Requiring pc vista help.

[Caliga]

The PSU suggestion sounds weird to me.  I have had PSUs fail on me, but in the most recent case I can recall (was three or so years ago) the PC just would refuse to boot up, or would on occasion begin to boot but never get past POST... the power just sorta came on but nothing ever happened.  The latter happened like 20% of the time, and the other 80% the power button didn't do anything at all.  Swapping in a new PSU fixed the problem perfectly.

[DontSayBanana]

A lot of this is true, but probably not applicable to a situation where the computer worked fine for a while and now quits.

The exception would be the power supply issue, which should be dead easy to test, and which I should have thought of myself.

Yeah; knowing Syt's gaming habits, he's probably already been running the rails pretty hot- another thought for Syt, somewhat from out of left field: how dusty is the room your computer is in, and how often do you clean out the interior of the computer?

[grumbler]

The PSU suggestion sounds weird to me.  I have had PSUs fail on me, but in the most recent case I can recall (was three or so years ago) the PC just would refuse to boot up, or would on occasion begin to boot but never get past POST... the power just sorta came on but nothing ever happened.  The latter happened like 20% of the time, and the other 80% the power button didn't do anything at all.  Swapping in a new PSU fixed the problem perfectly.

The PSU has different voltage rails which could (theoretically) fail independent of one another.  It is easy enough to test to see if the 5V (which I think is what memory uses) has failed, by just taking the leads from his existing PSU and powering mobo, video, and a single drive.

[Caliga]

For most modern boards, isn't memory powered via the ATX+12V connector?  Hmmm... also, there's often a molex that plugs in near the CPU.  I wonder if that could be the issue...

[Syt]

The place the pc is at is pretty dust free and the unit is surrounded by some space so that the Thermaltake Armor case's sidefans can work properly. Even after half a year's use there's little dust inside. Power supply is a 1000W barracuda modular unit. I have one cable dedicated for the gfx card, one for mainboard+fans, one for the HDs, one for the DVD drives. I also switched them around and connected them to different ports oft the psu.

I have off tomorrow and friday. An IT friend will come over tomorrow morning to take a closer look.

[Caliga]

The place the pc is at is pretty dust free and the unit is surrounded by some space so that the Thermaltake Armor case's sidefans can work properly. Even after half a year's use there's little dust inside. Power supply is a 1000W barracuda modular unit. I have one cable dedicated for the gfx card, one for mainboard+fans, one for the HDs, one for the DVD drives. I also switched them around and connected them to different ports oft the psu.

I have off tomorrow and friday. An IT friend will come over tomorrow morning to take a closer look.

1000W?

[Syt]

Just in case I want to install a 2nd gfx card some time down the road. It scales its use/output by what the components demand, though.

[DontSayBanana]

For most modern boards, isn't memory powered via the ATX+12V connector?  Hmmm... also, there's often a molex that plugs in near the CPU.  I wonder if that could be the issue...

In P4-style ATX boards, there's two connectors (20+4), but I'm pretty sure they've done away with that and moved everything for the motherboard itself back to P6 (single 20-pin).

I'm not sure of the actual pinout, so don't quote me, but I think 12V is reserved for mechanicals (hard drive, CD-ROM) and the CPU, I believe memory would be on +5V, and internal expansion slots are on +3.3V (hence video cards requiring a separate direct connection to the PSU).

[Caliga]

I just built a system this weekend on an ASUS P5E Deluxe.  I also used an ASUS P5E on Princesca's PC, and I have an ASUS Commando in mine.  In all three cases, the board was connected via a 24-pin connector (most PSUs have a main connector that has 20/24 pins, IIRC).  There was also (in all cases) a four pin Molex you plug in near the CPU.  Apparently the system will POST if this is not plugged in, but will "be unstable" (according to ASUS's manual).

I have no idea if all ASUS-Intel boards are this way now, or other manufacturers have this power config, or what.

[Darth Wagtaros]

I just built a system this weekend on an ASUS P5E Deluxe.  I also used an ASUS P5E on Princesca's PC, and I have an ASUS Commando in mind.  In all three cases, the board was connected via a 24-pin connector (most PSUs have a main connector that has 20/24 pins, IIRC).  There was also (in all cases) a four pin Molex you plug in near the CPU.  Apparently the system will POST if this is not plugged in, but will "be unstable" (according to ASUS's manual).

I have no idea if all ASUS-Intel boards are this way now, or other manufacturers have this power config, or what.

I've seen a lot with that as the case.

[DontSayBanana]

I've seen a lot with that as the case.

Huh. I thought AUX connectors were used pretty much only on Pentium IV systems.

[Syt]

Ok, friend has come and gone. We replaced board, HDs,RAM, cables. The only thing not replaced are: case, power, cpu, gfx card. We got as far as installing vista, but the restarts resulted again in blue screens and pagefile errors. I can currently not afford a new cpu.

[Caliga]

You replaced the board but not the CPU. 

[grumbler]

Ok, friend has come and gone. We replaced board, HDs,RAM, cables. The only thing not replaced are: case, power, cpu, gfx card. We got as far as installing vista, but the restarts resulted again in blue screens and pagefile errors. I can currently not afford a new cpu.

Can you connect the essential-only power cables from your known-good PSU to the board, GFX card, and a HDD in your existing system, just to verify the PSU is not at fault?  This doesn't sound like a CPU fault to me (though I have only experienced one).

Go to http://www.fonerbooks.com/cpu_ram.htm for some basic troubleshooting help.

[Syt]

Alright, I replaced gfx card with an old one I still have. I alao put in the power supply from my old system which had tided me over when the previous one had died. No fucking change. The only things I could still replace are the case and cpu. I have to presume that it's a combination of factors of two or more faulty pieces.

I give up. I will dissect the machine, keep the HDs with data for future retrieval and get me a notebook or netbook when my xmas bonus comes around. My contemporary gaming days are over for now. I'll have to cancel my preorder for Age of Dragons and see if I can sell some of my recent non-drm games.

Thanks for your help, everyone, but this is the suckiest birthday ever.