help if you can

[wafflez]

Ok...so i replaced my failed PATA hard drive with a SATA this morning and everything works fine, but the computer will suddenly restart out of nowhere. The computer's around 2 years old with a 350watt (I know >_>, that's why i came here.) power supply, pentium 4 ht 3.2ghz, 1.5gb ram, radeon 9800 all in wonder, and a pci sound and pci wifi network cards. Now replacing the power supply is out of the option. I have 3 ram chips, a 1gb, and two 256mb ones. Will taking out the 256 ones help stop using too much power? Am I mistaken and is this not the power supply's fault at all?

EDIT: mobo is an ASUS p4p800 and I used a PSU calculator, it told me I needed 307 watts...

 

[wafflez]

ok i just took out one of the 256mb sticks and it's working fine now >_>. now can someone tell me how i delete a thread?



AGGHHH!! nvm, it just took longer for it to randomly restart...one thing to be noted though, is the screen will turn off and the power button doesn't do anything from then on. Is there any setting in BIOS that will fix this? or do i definitely need a new PSU? Also, could I have wired it wrong? Does every 4 pin connector coming out of the power supply provide all the different voltages or did i accidentally hook up an incorrect 'railing' to the hard drive...yes i'm a noob. I read the psu 101 and it says nothing about this so I assumed that any 4-pin in the case would work

 

[ceewi1]

Also, could I have wired it wrong? Does every 4 pin connector coming out of the power supply provide all the different voltages or did i accidentally hook up an incorrect 'railing' to the hard drive...yes i'm a noob.

All of the peripheral connectors are identical. Some PSUs have them on different 12V rails, but the chances of your 350W unit being one of those is virtually nil. It shouldn't make a difference anyway.

RAM chips use very little power, removing one won't reduce your consumption significantly.

Before you start replacing hardware, I'd first run memtest to see if fault RAM could be causing your problem. Your power supply is one of a few possible causes. I don't suppose you have a spare unit to confirm/eliminate the problem?

 

[wafflez]

it's not ram, this only started happening after I installed a SATA, (which was replacing an PATA)...what's strange to me is that it got through a whole installation of vista without turning off..and then once I actually started using it, it keeps turning off. I'm off to buy a new power supply sometime later today

oh and i should include, before the shut offs, i hear a very high frequency(as in speed) clicking...now two changes i have made to my computer, added 1gb ram stick, and new sata....when my last harddrive died, it sounded much different than this..
I took out the 1gb ram and booted and i still heard the sound...the sound is the hard drive for sure but it's brand new >_>...if anyone else has a maxtor 7200 rpm (200gb..i doubt space should matter)..can you tell me if your hard drives are noisy too?

 

[ceewi1]

I've used Maxtor drives before and they're no louder than any other brand. If this has changed only after switching a PATA drive for a SATA drive, it could be that the drive, SATA cable or SATA port on the board is faulty. A cheap and easy way to test the latter two is to try a different cable and plug it into a different SATA port - I've had two clients with bad SATA cables in the last month!

 

[wafflez]

phew..thank you so much ceewi. ok, it can't be the board, i tried both ports, the SATA is new so it's still under warranty and return, and the cables..i used a red one from fry's which was like $8 and a power converter which was around $2..i'll get different ones...*sigh* that's so much more of a relief than having to replace the power supply.

 

[ceewi1]

I can't guarantee that it's not the power supply, these are just things that I would try before replacing it. I find it unusual that a PSU would start causing problems immediately after a minor hardware change. It's not like your new drive will be drawing any more power than the old one.

 

[wafflez]

the SATA takes 600mA more and i just found out my power supply is 17A >_>...ok, then it's probably frys' fault...they shipped it OEM, with barely any padding..just a box..I'll call them and have it replaced.