Boot up power failure

[hypergeek7]

Ok, I'm cobbling together a computer out of mostly new parts and old
drives. Probably a REALLY bad idea in and of itself, but I don't
_think_ that's the issue at hand here. The issue is that whenever I
attempt to boot the thing up, it sometimes gets as far as the bios
scanning for IDE drives, often not that far but never farther than
that, before it inexplicably loses power. The power supply came out of
my five year-old box, so I know that it works. I'm wondering if
perhaps it's simply not powerful enough to run this thing. Ideas?

 

[Compfix]

Ok, I'm cobbling together a computer out of mostly new parts and old
drives. Probably a REALLY bad idea in and of itself, but I don't
_think_ that's the issue at hand here. The issue is that whenever I
attempt to boot the thing up, it sometimes gets as far as the bios
scanning for IDE drives, often not that far but never farther than
that, before it inexplicably loses power. The power supply came out of
my five year-old box, so I know that it works. I'm wondering if
perhaps it's simply not powerful enough to run this thing. Ideas?

Does your PSU have the 4 pin 12v ATX power connector needed for Intel boards
(not sure what AMD need) and have you connected it? If not, you will need
to get a PSU that has one.

 

[hypergeek7]

Does your PSU have the 4 pin 12v ATX power connector needed for Intel boards
(not sure what AMD need) and have you connected it? If not, you will need
to get a PSU that has one.

Yeah, it's a 20+4 pin connector, and I've plugged 'em all in.

 

[Paul]

Yeah, it's a 20+4 pin connector, and I've plugged 'em all in.

Switch-off can be an overheated processor.

It can also be a PSU complaining off too much load.

I'd start by checking that you put fresh thermal paste
between the CPU heatsink and the top of the processor. Also
check that the heatsink is making proper contact. I had a
heatsink once, that lodged on the socket handle, and tilted on
an angle. So recheck the CPU install, to be sure it is right.
When done, make sure the CPU fan is plugged to the CPU header,
and that the fan spins when power is applied.

For more help, an inventory of the hardware used (part numbers
and all), may allow someone here to detect some incompatibility
in the stuff you've cobbled together. Knowing what is printed
on the PSU label (or a URL to a spec for the PSU), will allow
commenting on whether the PSU is enough for the job.

Paul

 

[OSbandito]

Switch-off can be an overheated processor.

It can also be a PSU complaining off too much load.

I'd start by checking that you put fresh thermal paste
between the CPU heatsink and the top of the processor. Also
check that the heatsink is making proper contact. I had a
heatsink once, that lodged on the socket handle, and tilted on
an angle. So recheck the CPU install, to be sure it is right.
When done, make sure the CPU fan is plugged to the CPU header,
and that the fan spins when power is applied.

For more help, an inventory of the hardware used (part numbers
and all), may allow someone here to detect some incompatibility
in the stuff you've cobbled together. Knowing what is printed
on the PSU label (or a URL to a spec for the PSU), will allow
commenting on whether the PSU is enough for the job.

Paul

There's a $10 Tenma PSU tester available but I don't know whether the
load level is adjustable--don't think so.

http://www.mcminone.com/product.asp?catalog_name=MCMProducts&product_id=72-1082&info=specs