Random Restarts after Power Outages

[blim89]

After a couple power outages in a two or three day timespan, my computer began shutting down at random times, sometimes during a game, sometimes after a game, sometimes, not even playing games at all. I immediately figured that it could be a power supply problem, so I went to BIOS and turned on the setting Restart Computer after Power Supply Failure. I also checked the voltages before Windows loaded and here are the stats:

Temperatures:
MB Temp = 44C / 111F
CPU Temp = 59.5 / 139 F

Fan Speeds:
CPU Fan Speed = 4115 rpm
Power Fan Speed = 1985 rpm

Voltages:
VCORE Voltage = 1.4V
+3.3V Voltage = 3.3V
+5V Voltage = 5.0V
+12V Voltage = 11.9V

Here are the numbers after Windows is loaded using the program Hardware Sensors Monitor.

Temperatures:
Mainboard = 43.0 C In the Yellow Zone
CPU1 = 55.0 C
CPU2 = 44.5 C

HDD Temperatures:
HDD1 = 43.0 C
HDD2 = xx.x C (greyed out)
HDD3 = xx.x C (greyed out)

Cooling Fans
Power = 1730 rpm
CPU = 1997 rpm
N/A = 0 rpm

Voltages:
+12V = +xx.xxV
-12V = -13.60V Number is in Red
+5 = +5.06V
-5 = -6.10V Number is in Red
Core = +2.66V Number is in Red
Aux = +3.18V Number is in Red
I/O = +3.36V

I'm guessing that the problem is either the Surge Protector/Backup-Battery Outlet that the computer is connected to, or the AC Power Supply connected to the computer itself is damaged. It may even be the computer temperature, it seems to be hotter than most other computers looking at the stats. Maybe the power outage damaged the Power Supply which is affecting the power of the computer fans?

Here is my computer's specifications:
Windows XP Home Edition
1 Gigabyte of Ram
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
3.06 Gigahertz Intel Pentium 4 Processor
A Motherboard made by SiS (Silicon Integrated Systems)? Not completely sure if SiS made the motherboard.
Sony Vaio computer
One 200 Gigabyte Harddrive
Yamaha Sound Card

Don't know what else to put in there. The computer restarts are random but I'm pretty sure it happens during cpu or graphic card intense games or when a lot of cpu power is being taken. Restarts occur between days of each other, so it does not happen often although enough to be bothersome. All I know is that this problem occurred after the power outages a couple weeks ago. Please help. Thank you.

[ski]

You're right about the MB temp. It's definitely too high. The CPU temp is also high, but not as bad as the MB. Also, the voltages in the red zone are not a good sign.
See what happens if you connect the computer's power cord directly to the wall outlet. If that fixes things, then the UPS unit may be damaged.
If that doesn't help, then remove the computer's cover, and run an external fan. If that reduces the temps and stabilizes things, then it's possible that the system's power supply was damaged.

[blim89]

Thanks, I'll try what you told me to do and see if there are any improvements. Will post back soon.

[Whyzman]

Also, something looks a bit fishy with your CPU fan speeds...

Before Windows loads and it's at 4115 RPMs and after, 1997 RPMs...

With the temps your running it should definitely be turning at the faster 4000+ RPMs...

[Paleo Pete]

I agree the temps don't look good, I also suspect the power supply is weak or damaged, but not totally fried. Try the external fan idea to check for heat related problems, and while the case is open clean out all the dust. Pay close attention to the heatsink and fan, dust on it acts like a blanket and holds heat in. If possible also try a known good power supply. Check BIOS and if you have any fan speed control options enabled, disable that. I'm not sure what it would be called for your motherboard, maybe you can look that up or someone here might have some knowledge of the board. You'll need the motherboard model for that...

[blim89]

I tried putting the power cord to a different power outlet with a surge protector and the voltages are still the same. The fan speeds are also the same but the temperatures have dropped lower, most likely due to the freezing temperature around here lol. I opened up the case, cleaned out all the dust and cleaned the heatsink as well. I eliminated the problem that the surge protector outlet was damaged so I'll try using another computer's power supply and see how the voltages are. I'll look in the BIOS to see if I can control the fan speed as well.

[blim89]

I tried replacing the power cord with another computer's but the voltages are still the same. I could not find any option to change fan speed settings. I'm guessing the only option I have is to either let the Geek Squad at Best Buy fix it...but I never faced a problem that I couldn't fix on my own. My other option is to just replace the supply power box in the computer. I'll try replacing the supply power box. If that does not work, then i'm beaten. Thanks for all the advice so far.

[Whyzman]

Something is definitely restricting the RPMs on the CPU fan once Windows is loaded. Do you have some sort of software program that is monitoring the temps outside of the BIOS...does this program allow you to set the CPU fan's RPMs?

[Paleo Pete]

Something is definitely restricting the RPMs on the CPU fan once Windows is loaded.

Good call, I missed tha part where Windows was loaded...guess I should actually finish my coffee before I start trying to think... :D

[blim89]

The fan rpm's are now constantly around 1700 to 1800 rpms for both the power fan and the cpu fans. Whether I check in BIOS or with the program Hardware Sensors Monitor makes no difference. I use Hardware Sensors Monitor to check out the system temperatures, speeds, voltages, etc. but it does not restrict my fan rpms and I did not turn on an option to do so either. The BIOS shows me that the voltages on my computer are correct but the Hardware Sensors Monitor program shows irregular voltages. Should I believe the computer BIOS voltages or the program voltages? Honestly, I think the BIOS voltages are correct which means that the power supply box is fine but I may be thinking too hopefully. If the power supply box is fine though, then I'm pretty sure it is a temperature problem because of the low fan speeds.

