A bit of PC advise.

TheDecepticon · #1 15-12-2009, 11:30 PM

I was wondering if any of you guys might be able to help me? I am having trouble with my imaging PC. It just shuts down point blank. I could be reading my email, stacking some images, using Photoshop, whatever. It doesn't just shut down as in when you slect to turn it off, it just goes dead like it has had a power failure or the switch has been flipped on the wall. I have no viruses that I can detect(can't keep it running long enough for a full scan) and I have removed the extra RAM that I put into it. It boots up again straight away, and will run for an indefinite period. The two things that I have observed that seem to affect it the most are heat and load. I had pulled the heat sink of and re-applied thermal paste for the processor some time ago, as I though it might be this, and I have one side of it off to help the air flow from the case fan, etc. I do have a problem in the device manager for an "SM Bus Controller". I believe that this has something to do with the fan or temperature readings etc, but I cannot seem to find a download anywhere to put this driver back into the system. Any suggestions would help, before I decide it's too old and get a later box. It is circa 2002, AMD dual core X64 2.1GHz, 2GHz RAM, 1TB HDD, 1056Mb video card(nVidia), Windows XP Pro SP3.

An i7 would be nice, but, oh well, dream on!!

michaellxv (Michael) · #2 15-12-2009, 11:50 PM

could be any one of the following.

bad memory - i see you removed the extra memory but you must still have some in there, can you swap and isolate to find the bad one?

video card - can you run with onboard video and see what happens?

does the BIOS have over temp protection - is this enabled and what is it set to?

bad drivers - have you updated anything recently? can you roll back? or are there newer drivers available for any components?

any component could be on its way out, if you don't get any message which gives a clue then finding it is a matter of trial and error.

AG Hybrid (Adrian) · #3 15-12-2009, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheDecepticon

I was wondering if any of you guys might be able to help me? I am having trouble with my imaging PC. It just shuts down point blank. I could be reading my email, stacking some images, using Photoshop, whatever. It doesn't just shut down as in when you slect to turn it off, it just goes dead like it has had a power failure or the switch has been flipped on the wall. I have no viruses that I can detect(can't keep it running long enough for a full scan) and I have removed the extra RAM that I put into it. It boots up again straight away, and will run for an indefinite period. The two things that I have observed that seem to affect it the most are heat and load. I had pulled the heat sink of and re-applied thermal paste for the processor some time ago, as I though it might be this, and I have one side of it off to help the air flow from the case fan, etc. I do have a problem in the device manager for an "SM Bus Controller". I believe that this has something to do with the fan or temperature readings etc, but I cannot seem to find a download anywhere to put this driver back into the system. Any suggestions would help, before I decide it's too old and get a later box. It is circa 2002, AMD dual core X64 2.1GHz, 2GHz RAM, 1TB HDD, 1056Mb video card(nVidia), Windows XP Pro SP3.

An i7 would be nice, but, oh well, dream on!!

Well, heat will do that, causing sudden shutdowns. However, Its not like your overclocking like a crazy nut either. It may be a air circulation issue, or lack there of. Making sure you have enough cooling I would guess is the best approach.

Ive read that to install the drivers for some SM Bus Controllers you would need to revert back to SP1, then install the drivers. Best bet to find them is the manufacturers website.

Another possible area is something you may have already pin pointed in your description more then you know.

Have you tried replacing the power supply?

mithrandir (Andrew) · #4 16-12-2009, 12:09 AM

If it runs for a while and then shuts down I'd bet on either an under spec or failing power supply, or overheating.

You have checked all the fans for dust and spinning at a reasonable speed? All case, CPU, video, and power supply fans.

Leaving sides off the case is in almost all circumstances not a good idea (ie anything other than in a rack in an air conditioned computer room). It disturbs the air circulation that the case was designed to have.

leinad (Dan) · #5 16-12-2009, 12:37 AM

Go into BIOS settings on boot, and check the thermal temps.
What temp you reaching at idle?
This is lowest; when the pc is under load the temp will rise. If it rises to high it hits the threshold and it will shutoff.
You should see the mb/case temp in BIOS too.

As the weather warms up; some PC's just get too warm?

Other than that; installed any updates or software/drivers just before it started shutting off?

Kal (Andrew) · #6 16-12-2009, 12:37 AM

What temps do you hit? (you might be able to read idle cpu temps in bios)

Most likely hardware fault, for software you'd be more likely to bluescreen.

When did these problems start? Was there anything you did to the pc before you first noticed the restarts? Some piece of hardware you installed?

leinad (Dan) · #7 16-12-2009, 12:48 AM

What motherboard is it?
SM Bus controller is usually associated with chipset drivers.
Intel, nForce..

You may possibly have an nForce 590 board?; if so just google for the drivers.
You'll find brand/model on the motherboard itself.

vindictive666 (John) · #8 16-12-2009, 08:18 AM

hi

try downloading speedfan

thats a handy utility that can tell you fan speeds hdd temp core temps ect ect

you can download it at the following link

http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php

regards john

lookus · #9 16-12-2009, 09:17 AM

this is often by a process of elimination. it coould be one of so many things.i have built and overclocked many pc's and it coould take some time to isolate.

start with any recent updates of drivers. do a system restore and see if that fixes it.

in addition i would download a stress testing program to test various components .

one which can test several components is OCCT.

http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/index.php?Download

start with a medium cpu test. this will test cpu, ram and northbridge chipset.

download speed fan or real temp to monitor cpu temps.

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/Real_Temp/

you can run another cpu test to further test ram. (also as someone else said to isolate ram you can also remove and replpace ram sticks one at a time.

there is also a power supply unit test to test if the power supply is faulty.

then try a graphics card test to test gpu.

if you are willing to try this you shoould be able to isolate the problem.

TheDecepticon · #10 16-12-2009, 06:38 PM

It is a Gigabyte mother board, and I cannot find the download at Gigabytes site either.
Mmmmm....Speedfan. Well, I have no love for this useless little program(personal opinion). It doesn't normally run long enough to test any thing.
I was having a chat to a mate of mine, and I reckon it is the mother board. He has a spare board and we're going to swap it out and test it. Thanks for all the advice, I will take it all on board before I pull it down.

leinad (Dan) · #11 16-12-2009, 06:54 PM

Do you have the mothboard driver disc ? just use that.

You'll see the model number on the board itself.
I bet it's GA- K8sumthn. find it and google it.

All you need to confirm is that it uses the nForce chipset
Most like sounds like nForce3 250

Find that out then go here.
http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us

Choose nForce. 2000 Professional means nForce2, 3000= nForce3

Heck of alot easier then swapping the guts over.

Robert9 (Robert) · #12 16-12-2009, 08:18 PM

Open the case and blow a warm hair-drier around and see if that promotes the shut-down. If it does, allow the unit to cool, then restart. This time, try and be a bit more directive with the hot air and see if you can locate the heat-sensitive part. I have successfully used this technique to find faults in TV sets that start to act up after they have been running for a short time.
You could also try re-seating your various cards and the memory chips.
If it turns out to be a problem on the MOBO, what better excuse for a nice new PC, an i5 perhaps?
Robert