Biostar Tforce 550 SE Is giving me problems, Please Help!

C

Compunoob

New Member
Hey guys! As you can tell I am new here and am in desperate need of help. I recently upgraded a very old PC from 1999 and put in the following:
Biostar Tforce 550 SE Mobo
2gb A-Data Ram
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Socket AM2 Processer
GeForce 8500 PCI-e X16 video card
Seagate SATA HDD 160gb
Antec Truepower Trio Power Supply (430 watts)

I also have a Memorex disk drive.

The problem is that after setting it all up, the thing keeps turning off at random moments. Sometimes it will run for 10 seconds, other times for 10 minutes, but it invariably turns off without me pushing anything. It had a memory problem that I fixed and it resulted with me having only 1gb of ram. I have not loaded Windows or any OS yet. I reloaded the CMOS once. The Biostar website said that I don't need to update the BIOS. I can't figure out whats wrong. Please help! All suggestions are much appreciated!

Thanks,
Compunoob
 
I,ve never had any luck with Biostar boards and dont really like A-Data ram. Since you already had a problem with the ram, if you havent had them to long to RMA. I would send the board and ram back and exchange the board for a Asus-DFI or Gigabyte and the ram for G Skill-Crucial or Corsair.
 
Don't go sending anything back just yet...

Have you checked your CPU temps? Is your system health set to shut down at a certain temp. Anything over 65 degrees C is getting pretty hot (depending on the ambient temp and your cooling of course).

Sounds like a temp or power issue.

Are your voltages stable? do you have all your ATX 12v connectors on the mobo. There's probably a 24 or 20+4 and an extra 4 pin 12v.
 
I'd really rather not send it all back simply because I need the computer to work soon for school and living in Hawaii nothing comes fast. It's also a learning experience as well being that this is the first computer I have built. I do have my ATX 12V connector in as wel as the 24 pin connector. I'm going to watch the system health next time and see if it jumps for some reason right before it shuts off. I'll update once i've done that. Thanks for the help!
 
I vote for overheating, but while you're in there, check you voltages too. They should be steady right around 3.3v, 5v, and 12v. If they're jumping around much, you power supply may be the issue.

If it is over heating check to make sure your mobo isn't not set to overclock the CPU (could be set that way when you get it if it's a refirb). Check that your heatsink is installed correctly, check that all your fans are working, nothing blocking airflow ect.
 
Well I watched the system health and the CPU temp was steady between 21 and 23 degrees C and the system temp was steady between 25 and 27 degrees C. I'm getting to think it is the power supply....
 
if the temp was steady that low over a period of 15 minutes or so, then my next guess would be PSU. You can pick up a tester cheap, or just replace it with a known good PSU you have around.

Maybe try disconnecting everything but the mobo and HDD and see if it runs. then reconnect one at a time until it locks up. that should narrow it down to a component or PSU.
 
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You're running a pretty healthy vid card. If you can get your hands on a more powerful PSU, I'd try that. You may be running out of juice depending on what's running at the time. All PSUs are not created equal. Another option is to try and borrow a less powerful vid card and see what happens. Have you tried running in safe mode? I believe this will keep your vid drivers from loading and thereby cut down on the load on the PSU. It sure sounds like you're just not getting enough oooomph.
Bronson7
 
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i had the same problem with mine. i recently rewired it and forgot to attach the 4-pin molex connector to the motherboard (just above the pci express slot). there are three attachments for power, 24 pin slot, 8-pin slot, and the 4-pin molex. hope this helps.
 
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