[blim89]

Here are the temperatures after I opened up the case and blew out the dust. I left the case open and the weather around here is getting pretty cool which probably factors into the temperature readings. Also, I'm not using BIOS information, i'm using the windows program Hardware Sensors Monitor program.

Mainboard = 40.0 C
CPU1 = 44.0 C
CPU2 = 41.0 C
HDD1 = 40.0 C

Fan Speeds:
Power = 1555 rpm
CPU = 1854 rpm

I'll try playing some games that require a lot of cpu power and see if the temperatures go up or if my computer shuts down again.

[siby Sebastian]

My motherboard is Gigabyte 7NF-RZ and processor is AMD Sempron 2400+. My system doesn't work properly. It halts sometimes and somtimes no display though the cpu fan is working. Is the m/b supports this processor? What is the suitable HDD?

[blim89]

Okay. After playing F.E.A.R. for about 10 minutes, the CPU1 temperature shot up from 45 C to 59 C, but I also noticed that the CPU1 fan speed went up from 1800 rpm to 3000 rpm. What does this mean and is the CPU temperature supposed to shoot up this high? I thought that the CPU fan speed should keep it down to a minimal temperature?

[Paleo Pete]

siby Sebastian:

Please start a separate thread with your questions, piggybacking onto an existing thread confuses things and makes it difficult for us to direct responses to each, and you'll have several of us concentrating on your question alone. Look on the thread list page for the "Core Hardware" section of the forums and you should see a blue button that says "New Thread". I think it's at the top left of the page, use that and we can concentrate on your questions rather than trying to deal with multiple problems here, it works lots better.

blim89: 45° C (113°F) is not bad at all to start out with, but 59°C (138°F) is getting a bit on the warm side. I think most motherboards are set to either 65°or 70°C for thermal shutdown. I don't like to see them get over 55°C (131°F) or so.

Something is changing fan speeds, and that I think is probably not a good thing. I always try to disable any fan speed controls in BIOS and don't use any Windows programs that allow it either, that way the fan runs full speed all the time. Check your BIOS again, somewhere in the Power Management section or Hardware Monitoring you may have a fan speed setting you haven't noticed. It also may have a name like "cool and quiet" or similar that may not be obviously a fan speed control. Slowing the fan down is where the quiet part comes in, slower fan makes less noise.

Judging by the idle temp, cooling wouldn't seem to be an issue at first glance, but with it getting within the worry zone after some CPU intensive usage I'm wondering if it might be worth removing the heatsink and replacing the thermal compound. DON'T DO THAT until you hear from a few more of the guys here, with idle temps that aren't a problem, it may be the fan control making more difference, let's see what the general concensus is first. And get a motherboard manual, find out what the fan speed control settings are and where they can be found. I thnk that's the main thing to check into.

Also check the properties or preferences of the hardware monitor program again, make sure it does not have a fan control ssetting somewhere you may have missed, something is definitely changing fan speeds and you need to know what. Read their online documantation, built in help files, see if they have a website with a FAQ or forums, and see if you can find any information about the program changing fan speeds rather than just monitoring them.

And by the way, the temperature convertor I'm using is found Here (http://www.onlineconversion.com/temperature.htm) for those who would like to be able to easily convert temps in someone's post to familiar numbers.

[blim89]

In my BIOS, in the menu where the computer temperature, voltages, etc. are seen, I can either choose to let BIOS ignore it or let it watch the components using sensors. If I choose to let BIOS ignore the fan speeds, will it then let it run full speed with no restrictions? On another note, I looked in the manuel for the Hardware Sensors Program and it CAN control the fan speeds but I made sure that they were off. Also, I looked in the specs for my computer at www.sony.com/pcsupport but the manuels there did not give me enough information for the BIOS. I'm probably looking in the wrong place. I used another program called Bios Agent to determine my BIOS and here they are:

Program: Unicore BIOS Agent Version 1.9
BIOS Date: 12/05/02
BIOS Type: Award Modular BIOS v6.0
BIOS ID: 12/05/2002-SiS645
BIOS Eval: ACPI BIOS Revision 1001
Chipset: SiS 651 rev 2

Is my BIOS type the Award Modular BIOS v6.0 one? Thanks for all the help so far.

[blim89]

Hi guys. Just giving you guys an update. I uninstalled Hardware Sensors Monitor. I went to www.sony.com/pcsupport and from there got directions on setting my BIOS to default values and then performing an NVRAM clear. I followed everything as instructed and when I started up my computer again, I could hear the fan running at a faster RPM. I tried playing a couple video games and no shut down :). I wanted to look at the temperatures and RPM's of the fans again so reinstalled Hardware Sensors Monitor and realized something very interesting. When Sensor 1 which was the Motherboard sensor was set to Diode, the program did not recognized the MB temperature but the MB fan RPM's went up and stayed that way. But when I set the Motherboard sensor to Thermistor, the MB fan RPM's went down dramatically. I set the sensor back to Diode and the fan RPM's went up. I feel like such a fool. The program must have been messing with my fan RPM's this whole time. The computer hasn't shut down randomly for a very long time. The voltages in the Hardware Sensor Monitor are still not correct but the one's in my BIOS says that the voltages are good. I'll trust the BIOS voltages. I'll uninstall the Hardware Sensors Monitor program after this post. So should I hope that the problem went away? Please give me advice. Thank you.

[Whyzman]

I'd certainly say you found the culprit! :) No shutdowns during serious game play sure looks good...

There is a program called Motherboard monitor...it is no longer supported by the author of said, but you might want to give it a shot. If it supports your motherboard it has a great on-screen monitoring feature that can sit down by your clock:

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/