In message , "Dave Plowman (News)"
writes
In article
,
wrote:
I recently installed a DVD drive into my PC. (2 days ago.) Since then,
I get spontaneous power loss periodically - sometimes seconds after
booting, other times after hours of operation. I've tried replacing
the power supply, and I've tried removing all my hardware (other than
RAM), so I'm thinking it must be motherboard related.

I had a similar thing which drove me crazy. Happened just after fitting a
new graphics card. Which was just coincidence.
Turned out to be the main processor overheating and shutting down. Its
fan was working normally and no error messages generated. Removing the
heatsink, cleaning and applying new thermo conductive paste sorted it. Now
have a spare power supply...


I had the same problem with the PC shutting down when the processor was
working hard. Its heatsink was full of dust. Soon afterwards, I again
had shutdowns. This time it was because the PSU fan had seized solid
(probably dry bearings). Freeing-off and re-lubrication with WD40 has
worked for the last 6 months (but I will fit a new fan one day).

In the front of the case, I have since fitted an additional fan which
sucks the air in, and also blocked off some unused holes (to ensure that
most of the air entering passes through the fan). In front of the fan is
a crude filter made out of thin scouring pads. Every couple of weeks, I
wrench off the plastic front panel of the computer, and clean a VERY
dirty filter.

Finally, as this is an Asus motherboard, I have installed 'Asus PC
Probe' - a monitoring program which tells you things like the
temperature of the processor and hard drives, the voltage rails, the fan
speeds etc. As all is now working OK, I don't use it much, but it is
interesting to watch the processor rise from 28C to 45C during a
prolonged spell of 100% activity!
--
Ian