Death of computer CPU related?

Has anyone else experienced the game crashing regularly to the point of when you do a complete shut down you can no longer turn the computer on at all?

I have tried to turn on the computer with just Graphics card CPU and MoBo (everything else out) and wont turn on at all, although when I do turn it on the Cpu fan does work and when I plug back in CD rom etc they do power up. I cannot turn on/ofef numlock so think that might be it? The screen does not turn on from powersave mode at all though (so doesnt get to testing stage at all)

Anyone know why this might be?

What's the power rating (watts) of your power supply and what amperage does it carry on the 12v rail? Both pieces of information are printed on a big sticker on the side of the PSU.

you might try a new CMOS battery for a start

follow instruction manual for doing it or if still under warranty check with the seller

I tried a new motherboard and that didnt help so dont think its the CMOS battery. I am not sure on the powerrating as I am at work, but I did a test on a site that added up the powerusage of my computer and it said I only needed 230watts. So guessing that its 300watts should be ok I would have thought.


I have:

TI4200
Athlon 1.8GHz + MotherBoard
1gb ddr ram
80gb hdd

I will try get them details tonight when I get home though.

Thanks for help so far!

Yeah, it might've said you only need a 250w PSU, but the actual power you get varies between every PSU you can buy. Check how many watts it gives, and check how many amps are on its 12v rail, I strongly suspect it's underpowered.

300W is more than enough for an older Athlon system like that. It is possible that your power supply needs to be read its last rites, though.

300w, 600w, it really will not make a difference if it's got a low rating on its 12v rail. Low 12v rail amperages, especially if it's a low-efficiency PSU, means that the thing is practically impotent regardless of what the wattage says.

Also, it could be that the PSU is beginning to pack-up, either that or the system's beginning to get hot somewhere it shouldn't.

Have you tried swapping out memory also. Sometimes this or a dodgy Graphics card can cause the machine problems when it tries to reboot.
If it is heat related, then the heat could be affecting these components which then causes them to pack up on a reboot.

Also, you say you tried another mobo, was that with all the same components?

If so, try swapping them over with spares if you have them. Or in the case of memory, more than 1 Ram Module, take one out and swap between them.

It's always best to try these things first, before heading off to buy new items. This helps to pin down which could be the faulty item.

In today's systems (P4 or Athlon 64) the amperage on the 12v rail is extremely important. When running a 1.8GHz Athlon and a GeForce Ti4200 it isn't. Any bog-standard PSU will work in an older system.

I was thinking the same thing. I have an Athlon 2400+ and a lot of other stuff running on a 340Watt with top end of 314Watt output if i remember right.
Never had a problem with it.
Also, I've had older systems too, all running 250 watt even less and never had issues with them either from 650 Athlons up to 1gig or so.

I don't disagree that the Power Supply could be faulty though and on it's way out, but my first port of call as I mentioned before would be the swapping of Memory and Graphics cards.
Even a loose Graphics Card can let a machine power up, but not actually boot up.
Check for loose connections in cables, cards and go for the swap. Could save you a bundle of money, by spending a little time.

Thanks for replies so far guys, been great!

Anyway in regards to the power supply, I checked it and it didnt say anything about a 12v rail, but I found it was only a 200 watt supply... yeah real old.

So anyway I dragged my system to my old folks place who had a 400watt AMD power supply that was working fine with their system that is a lot better than mine. Putting theres in did the exact same thing, powered up the HDD and CD ROM etc but nada in regards to booting, not even getting the screen turning on to tell me whats going on.

So cant be the PSU.

When I tried the other Motherboard I had used minimum components and I have tried swapping my mem sticks as well, I also tried taking them out completely which should have given me the beeping from the pc speaker but didnt get that either.

I have tried taking out the vid card thinking that I should get beeping from the pc speaker that there is no vid card, but that didnt happen either.

I would try another vid card but I dont have one. I shouldve tried my folks while I was there but they didnt want me messing with it too much.

So the only things I can see it being would be the Vid Card or the CPU, but I wouldve thought if I pulled the Vid Card it should beep at me telling me that its unhappy?

Any other ideas? Have a computer swap meet on this weekend, might just go get a socket 775 board and celeron and new psu I think heh.

Sounds like a good idea. I just hope it's not the Vid Card.

If it's not even booting up to the POST point, I think it's basic hardware that's your issue. PS, CPU, mobo, RAM.

it really depends what ure system specs are

please read before you write 1/2 extreme.... he wrote the specs above like 4 posts.

Try swapping the hd..... could have just died or put as slave or something.

Tried the HDD thing, as I said I tried booting with everything out except MoBo graphix and CPU and didnt even get the screen on, although the fan is spinning so power is running through motherboard to fan. Also I tried my folks monitor last night so thats not it either

Ok, so the monitor didn't come on. BUT, did your computer boot? Any of the lights on the front come on? If you have sound, did you hear the POST beep? Did it pass Checksum? You can tell any/all of those things by watching and listening to your PC. Believe me! I am queen of "Honey! I left the computer on last night during that huge storm and now it won't turn on...." I have replaced 2 MOBO/CPUs in the last year. One due to lightning. One due to heat. (BTW, it's a bad idea to leave the side of the case off when you have small children. Did you know that a fan with broken blades will not cool effectively and fry your proc with heat? I do!)

I dont want your luck nor do I wish it upon anybody. Yeah I know the normal sounds that a computer makes when loading up and I get none of that either. Usually get beeps when mem test is complete? or something and then hear hard drive start to kick over as it loads the OS. Get none of that.

I'm putting my money on your mobo being nackered.

Maybe the BIOS chip has died.

Try taking out your CMOS battery, touching the metal battery holder (on your mobo) with a screwdriver to earth it, swap over the BIOS reset jumper (look in your manual for this) for 10 seconds, swap back, re-insert the battery, reboot and see if you get anything. If it does work then go into your BIOS and set everything up as it will all be back to default settings.

Or, do you have a PCI graphics card spare that you could try? As your not getting anything though the AGP, the AGP port/AGP graphics card might be dead, PCI might actually show something on screen, but i doubt it.

Good Luck.

Just re-read his other posts. He has changed Mobo with no difference.
Having power to fans etc, just means the power is working ok and connected to the devices, means nothing as to whether the Mobo or Processor are working.

Just read what you wrote about the Keyboard and not switching off Num Lock. This may sound really stupid. Is you Keyboard PS2?
If so, pull the plug on it and boot your machine. I've had it once before where a dead keyboard actually stopped my machine from doing anything.

I never thought of that. Will try that tonight, but its a long long shot hehe. By tomorrow lunch time I will have a new system though if it doesnt then can get back to GW

same problem happened to me a few months back. Shop that I bought my case from said it came with a 350 watt PS turned out to be bunk, cause my cpu was doing the same thing as yours. I went and bought 2 new motherboards thinking that was the problem, but to no avail. Then I thought let me just go buy a new PS so I did..got a maddog 550 watt and bingo, solved all my problems and now my cpu runs ever so smoothly. So yeah I think thats your problem gl =)

PSU is a good idea, but the fact he has already hooked it up to his Parents PC with a higher watt PSU.

Ok, I understand PSU's can be all sorts of qualities, but more often than not, most of the ones i have a re bare bones with the Tower unit. They work fine all the time. The only time I have upgraded is when i know I need to have the extra power.

We'll find out soon enough if it was the Keyboard or maybe just a major fault with his CPU.