MTS: My computer is slowly dying (ala House, MD)

[Epon]

Okay, so my computer is slowly deciding to shut down it's insides every time I reset it. A few months back, I realized that my vent fan was no longer working, the motor blew. So I got a new one and installed. BIOS or whatever thinks that it's still nonexistent, so I just hit F1 to continue.

If my comp stays on longer than a few hours, USB functions start to go away. My external HDD's aren't recognized, nor is anything else I plug into the ports. Then my sound card goes. Windows thinks its not even there and I need to respecify a device.

Then my DVD+RW will shit out, won't even respond to button presses! My regular DVD-ROM still works though... odd.

But all these are fixed with a reboot, then it's just a few hours until everything dies again. What. The. Fuck.

[Robert]

Well, ignoring the vent fan sensor issue (probably unrelated), I'd say the rest of your problems might be the power supply is going bad. (It does happen after all.) Although the whole thing of specific hardware just starting to cease functioning is odd and I don't think I've ever seen that before. Of course, intermittent power supply failures could affect different things in different ways, i.e. different devices have different tolerances to sudden spikes of power. It may be a very subtle regulation problem that's causing your devices to be shut off if but for a microsecond which sends them into a locked up state. The reset of the computer tells all peripherals to reset as well, so they get out of their vegetable state and continue operating until something goes wrong again.

Another interesting thing to consider is the affect of heat, which does build up only while the machine is running. This can also cause parts to fail. (So maybe something IS wrong with your cooling fan? Or not enough air for exhaust...) I used to have a computer where after operating several hours in summer heat, the keyboard controller (not keyboard itself) would suddenly malfunction and require a full reset. I didn't wait to see if anything else would go wrong, and would shut down and fan the thing off.

[Epon]

Yeah, bugger.

[Epon]

So I peeked inside and it seems that the power supply is rated for 250 watts, which is nothing fantastic to say the least! I know my CPU uses upwards of 40W for itself, and God knows what my 18-million PCI cards in the back are doing, along with the two DVD drives and other shit goin on inside. So what happens when a power supply is overworked? Please tell me this, because I can suck up buying a new power supply than making a new computer.

[Eric]

Oh wow. You almost definitely need a better PS, yes. 500w probably wouldn't be a bad idea, especially if you have a high end processor, and will also allow breathing room for more peripherals or a future system.

[Epon]

I know I should get a new PSU, but IS THIS WHAT WOULD BE HAPPENING?

[Artemus]

...well, if you need to get a new power supply as it is, it couldn't hurt to install it and see if that fixes things. If not, then...at least you've eliminated a possibility.

[Eric]

epon said:

I know I should get a new PSU, but IS THIS WHAT WOULD BE HAPPENING?

Chill out. I've never run into your specific problem, but given what Rob said about power fluctuations etc., wouldn't it make sense that an insufficient PSU could cause your devices to behave erratically?

[Sz]

From what I've read in this topic, Epon, I think it's safe to conclude that the PS is at least a major part of the problem, and probably the root cause of all this craziness. Rob did pinpoint it before you even mentioned the low wattage. which should probably be enough to convince anyone. ;>

That doesn't mean that there's nothing else wrong, and in fact, having a spasmodic power supply probably didn't help a few other components out in the durability department -- but giving your computer a better amount of juice can only help in this case.