Freezing Problem

Computer freezing problems. I'll introduce everything. 4 days ago, on friday, I bought a new harddrive(Seagate Barracuda 320gb SATA II), a new graphics card(Geforce 7900 GS KO 256mb), and a webcam. Friday night I installed my new card, uninstalled the drivers for my old card, installed ones for my new card. Restarted computer. When I logged in, the nvidia controllers gave me a pop-up saying that my card wasn't getting enough power. I have a 500w power supply, so I'm assuming that it should be giving enough power. It is also saying that it disabled SLI, even though my motherboard doesn't support SLI, but I just ignore that message. I played a game for an hour, everything went fine. Improved FPS, and all that good stuff. No freezes. After that I decided to install my harddrive. I just got it formatted and everything last night. So far it seems okay. I also installed drivers for and hooked up my webcam friday night. And I installed a usb card. Since I installed my new graphics card, my computer has been freezing periodically. After about an hour of semi-idle, it will freeze. I don't even have to have anything being used, it will just freeze. After about 20 minutes of a game, it will also freeze. I was just wondering if you guys had an suggestions before I start unplugging things, changing cards. Thanks again Brad

Even 500 watt power supplies can go bad.

Run Everest 2.20 and save the "Sensor" printout to a notepad file. Post it here into this thread.
you can get Everest 2.20 free, here:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

The "Sensor" selection will display "temperatures and voltages" both are critical when adding components, expecially with higher end Video Cards.

Best Regards

Sensor Properties: Sensor Type Winbond W83647HF (ISA 290h) GPU Sensor Type Driver (NV-DRV) Motherboard Name Asus P5LD2 / P5WD2 Series Temperatures: Motherboard 44 °C (111 °F) CPU 47 °C (117 °F) Aux 47 °C (117 °F) GPU 53 °C (127 °F) Maxtor 6V200E0 35 °C (95 °F) Seagate ST3320620AS 37 °C (99 °F) Cooling Fans: CPU 3184 RPM Voltage Values: CPU Core 1.18 V Aux 3.60 V +3.3 V 3.30 V +5 V 5.62 V +5 V Standby 5.02 V Debug Info F FF D4 FF Debug Info T 44 47 47 Debug Info V AF E1 CE D1 FF CA CB (03)

I'm guessing that those values (temps are all higher than desired) were taken with the machine running very little in the way of applications and not under intense gaming conditions. Does the machine "freeze" only when under stress, or at random? Your 5 volt rail is .62 high…….. Not good. I'd be considering replacement of the PSU. (but first, do what you can to decrease temperatures) I'd be thinking of replacing or adding case fans. Since you've had the case open to add the Video card, you had an opportunity to check for dust/dirt. Are the HeatSink blades completely clean and providing excellent circulation of air forced by the heatsink Fan of your CPU. You should see "metal or color" and not brown/grey. Can you see completely through the heatsink blades, without accumulation of dirt/dust. If not, get a can of compressed air and clean out the dust/dirt. You might want to consider getting a good quality Desk Fan. Open one side of your tower case and have the Desk Fan blow directly at the middle of the Motherboard, providing more air ciruculation than with only the small case and heatsink fans. Run Everest 2.20 again under a couple of conditions: Under stress of high graphic activity gaming - capture and save the "Sensor readings" Case open with good quality Desk Fan providing the circulation - capture and save the "Sensor readings" If the heatsinks were dirty and clogged run another test condition after cleaning. Best Regards

I ran those test's and didn't see to much of a different in my voltage area. I had a couple of filter things with my fans, and i took those out and my temperature have all dropped down about 6-8 degrees celsius. they were just to full of dust, adn not allowed air flow… I'm thinking that i need a new power supply.

Yep & Yep But let it run for a few days now that you have better temps due to your physical cleanup. You may be surprised at the added stability that you experience from better cooling. Best Regards

Thanks a bunch dough. I haven't frozen while jsut sitting "idle" for a day now, so that's more like it. My graphics card is saying it is getting dialed back from speed, because it doesn't have as much power as it needs, but i'll get a different psu soon enough

My graphics card is saying it is getting dialed back from speed, because it doesn't have as much power as it needs

That's a pretty sure indicator.
I've experienced the same myself when working on other people's machines.
New PSU's fixed them up just fine.

Since you "are" getting that alert from your Video Card, don't wait too long before getting the new PSU.

Electronic elements, just like electric motors, tend to struggle harder and produce more heat/ less efficiency when run at lower than appropriate voltage/amperage. Not a good thing for your machine, even though the Video Card dials itself back. Some/most elements of your machine do not have the ability to make those kinds of adjustments.

Best Regards