Motherboard Problems

Hi,

Last summer I built myself a new computer, which has worked great. Since then I have had only one problem, where one of the RAM sticks I had died, but was easily replaced by OCZ. But lately, I have been having some new problems. First off, I was installing a new video card, which worked fine, but then I got that noise I had heard before, the motherboard beeping telling me the RAM was malfunctioning. Only one worked, which was fine, I am able to get it replaced. So I bought some new faster RAM. Well, I put the new RAM in, start up Age of Conan, and bam, the whole computer shuts down, everything, fans stopped, lights off, everything. I thought it to be a glitch or a power malfunction so I turn it back on and try to get on Conan again, a little bit in, it shuts off again. I tried changing to fail-safe BIOS settings, same problem, I checked temperatures of motherboard/CPU/GPU, all fine. All fans are running as they should. So i decide to put in the old OCZ stick that worked, turns out both of the old sticks worked, and apparently it was the motherboard's fault that it was having the memory error. Still shuts down when on Conan or other high-intensity graphical games.

So far as I can tell its not temperatures, RAM, fans, or GPU. The only things i've been able to find would that it would be my Motherboard or my PSU giving out. Is there any way to diagnose what the problem is? I also tried updating all possible drivers.

Motherboard: Abit - NF-M2S
CPU: AMD Athlon X2 3600+
GPU: XFX nVidia GeForce 8600 GT
RAM: OCZ PC-5200 667MHz RAM 1gx2 or Corsair PC-6400 800MHz RAM 1gx2
PSU: XION 450 Watt, came with case
Case: Xion II
HD: 160gb Seagate
Fans: 2x120mm 1x80mm in case, CPU, PSU, and GPU fans all spinning

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

Blow the dust out of the case with a can of compressed air from walmart. Double check your connections. Get the wires/cables out of the way of the fans, cpu, ram & gpu. Tie 'em up with zip-ties.

Write this to floppy/cd/dvd, boot it up for 5 passes, report back any errors. You can try upping the memory voltage to specs if it reports errors. By default, vdimm is at 1.8v which is not enough for some ram.

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

If memory checks out, google for 3dmark 2001. Run it in a loop for an hour. If it causes the same problem, your psu may be dying. In case you need good psu suggestions:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

 

Looks like this psu has x2 12v rails, 12v1 @ 14A and 12v2 @ 16A. If that is the case, then regardless of whether the psu is at fault I would replace it. Also psu's do weaken over time.

A decent psu will cost you $60-$100. This item (if I found the correct one) retails at $20.

FYG, I reckon my oc'ed cpu, SD4000+ draws about 110W or 9A-10A.

Good Luck

 

Well, Memory checks aren't giving any errors and I ran 3Dmark for a good hour without the computer shutting down. As far as I can tell, the computer has only shut down while Age of Conan is running. AoC takes a ton of resources, so I'm not really sure if that is it.

 

Then it may very well be just AoC. Look for updates. I know they're as big as the game.

 

is there anyway for me to test that? I've tried to lag my system with other games and it won't shutdown, but is there a way to make a definite diagnosis?

 

3dmark in a loop can produce similiar results to game crashing, etc., but it won't be the same. I was hinting that AoC needed updates.