[SLayer666]

Ok I recently put a new mobo in with processor. Asus A8v delux, amd 64 3800, 1 gig ram, and ati 9600pro. Now my puter will freeze and give me a black screen at random times...sometimes while working with progs and other times just stitting there with screen saver on. I dont have anything overclocked and i made sure all cables were secure. Could it be my graphics card messing up or do you think its something else? Thing is i can play games like HL2, Halo for awhile and i have no problems..you would think the extra strain on graphics card would cause it to mess up. Any input would great...this is really annoying especially when your doing something important and dont have it saved!

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Oh yeah i forgot to mention i only have a 340W power supply. could that be my problem? could the power supply freeze computer and give a black screen?

[SLayer666]

Oh yeah i forgot to mention i only have a 340W power supply. could that be my problem? could the power supply freeze computer and give a black screen?

[Samm]

Your PSU is almost certainly going to be causing a problem. The AGP bus alone draws quite a lot of power so if the PSU can't provide enough, this will cause all sorts of problems, particularly display related ones.

I can't guarantee that a better PSU will definately solve the problem, it's possible that theres something else going on here thats causing it. However, I strongly recommend you buy another PSU anyway because it will at least eliminate that as the cause & prevent other strange behaviour resulting from lack of power.

Make sure you get a good quality PSU that is rated at least 450W. Be aware also that this rating is the peak power output. The sustained output is always lower so check that figure as well if you can when you go to choose a new one.

If you still have problems are replacing the PSU, then tell us & we can fix it from there.

[SLayer666]

Thanx Ill go and buy a new PSU and see if that helps...it prob will. What are some good brands to get?

[SA_Max71]

In most power supplies I have seen at least 1 fan in it. If this fan brakes, would this cause a similar problem to what slayer has (assuming his problem is with his power output)?

[Samm]

Thanx Ill go and buy a new PSU and see if that helps...it prob will. What are some good brands to get?

Antec, Thermaltake, Cooler Master, Enermax and so on.

If you find one but are not sure whether it's good or not, post the name of it & the specs on the forum & someone will advise you.

[SLayer666]

How does this look....
THERMALTAKE Silent Purepower W0014RU ATX 480W Power Supply - Retail
Dual +12V: No
Efficiency: > 65%
Fans: 2
Hold-up Time: 16ms min.
Input Current: 8A
Input Frequency Range: 47 - 63Hz
Output: +3.3V@30A;+5V@40A;[email protected];+12V@18A;[email protected];+5VSB@2A
Over Voltage Protection: YES
PFC: No
Power Good Signal: 100-500ms

Model #: W0014RU

[Samm]

Looks good to me!

[SLayer666]

Ok well i got the new PSu in and working but it still did a random black screen and i had to restart it. upon starting it it said overclocking failed and could not start! so i just restarted again and everything booted fine. I dont have anything overclocked on my mobo why would it say that. Mobo is a asus a8v delux

[Samm]

Can you tell me exactly what CPU & RAM you have & what the clock settings were set to for each.

[SLayer666]

Ok I have an AMD 64 3800(2.4ghz) and 1 gig of OCZ DDR. NOt sure if these settings are the ones you need but here they are listed under the bios.

CPU FSB freq. 200mhz
CPU multiplier 12
cpu voltage 1.5v
agp freq. auto
ddr voltage auto
agp voltage 1.5v
v-link voltage 2.5

Memory config

memclock mode auto
software memory hole enabled
bank interleaving auto
burst length 4 beats
mci timing mode auto
twcc auto
twr auto
async lat auto

[Samm]

The clocl settings look OK. Are you running the RAM as dual channel?

[SLayer666]

Yeah they are dual channel. Could it maybe be a program that is locking everything up or a virus?

[Samm]

I think what we need to do is determine whether this is a software or a hardware issue. I suggest you try these steps one at a time. Test the system after each alteration to see if the problem reoccurs.

First check whether the system is overheating. See if there is a temperature monitor in the bios or on the motherboard CD.

Next, disable power management for the hard drive & display etc in windows. Make sure hibernation is also switched off. Sometimes coming out of these modes will cause the system to hang.

To eliminate whether it is a virus, update the AV software & scan the drives.

Disable all the startup programs - ie antivirus, firewall & any other 3rd party software that loads on boot up.

Update the motherboard drivers if newer versions are available, including the cool & quiet driver - all available from asus's website.
You could also try updating the bios if you wish. I'm sure you are aware of the very low risk but significant dangers of this, so that one's up for you to decide.

Try underclocking the CPU slightly to see if that makes it more stable.

You could also trying underclocking the AGP or reducing the hardware acceleration for the video, although if the system is playing games without a problem then this is unlikely to be an issue.

Check for any resource conflicts. Even though most 32bit devices are supposed to share IRQs quite happily, some are more twitchy about it than others.

Try removing all unnecessary devices such as any USB devices, PCI cards etc in case one of those is the problem

The only other things I can think of would be hardware related, such as a slight incompatiblilty between the mobo & the RAM, or an issue with the hard drive. I did notice that your RAM wasn't listed in Asus's Qualified Vendors list.

Hope one of these suggestions provides a clue to the problem!

[SLayer666]

Ok i checked everything you said..nothin seems to work. But i have noticed something...it seems to be related to my internet if that makes any sense. It always seems to crash when im running file sharing program or surfing the web. At first i thought it was just file sharing prog but ive had it off for a couple days now and its been freezing up when i have internet explorer open too. Its still very random though, sometimes im on internet for 30min and other times im surfing for 5min and it freezes. Could my ethernet card be messing it up or my cable internet service?