i think this may be my power supply?

[placeboblack]

I have been having problems with my computer just recently and i think it may be my power supply. the problem is that my computer just randomly resets with now error messages. the power just cuts off, then it automaticaly restarts. maybe i overloaded the power supply with too many USB connections since i used them all just recently? i unplugged all the USBs except for my mouse and the problem occurence has gone down but it still does it just not as frequent. i did all the basic checks such as memory and disk checks and it says everthing is fine. i even took my computer to a repair place and they said that they couldnt recreate the problem and then asked for 65 bucks. im really at the end of my rope here and any help would greatly be appreciated. thank you!

[Rick]

What do you have connected that the repair shop didn't ?

I'd start by looking at that first

If you get the problem and they don't then it may be something else

[Sylvander]

Knoppix 5.1.1 (http://iso.linuxquestions.org/knoppix/knoppix-5.1.1/)
Ubuntu 7.10 (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download)

Load and run a distro of Linux Off a live optical disk.
If the problem doesn't appear in that OS environment, then it isn't a problem with your PC's hardware [HDD excluded][BIOS Setup configurations included], but is probably a problem with your Windows software environment [configuration settings and/or drivers?].

Then see if it happens [or not] in Windows Safe Mode.

Which Windows version are you running?

[placeboblack]

im running vista, and i updated the drivers after all of this started happening. the only thing that the computer shop didnt have is all of my USB devices, like i said all i have is my mouse now but it still does the restart occasionaly. as for the linux route, im not too good with linux and by not too good i mean horrible.

[Sylvander]

"im not too good with linux and by not too good i mean horrible"
You don't need to be good with Linux to do this; you just download the iso file and burn that to an optical disk [I used a 700MB CD-RW], then boot that disk and mess around in the Linux environment.

e.g. Knoppix 5.1.1 opens a web browser automatically when you get to the desktop, and you could come here to the PC Guide with that.
I think there are also games available to play with. :)

[sassie05]

This may be a shot in the dark, but. I'm beginning to wonder about the mouse. Do you have a PS/2 mouse you can try?

Seems odd that the problem is still there and you are using the same mouse, but, the repair shop, did they use your mouse? (as RICK pointed out)

Maybe also try a different USB port.

This seems unlikely, but, there could be a short in the mouse or the USB port.

[risk_reversal]

How did you have all your usb devices connected ie one per port on the pc or through a usb hub (powered or not powered).

What kind of mouse is it ie make / model, wired / wireless, not a fancy gaming mouse which draws a lot of power...and if wired, is it connected directly into a usb port in your pc?

Are you using a usb keyboard at all?

If you are using a usb keyboard together with your usb mouse, I would second the idea of swaping both those items out for p/s2 ones and testing your system with no usb devices whatsoever attached.

I guess you could also delete all the USB Controller entries in 'Device Manager' and let windows re-install them afresh on reboot

Good Luck

[placeboblack]

all of the USBs were straight into the PC. as for the mouse its a usb microsoft mouse, nothing special. my keyboard is hooked into the pc via the usual way i guess. no, the computer shop didnt use my mouse. would deleting all of the USB controller entries and letting them re-install help with this problem?

[risk_reversal]

I recently helped a friend of mine whose usb mouse went on the blink. However I discovered that it was not only his mouse that was not being recognised but any usb device.

The only way to correct the situation was to delete the usb drivers. This was XP but I suppose Vista will also reinstall in the same way.

im running vista, and i updated the drivers after all of this started happening
Obviously, the driver upgrade which you conducted [not sure what kind of driver upgrade it was] fowled up something in respect of the usb bus.

One last question, did the pc repair shop also use a usb mouse to test it? I have to confess that personally, I had so much trouble years ago which Microsoft mice that I have never bought them since.

Good Luck

[placeboblack]

to tell you the truth i have no idea if they used a usb mouse. all i know is that they ran a bunch of freeware stress programs and charged me for it. the drivers i upgraded were my motherboard (intel) and video card (nvidia geforce), which both i guess have nothing to do with the problem

[Heartborne]

I think we might be looking at this the wrong way. It's highly unlikely that a few USB peripherals will overload the psu, unless of course you have six or eight USB hard drives on there or something else that is equally insane.

Especially since this issue continued after disconnecting all the devices. If the repair shop couldn't recreate the problem, they most likely weren't doing the right thing.
What are you usually doing when the computer shuts off? There may be different peripherals that are overloading the psu, or this might be an overheating issue. In either of these cases, the folks at the repair shop would have had to leave the machine on for a long period of time or make very harsh demands of it, neither of which they seemed to actually do.

Let's also not rule out the possibility that there is another piece of hardware on the machine that could be causing this. Placeboblack, if you can, can you post the specs or the make and model of your computer so we can get a better idea of what it is we are dealing with?

[placeboblack]

well i had 8 peripherals connected to the back when it first occured, the occurence has gone down since i unplugged most of them. i think my power supply is only 300 or 350 watts(or volts whichever). i have a custom built pc with an intel mother board, intel core 2 6700, 2 gigs of ram at 800, nvidia 8600 geforce gt. i hope that helps

[mjc]

Find out exactly what the specs on the power supply are...if the supply is just barely adequate for everything else (video card, CPU, cooling fans, etc) a single USB device that requires most of the bus power is enough to push it over the edge...

[placeboblack]

my power supply is 400 watts max

[Heartborne]

That is pretty weak to be running so many devices. That could be the issue, but I have a sneaking suspicion that something else is wrong. Try running the machine with no usb devices plugged in and see what happens, then connect one and run it, then another and so on until the machine crashes. Try to do this more than once so that you can verify that it is in fact the number of devices you are using that is causing the issue.