PC Freeze - power supply?

Certainly. Is the power supply of sufficient wattage to run a PIII chip? I'd recommend a 200 watt PSU absolute minimum for long life and reliable operation. Check the power supply fan isn't seized- I've had many power supplies go bad through seized fans.

It could be bad capacitors on the motherboard, or indeed inside the power supply. Are the tops of the motherboard capacitors domed or leaking? If so, there's your answer.

If not, grab a decent memory test program and see if you have a bad memory stick. Note however that if you have motherboard issues, bad caps or bad power supply, this can give false memory test failures.

Dave

I have thought of the RAM, and I ran windows memory diagonstic. It passed all tests without any errors. The fans all are working. I see no signs of capacitor damage. Enlight ats150 (150W). It is a relatively old PC and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the power supply. Is there any way to properly test the motherboard? Thank you for your help.

- Ryan

Not really. There's ultilities out there which do basic testing but may not pick up on flakey motherboards or pinpoint the exact problem. If you have a working power supply in another PC I'd try that to see if things improve. Substitution is often the easiest way to get to the bottom of annoying faults like this, but of course not everyone has access to spare motherboards, CPUs, power supplies etc.

One thing you can try is to remove every non-essential item from the system, ie remove sound cards etc and just leave the graphics card. Then try it and see how it goes. Add the hardware back to the system one item at a time, testing each time. A process of elimination can be very effective!

Also, if you have more than one RAM stick, try each one on its own to see if it helps. The memory test be not be adequate to really stress the RAM and pick up marginal faults.

Dave

It appears I have found the cause of the problem. I opened the power supply, and sure enough, I found a couple of capacitors which are buldging. I temporarily replaced the power supply with the one out of my computer, and was able to finish all my installations without further interuptions.

I am relatively knowledgable in basic computer troubleshooting, but I was completely unaware that a faulty power supply could cause this kind of problems. I always figured it would either work, or not.

Thank you, Dave, for your help on this. I will definately look at power supplies differently from now on.

It's strange- sometimes a power supply can be very badly damaged but cause no apparent problems. Then you get ones which might have slightly ageing caps which cause all sorts of issues. My own 550W power supply's fan seized, and the first I knew about it was a burning smell, a very hot PSU case and the PC refusing to turn on unless I unplugged/replugged the mains. The damage inside was extensive- all the caps had cooked with the heat off the heatsink and were badly domed and split. The electrolyte had leaked all over the board.

Glad to be of help.

Dave