking or blown caps. The power supply I am not sure of the brand. It is 350 Watt and the caps inside are Fuhjyyu. I will be replacing it soon but not sure if it is a problem or not. The caps inside it do not appear to have any problems at all either. What brands of PSUs are known to be good?

Truth is part of me wants to replace the motherboard and CPU and PSU but I don't really have the money and would hate to do it all if I don't have to. Any thoughts?

[davmax]

Re: computer freezing

The Fuhjyyu caps in the power supply are suspect. You could just change those it is very easy compared with a motherboard. The two large high voltage caps on the input side are usually OK. But you will need to install low ESR caps on the output side. Your profile does not indicate where you are.
It depends what country as to where you go for caps. TC will supply in the US.

For Power Supplies check the appropriate thread in this forum.

[frenat]

Re: computer freezing

I don't feel comfortable replacing the caps myself on the PSU and would rather just get a new one. What brands should I look for?

[Mustang]

Re: computer freezing

The latest Seasonic releases seem to be a good bet. Besides the good caps provided, they're active PFC, well built and have an honest power rating IMHO.

[davmax]

Re: computer freezing

Are you able to borrow a power supply to verify if that is the problem?

[frenat]

Re: computer freezing

No I can't borrow one (and of course just a few weeks ago I gave away an extra one that I did have while cleaning house. Of course if I hadn't given it away then I probably wouldn't have developed a problem.) I wanted to replace the PSU anyway before this started and if it doesn't fix it then I'll just replace the motherboard and CPU as well and the problem should disappear as nothing is left to cause it.

[frenat]

Re: computer freezing

Unfortunately the seasonics look a little out of my budget. It is something I will keep in mind after I get a raise next year though. Any other brands you can recommend?

[Mustang]

Re: computer freezing

The 380W Seasonic is $62.50. I don't know of any PSU less expensive that has good caps.

[frenat]

Re: computer freezing

I hadn't seen that one. I was also looking for PSUs that are 400W and above as I've had too many bad experiences with anything lower. Seasonic also don't appear to be available anywhere locally. I could order online but I want to get this taken care of sooner. I'm near Macon, GA by the way.

[Per Hansson]

Re: computer freezing

Well, unless you have 15 SCSI harddrives on that Socket A system that does not support staggered spin-up a quality 350w PSU would still be real overkill...

I've got a similar system as yours I think, Epox 8RDA3+ Barton 2500+ @ 2,3ghz 1.60v X850 Pro @ 550/580, SB Audigy2, One Raptor 74GB 10000RPM drive, one Maxtor 200GB 7200RPM drive, A LG GSA-4167B DVD, floppy, 5 quiet case fans plus a Zalman Fatality for the VGA card. It is a pretty ok system... All powered by a Rev A1 Seasonic S12 430w PSU, this PSU has an efficiency of ca: 82%, with an ampere meter connected to it's power cord I see I am pulling 0.86Ah, we have 230v in Sweden so that is 198W, with the (in)efficiency of the PSU calculated in that means I am using 162W...
This is running 3DMark 06, while at the same time doing a virus-scan on all drives on the system simultaneously. Idle it only uses 0.54Ah.

So in other words you would be well served by a 330W Seasonic S12, those retail for about the price you where willing to pay...

[Mustang]

Re: computer freezing

http://www.bestbyteinc.com/products.asp?dept=128 They're located in Katy TX. Not local to you but a few days via UPS. I've opened up the 300W and the 380W Seasonics. The 300W doesn't have the "good" caps while the 380W does. Not sure about the 330W though.
I agree with Per Hansson. 400W is overkill esp if it's a good PSU.

[incapacitance]

Re: computer freezing

Well, unless you have 15 SCSI harddrives on that Socket A system that does not support staggered spin-up a quality 350w PSU would still be real overkill...

Really? I checked those online power supply calculators... I currently have a 300W Antec PSU, but am planning on adding a RAID controller and another ATA drive, and those calculators are saying that I'll be right around that 300 watt limit. And I may want to add more stuff in the future, which is why I want to upgrade to a 400W model.

So in other words you would be well served by a 330W Seasonic S12, those retail for about the price you where willing to pay...

