Hello,
I am new and need help. I am posting from the USA.

I have a Pentium 4 processor and Windows Vista Ultimate operating system in my pc. I've upgraded my RAM to 2GB and my HDD to 931GB. Recently, I also put in a GEForce 7 series nvdia video card then I notice that windows shuts down frequently. I interpreted it as I need to upgrade my power supply. My problem is I am trying to put in an UltraX3 1000 watts but it does not give any power to my pc. If I install back my original 240watts psu my pc gets power. What am I doing wrong? (I've tested the new psu as not dead. It just does not give any power to my pc)

I really appreciate any input.

Thanks,
Nelda J.

Hi NeldaJ,

I'm going to move your thread over to the Hardware Forum where you will get more help.
Nice to have you visiting.

Please tell us a little more about your machine.

Brand and model, would be a good start.
When Windows crashes with your present PSU, do you receive any Error Messages?

Doug

Thank you for your reply. I have a Compaq Presario 5320US which originally came with Windows XP, 40HDD and 1GB of memory. When window crashes the error message is: window did not shuts off properly or have shut off to prevent damage to the pc.

Greetings NeldaJ

I am impressed you managed to get that box to run Vista at all! That computer was mfg starting around Sept 2001. Xp brand spanking new without a patch or service pack, and Vista meant a view and not a operating system.

Usually only the latest hardware gets through supporting Vista without issues. Yeah the Vista OS is a upgrade path from Xp, but generally the hardware fails in some manner on that vintage. Then the firmware gets in the way (bios and chipsets) which never dreamed of having Vista operating on them.

Sometimes you get lucky and you get patches and updates to push you along.

Doubly impressed that you were able to get a terabyte drive to work. Was working on the exact same model in at my work and could not image it with the factory disks (xp) to anything larger than a 80 gb drive. (xp disks were the original 2002 version, no service pack nothing) Ended up having to clone from the old 40 to a 160gb (with a third party software ) that the customer really wanted as a replacement. The old 40 was failing mechanically. Never was able to do a clean install with the original disks. No option to slipstream support for larger drive support.

The point of all of this that because of the age of the computer and its hardware you may experience more of the same senarios of incompatibilities popping up.
You will find the mfg (HP, who owns compaq now) will not support you on them. You will be on your own with this and may never solve all the issues fully.

With that in mind, you seem to have two issues. Hardware and I think software errors that are compatibility issues or failed drivers.

Issue 1: Is that new Ps really good? You may have metered the output, but it may be collapsing under load. If I recall correctly, the mother board is a 20 pin block connector and has the 4 pin pentium 4 connector. New powersupplies generally have a 24 pin block connectory with a removable piece to allow you to plug into a legacy 20 pin. Or some motherboards give you enough space for the connector to allow the extra four pins to hang over the connecter block.

Simplfy the machine only have the new ps, connectors to the 20 pin block, the four pin block near the processor. If the video card needs a power connector, connect that. No drives. extra fans, lights are to be plugged in. Obviously you want a monitor, keyboard, mouse on the system connected. Try your computer and see if you get a post. Success? then add one device at a time and reboot. No success or if when adding devices it fails try the same with your old Ps with basic connections. Note your success and failures.

It would not be the first time a New PowerSupply was bad out of the box.

Issue 2: Once the hardware is sorted out you would need to know further "what " is causing Windows to go into self preservation mode.
You can try booting into safe mode and see if the error occurs, you can start with Last known good configuration, a previous system restore point and see if you have any success.

You might need to see into the Administrative tools events logs, Events, Application, System. You are looking for clues to the shutdown. See something unusually like red X and the word error? Not all of them are important but some may lead to the problem. Success?

Try turning off Automatic shutdown/reboot on errors. You want Windows to present you a blue screen with information on it. Specifically you are looking for a Stop code it will be in Hex format, like STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0x805C6078, 0xF8ACF1E8, 0xF8ACEEE4). See if Windows will give up the causes for the shutdown.

Getting this information and troubleshooting results may get you your answer or closer to defining what is happening with your computer.

Good luck

Kaz