[dlw]

sys is 1.6ghz, 256m ram
W98SE.

Without any warning the computer shuts down, turns off completely.
Any ideas why?

If bad motherboard; how do I test it?
If bad ram, how do I test it?

TIA
dlw

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Complete shutdown usually means power supply or motherboard or heat. Reboot would be drivers or ram.

The first two are not easy to test (the first you can swap out a power supply from another machine). The latter....

Heat...open the case and blow a fan lightly across the inside (set to low)

[gerryf]

Complete shutdown usually means power supply or motherboard or heat. Reboot would be drivers or ram.

The first two are not easy to test (the first you can swap out a power supply from another machine). The latter....

Heat...open the case and blow a fan lightly across the inside (set to low)

[dlw]

Found a free memory test progam at www.memtest86.com/
I had it once before for both the Linux and W98 side of my box.

Three fans > plenty of ventilation/cooling.
Everything new > less than ten hours use.
Need to figure out before warranty runs out > 90 days on
ram and motherboard; 30 days on box.

dlw

Edited by dlw, 17 May 2005 - 09:57 PM.

[gerryf]

Everything new > less than ten hours use.

Did you apply heatsink compound, and apply it correctly between the CPU and heatsink?

A trapped air bubble can cause overheating. Can you measure your temps with a utility provided by the motherboard maker? Who made the motherboard? Does it have thermal protection?

[dlw]

The heatsink compound was already there.
All I had to do was secure the fan atop the chip.

There is thermal protection.
I'm not at the particular computer now.
Will have to answer the other questions later.

[gerryf]

what do you mean "already there"

[dlw]

There was a layer of heatsink on the bottom of the aluminum fan mechanism covered by a clear sheet of thin clear plastic. You remove the film before clamping the fan over the cpu.

I scraped a corner slightly to make sure it was heatsink.

[gerryf]

OK, so it was new heatsink compound...wasn't sure the way you described it. on the one hand, you said it was relatively new system, but then these are hardly current componants.

Since this motherboard has thermal protection, and since it will shut down your system if it gets to hot, we still need to check the heat thing. You need some type of motherboard monitor (either generic or supplied by mobo maker), and you need to know what the shutdown temp is set at.