anon@anon.com wrote:

On Tue, 13 Jul 2004 00:23:30 +1200, "~misfit~"
<misfit61nz@yahoo-mung.co.nz> wrote:

May I suggest you download and run a little proggy called Prime95 in
stress-test mode. I have a feeling your PC isn't stable due to
insufficient vcore, bad RAM or similar. If Prime 95 fails to run for
a few hours try Memtest86+ from a boot-disk to just test your RAM.

I tried the Prime95 torture test and it rebooted within 2 minutes.
Yikes!  I ran Memtest86+ for 2 hours, 7 passes, with no memory
problems.

If it's not memory, CPU or temp, and it's not the hard drive, and all
other programs seem to work fine then I can only surmise that it is
something funky in software. It must be WinXP.

Actually, IMHO, the above behaviour points to a problem with your CPU when
doing *really* intensive tasks. (Memtest really just tests memory, Prime
tests CPU and memory) My first guess would be the vcore being too low. Try
downloading the latest version of Motherboard Monitor 5 and checking what
your vcore is running at. I know you say your PSU is more than enough for
your needs but it isn't that simple. With the advent of CPUs being run from
the 12v rail instead of the 5v or 3.3v as they used to be some PSUs have
ample power available on the 3.3v and 5v rails but not enough on the 12v
rail for stable CPU conditions under full load.

Install and configure MBM5, then check your vcore, then start Prime95, or
BOINC, and watch your vcore to see if it drops. If it isn't low vcore then
I'd think defective CPU. If it is low vcore you may be able to raise it a
little in your BIOS to try to compensate.

These days simply looking at the total power rating of a PSU isn't enough.
It matters more how much power is available on the three main rails and
whether you have the 12v power socket for the CPU and/or a molex connector
that some high-end video cards require. It's getting complicated. Does your
board have the four-pin socket for 12v input, does your PSU have the
connector and is it plugged in? (If the PSU doesn't have the connector I
believe there are molex adapters available for it). I've seen some mobos
that have the socket that will run without it being connected and others
that simply won't run without it.

Good luck.
--
~misfit~