System locks up randomly, and sometimes fails to boot

Likosin · 01-29-2006, 10:27 PM

My system with the below specs, locks up randomly. This requires a hard reset, SysRq+R,K,S,U,B doesn't help. Sometimes, it does not turn on at all when I press the power button, and sometimes it turns on, and the fans start spinning, but I get no video. Here are my specs:

Motherboard: Soyo KT 880 Dragon2 (http://www.soyogroup.com/products/proddesc.php?id=296)
They have a version 2.0 of mine, so maybe mine is really bad?
Video Card: NVidia GeForce 6600GT
CPU: AMD AthlonXP 2600+ 1.9 GHz
Power Supply: 400W (or 350W, I can't remember) Athena Power

'sensors' output:

Code:

it87-isa-0290
Adapter: ISA adapter
VCore 1:   +1.63 V  (min =  +1.42 V, max =  +1.57 V)   ALARM
VCore 2:   +3.39 V  (min =  +2.40 V, max =  +2.61 V)   ALARM
+3.3V:     +5.92 V  (min =  +3.14 V, max =  +3.46 V)   ALARM
+5V:       +4.97 V  (min =  +4.76 V, max =  +5.24 V)
+12V:     +10.05 V  (min = +11.39 V, max = +12.61 V)   ALARM
-12V:     -16.32 V  (min = -12.63 V, max = -11.41 V)   ALARM
-5V:       -5.60 V  (min =  -5.26 V, max =  -4.77 V)   ALARM
Stdby:     +4.68 V  (min =  +4.76 V, max =  +5.24 V)   ALARM
VBat:      +0.00 V
fan1:        0 RPM  (min =    0 RPM, div = 8)
fan2:     4218 RPM  (min =  664 RPM, div = 8)
fan3:        0 RPM  (min =  664 RPM, div = 8)
M/B Temp:    +34 C  (low  =   +15 C, high =   +40 C)   sensor = thermistor
CPU Temp:    +39 C  (low  =   +15 C, high =   +45 C)   sensor = thermistor
Temp3:       +51 C  (low  =   +15 C, high =   +45 C)   sensor = thermistor   ALARM

The voltages stay constant most of the time, and I've seen Temp3 go as low as -9, and as high as 62. It has ALARM next to it maybe 20% of the time...

What should I do?

Half_Elf · 01-29-2006, 11:36 PM

Well, if you trust the output of sensor, then you have a very serious problem. Look carefully at these :

VCore 1: +1.63 V (min = +1.42 V, max = +1.57 V) ALARM
VCore 2: +3.39 V (min = +2.40 V, max = +2.61 V) ALARM
+3.3V: +5.92 V (min = +3.14 V, max = +3.46 V) ALARM
+5V: +4.97 V (min = +4.76 V, max = +5.24 V)
+12V: +10.05 V (min = +11.39 V, max = +12.61 V) ALARM
-12V: -16.32 V (min = -12.63 V, max = -11.41 V) ALARM
-5V: -5.60 V (min = -5.26 V, max = -4.77 V) ALARM

According to this, your power supply is going nuts and output very wrong power. look at the bold, the power is always way over or way under the normal condition. As example, the Vcore2 need ~2.5V but your PSU give it 3.39V ! It's is even worse if you look at the +3.3V.

You should really try with a new PSU, my first guess would be that this one is damn buggy... it depends on your trust of "sensors" (maybe the reading of sensors is just wrong!) but I wouldn't tolerate a PSU going that bad.

Likosin · 01-30-2006, 06:07 AM

Thanks for the feedback. The power supply is rather new, and i don't wan't to buy a new one since I'm short on cash, but I will if I have to. Next: Is there any way to test my power supply? Or maybe somehow verify the output of sensors? Thanks for the tip, though!