another comp won't start up

[nrclptcnsmniak]

my comp has been dying for a few weeks now. i suspected that it was the power supply seeing as how i had a 420w power supply hooked up to 10 fans 3 hd's 2 optical drives my ati radeon 9800 pro and my amd 3200+. basically it just kept shutting off and restarting on me under high stress situations such as burning a dvd and playing a game at the same time. but just recently i installed a new heat sink due to the temp of my cpu. im pretty sure i didn't scratch the cpu die while installing and i didn't put too much thermal paste and i did put enough of it since my cpu temp dropped from 56 C to 43C. i put my comp back together and it worked just as it did before. i decided to check the windows update site and see if there were any new updates taht i needed. i dled the windows service pack 2 and installed it. it prompted me to restart my comp and so i did. when it restarted it reached the microsoft xp logo loading screen and it just restarted. as it was restarting it took an extra long time to detect my ide drives. but after that it went back to the loading screen and restarted. all of a sudden my comp under clocked itself to 1100 mhz instead of 2200mhz so i went to setup and optomized the settings and it went to 2500+ instead of 3200+ and now its having problems saving my settings from the setup menu and keeps underclocking itself to 1100 even at 1100 it wont start up... id appreciate it if anyone could give me some advice on what the problem is. im not sure if this is normal since i just connected my case speaker but it lets out a slightly low pitched beep then the regular starting beep.

 

[Joefox]

Got this from another forum, I will post later with more answers

BlueScreen Posts: I have a AMD XP 2200+ (1.79 ghz) CPU with 256 DDR. When i tried to install a stick of 256 DDR i bought the machine underclocks my CPU to 896 mhz. To my knowledge both sticks are PC2100. Is there a way to check what type of RAM i have inside my computer (it doesnt say it on the stick itself). Is there anything else that could cause this probloem?

 

[Joefox]

In another forum:

Viper posts: Also, make sure that your fan on the heatsink is still working..if a P4 gets hot it underclocks itself down to 700mhz to keep it cool.

Make sure that you put a sufficient amount of thermal paste on your CPU it's imperative (that means it's important). Make sure your heatsink is mounted properly and that it's getting sufficient cooling. Make sure that heatsink is designated to work with your CPU. Remount the Heatsink and put more thermal paste on it. If your CPU underclocks itself it means it's too hot. Turning it up will eventually just burn it out. It's trying to protect itself. Fix the heat issue and then you'll get your cpu settings back.

 

[nrclptcnsmniak]

before my comp gave out i checked it with the new heat sink on 2.2 ghz it was at 43C idle/51C load. these are the values after i let my comp run for about 10 minutes. i did mount my heatsink properly, but the freekin tab broke off when i tried removing it so now i cant re install if i were to remove it. i have also already tried removing one of the ram sticks. im gonna try my friends power supply (600w) just to rule out the possibility of a psu malfunction.

 

[Joefox]

Make sure the heatsink is approved to work with your CPU.

 

[nrclptcnsmniak]

the new heatsink is the aerocool ht 101... i doubt that it isn't approved... and even if it isn't, it fits perfectly and keeps the temps low. so i don't think it has anything to do with the heatsink. i just hope its not my cpu. thx, joefox, for replying to my thread we'll get it eventually

 

[Joefox]

Be careful, the cpu won't underclock itself unless something is wrong. Try not to damage it. No problem about answering your post

 

[kof2000]

maybe too many fans? 10 fans? are they inside or outside to keep the computer user kool lol.

 

[Praetor]

i dled the windows service pack 2 and installed it. it prompted me to restart my comp and so I did.

There's your problem

all of a sudden my comp under clocked itself to 1100 mhz instead of 2200mhz so I went to setup and optomized the settings and it went to 2500+ instead of 3200+ and now its having problems saving my settings from the setup menu and keeps underclocking itself to 1100 even at 1100 it wont start up...

How are you checking this? BIOS? Windows?

Viper posts: Also, make sure that your fan on the heatsink is still working..if a P4 gets hot it underclocks itself down to 700mhz to keep it cool.

Yes but AMD chips dont do anything like that so that shouldnt be the problem. Now the only reason i can see is that the bios is trying to run the memory at 1:1 with the cpu and if its PC2100 (266Mhz-->133Mhz) it would also be trying to clock the CPU at 133Mhz.

 

[nrclptcnsmniak]

i was checking the bios thru the setup screen. i got pissed so i decided to re install windows, and now, it works. i also replaced my psu and it doesn't shut down on me anymore i realized that after the comp shut it self down maybe as a safety feature or something downed itself to 1100 or something like that... but well problems solved. thx guys for your help. oh ya and 3 of the leds on my fans burnt out or something.... prolly from trying to overdraw my psu. i know similar compnent damage occurs when overdrawing power from a stereo amp.

oh ya and i have 4 fans in front 2 in back 1 on side 2 on heatsink and 1 exhaust blower under my gpu... i guess u can also count the tiny fans on the mobo and the gpu as 1 more... so maybe 11 haha...... ... the fans kinda do keep my feet cool...

 

[Praetor]

oh ya and I have 4 fans in front 2 in back 1 on side 2 on heatsink and 1 exhaust blower under my gpu... I guess u can also count the tiny fans on the mobo and the gpu as 1 more... so maybe 11 haha...... ... the fans kinda do keep my feet cool...

11 isnt that bad... just try not to stack too many on a critical rail (i.e., one with a hdd or something attatched to it)