Help totally confused

[Smelly-Finger]

Right i'm lost here, haven't a clue what is up so suggestions please

My symptons are complete system lockup at various times doesnt seem to be anything specific ie when i'm playing games which would point me towards conflicts or drivers.

I sorta upgraded i installed 2 case fans, a HDD cooler and a larger cpu sink and fan. while i was doing that i also installed a DVDRW drive. So i was thinking maybe the extra fans are creating a power drain and thats what is freaking the system.

My specs

AMD Barton 3000+
Speeze copper eagle CPU fan Here
MSI KT400 K4V-L
512MB PC2700
Maxtor 80GB HDD Primary Master
Speeze HDD Cooler
Maxtor 120GB HDD Primary Slave
Benq CDRW Secondary Master
Emprex DVDRW Secondary Slave
Soltek Geforce FX5900 AGP
SB Audigy 2 Platium (PCI slot 3)
DXR3 DVD Decoder (PCI slot4)
Realtek 5 port hub (PCI slot5)
Belkin USB Bluetooth adapter
Philips USB Web Cam (can't remember model)
Jeantech 350w PSU

Now the system was running fine until the extra fans and DVDRW drive (the drive replaced an old creative labs dvd rom drive) I've tried with and without the drive both are fubar. Do you think that i need a PSU with more output or as i'm beginning to fear buggered up the CPU changing the fan.

Oh if you think it might just be a heat thing what do you recomend i clean the CPU with to remove and reapply the thermal paste ??

Cheers

 

[DwarfData]

I would suggest a higher rated PSU. 350w isn't much to power that lot. Sporadic crashes, I've found, can quite often be attributed to the PSU.

 

[dreamliner77]

It could be the PSU. I'd also try reseating the HSF, perhaps it's not seated correctly? Also, is a dvd decoder really necessary on that system?

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Have you updated your bios??

 

[Smelly-Finger]

Right so seems to be fingers pointing at the PSU.

The reason i have a dvdrw is so I can put films onto dvd. Since i have the audigy 2 i can just connect my CamCorder via firewire.

Haven't updated my BIOS, only ever tried that once and made a mess so i'm very wary of trying again. i do know the modo is running the second latest bios so it supports sempron chips.

I'll reseat the HSF and see what happens there, will i need to clean off the thermal paste and reapply or just "jiggle" it a bit and slap the HSF back ontop ??

 

[LeeJend]

With all those PCI add in's 350W is probably too small.

Try pulling out all the new stuff and see if it behaves. Then add items back in one at a time starting with the DVD.

Before you pull the HSF check the temp after running for a while. If it's under 50C it's not causing the crashes.

Make sure the fans in front blow in and the fans in back blow out.

 

[Smelly-Finger]

Thanks everybody it was indeed the PSU. well i think it was. I thought it was the problem anyway since i hadn't upgraded it from my old pIII system.

Reseated the HSF and a few other tweaks problem only occured with the new HDD cooler installed so that must have been pushing the PSU to it's limit.

Got a 500w now that will keep me going for a while.

 

[jimi_81]

this stuff is always helpful to read.

bank it all in the troubleshooting notes.