I found this in a thread on Anandtech:

It was stated over in GH that the series1 of some Seasonics had issues with stability.
Seasonic did a recall on these PSUs. Newegg bought a load of
at great discount then turned them on the cheap. Leaving Seasonic to cover the warrenty.
Dirty pool on the Egg's part. Knowingly buying defective units at discount when Seasonic
wanted them back.
Do not buy Seasonics from the Egg. Buy series2 elsewhere.

Is this true about Newegg? Anyone know where I can buy the later versions of the Seasonics?

[frenat]

Re: computer freezing

The other thing is I had wanted to replace the PSU anyway but I'm not sure it is causing my current problem. This started a week ago. I had no problems but replaced the thermal paste between the CPU and heatsink with Arctic silver 5. It worked the way it is supposed to and my system is running 8 degrees Celcius than it was before but the freezing started at the same time. Unless it is just a huge coincidence I have trouble believing the PSU just started to act up at the same exact time. As mentioned before, the freezing is independent of windows. I can usually get about a half hour of run time sometimes as much as an hour before it freezes. There is no warning, no error, just everything stops. I have this sinking feeling that I will replace the PSU and still have this problem.

[Per Hansson]

Re: computer freezing

Really? I checked those online power supply calculators... I currently have a 300W Antec PSU, but am planning on adding a RAID controller and another ATA drive, and those calculators are saying that I'll be right around that 300 watt limit. And I may want to add more stuff in the future, which is why I want to upgrade to a 400W model.

Don't trust those calculators... A generic PCI "software" RAID card, i.e. one without it's own CPU that lets the computer do all the work will not add more than 10-15 watts, and the harddrive will add around 20-30w

So if this had been my own system I would in worst case be approaching 245w And doing a search of your previous posts leads me to the conclusion that you have a KT7A mobo in which case a more powerfull powersupply is of no use
However one that delivers stable current would be good, if your current one does or not can be difficult to test. But unless your system is unstable there is really no reason to upgrade the PSU...

[incapacitance]

Re: computer freezing

Don't trust those calculators... A generic PCI "software" RAID card, i.e. one without it's own CPU that lets the computer do all the work will not add more than 10-15 watts, and the harddrive will add around 20-30w

I will be getting a 3ware true hardware RAID card.

So if this had been my own system I would in worst case be approaching 245w And doing a search of your previous posts leads me to the conclusion that you have a KT7A mobo in which case a more powerfull powersupply is of no use

KT7-RAID, but almost the same thing. (I'm getting the 3ware card because I heard it's much better than the built-in Highpoint controller)

However one that delivers stable current would be good, if your current one does or not can be difficult to test. But unless your system is unstable there is really no reason to upgrade the PSU...

Well I do have a 5-year old Antec PP-303X (300 watt) power supply. I opened it up recently and didn't notice any bulging caps. But I did discover that my hard drive has some bad sectors on it, and I've read that a bad power supply can cause that. So I don't know if the Antec may have done something to my hard drive or if the hard drive is just low quality (it is a Samsung, which got low ratings at storagereview.com).

I was going to ask about how to test a power supply... can I use a product like this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16899888901

[Per Hansson]

Re: computer freezing

The only way to test a poweruspply is under havy load and then looking at the 3,3v, 5v and 12v rails with an oscilloscope

Those "power supply testers" don't tell you anything at all really...

Also don't expect much real world benefit from the 3Ware controller, sure, it might make a few percent of difference in lower CPU utilization but you would be better off saving up for a Raptor drive instead. And last I do not think your powersupply caused your HDD to develop bad sectors. Antec makes some decent powersupplies, and if it has lasted 5 years it is most likely pretty well built...

[davmax]

Re: computer freezing

Try Ebay look at warranties etc Big choice at: http://computers.listings.ebay.com/D...istingItemList

[Per Hansson]

Re: computer freezing

Just for kicks I did a test; increased the vcore from 1.60v to 1.80v and multiplier from 11.5 to 12.5 for 200mhz extra CPU speed...

Idle power usage increased from 0.54Ah to 0.66Ah and full load from 0.86Ah to 1.05Ah. So now I'm only 2w short off requiring a 200w PSU!*

*Note that you should only load a PSU up to about 80%, after that it's efficiency decreases (and it gets really frigging hot and risks failing) But it's still quite amusing that my system could then more than probably run off a 250w powersupply that has atleast 80% efficiency. I would then never manage to load it over 80% of it's total wattage...