HP crashes in HL2. Power supply problem?

After an hr. or so of Half Life2 , my HP Pavilion crashes and I have to hard boot to bring it back up. I have P4 2.4GHz cpu, 1GB DDR ram, XFX 6600GT and stock 250W power supply. The video card says it requires 300W system psu but my BFG 6800 says the same thing and runs fine in my Dell. It doesn't appear to be a heat problem because the temps look fine. What could be the problem?

 

Try running CHKDSK /p. It has worked for others with similar problems.

 

I'd bet that it is the power supply. For a system like that, I'd say 350W would be a minimum. With 400W recommended. And in order to upgrade, you'll probably have to pay an arm and a leg to get one from HP since you can't just buy a standard PSU. It's not the same size.

 

I agree,I'm amazed you can even power the thing up,to help narrow it down,can you post the specs written on the side of the psu,or even better take a photo,at full tilt your comp will draw around 10 amps through the 12v line"the 6600 draws 6 on its own",so ideally you want 20 amps max,which will calculate to about 15a usable power giving you a little headroom.

 

I also agree that it would be the power supply.
Your Dell might run the other card fine but the psu in that might be a higher quality item.
Power supplys diminish with age aswell. The older they are then the lower the output they produce.
Is your other PC 100% identical with cpu and ram ect?

It makes me think it is the power supply also because electronic devices tend not to run as well when thier running hot.
Playing hl2 your video card will be draining more power than most other games due to being under a higher load. This in turn will cause the psu to heat up and electronic devices tend to not perform well when thier running hot.

I had the same problem a while ago when i added some high speed fans to my system.
PC would run fine at idle but the minute i tried to play any kind of game my video card demanded more power from the psu and the pc just rebooted.

Its also possible that doing this often with your own pc could cause the psu to fail altogether and in worst case scenario cause a power surge through your system which could damage other hardware components.

It might actually work out cheaper to buy a new tower and power supply than to order a new power supply from HP themselfs.

 

I'll try the CHKDSK/p to see if that's the fix.

The HP Pavilion will be 2 yrs old in July. Its 250W psu has: 3.3V - 18A, 5V - 25A, 12V - 14A. My 3 yr old Dell also has 14A on the 12V rail. Dell has 3.06GHz cpu, 768mb rdram, BFG 6800, 250W psu. Dell says the peak output of this psu is really 345W. Anyway, back to my HP...

I called HP to inquire about an upgrade psu and the tech tells me that I can't put in a larger, 300W psu because the pc would get fried. HP must be outsourcing tech assistance to the same dummies as Dell. Anyway, I learned that HP has a 300W psu that goes into their Media Center model. Will this fit in my Pavilion?

Thanks for the help so far.