# Computer randomly shuts off or freezes. Pretty sure it's not overheating, but...



## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

I could still use some help troubleshooting.

*System Specs*

Windows 7 64bit Home Premium 
i5-2500K
 MSI P67A-G43 
8G RAM 
RadeonHD 6950

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 My computer has been either *A)* Randomly restarting, usually after about 30 minutes on the dot, or *B)* Freezing after about the same amount of time, regardless of what I'm doing (in Firefox, opening up a program, etc.). I've had the computer for about 10 months, and it was my first build. I actually haven't been using it at all recently, and the first time it did this was about 36 hours ago after basically idling all day and doing absolutely nothing intensive - I barely touched it the previous 4-6 hours.

At first I thought I was overheating, so I cleaned out the dust (there was some, but not massive amounts) and checked the thermal paste, which looked fine, and ran Core Temp and Speed Fan. Everything was fine (temps did get a bit lower after I cleaned it out) but they're nowhere near over heating, so I'm almost certain this isn't the issue You can view the topic I made about it overheating yesterday here. I also think my PSU is fine, it's 750W and didn't really have much dust, nor is it making noises (not sure what else I can check on it). Here are a few other things I've tested out, none of them helping:

*RAM Test: *I checked the RAM in BIOS and everything checks out.

*Competing Drivers / Out of Date Drivers: *I had 2 audio drivers, and read that this could be causing an issue, so I disabled one of them. I also checked all of my drivers for updates and everything was up to date.

*I disabled sleep & hibernate:* since the majority of the turn-offs/freezes seemed to happen about 30 minutes after turning the computer on.

*Event Log:* I checked the critical errors in my event log, I had an error code 41 about Kernel-Power. Also, I read through another similar topic and found out how to get more details about these errors and the majority of them mentioned something about insufficient resources for the display (sorry I can't be more specific, I didn't write it down, but I could turn the computer back on to check the event log).

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When the computer turns itself off, there is no BSOD. It's black, with white underscore at the top left corner, and in the bottom right there is an A2 (I think this is based on the monitor) for about 10 seconds. Then I get this screen that says a required device is inaccessible. http://i.imgur.com/Tigry.jpg

However, if I manually power off and back on, it starts up normally. Then I wait about 30-ish minutes and it happens again (either freeze, or shut off). I let it rest last night, and right now I'm letting it sit in BIOs to see if it still turns off or freezes. Oddly, when I turned the computer on, the CPU was about 50C, and after about 10 minutes it's now sitting at 61C and has been so for the last 3 hours with no shut offs or freezes. I did order some thermal paste, so when I get that I will have the option of replacing it. I did a system restore to a few days ago and that didn't fix it.

Any idea about what my next steps should be? I was going to go ahead and insert the windows disk and run repair, but I'd like to figure out if this is a hardware issue before resorting to software solutions.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

No suggestions?

I was able to stay on for about an hour, and I was messing around in Illustrator & Dreamweaver, and then I got a lock up. Curser was spinning, I could move it around, but couldn't click on anything. Tried to CTRL ALT DEL but it stayed on the "Preparing Security Options" screen until I hard powered off.

Could this be an issue with my PSU after all? I mean, it's gotta be hardware, right?


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Power supply, or maybe a fuse/circuit breaker in the power circuit, would be my top suspect.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

TerryNet said:


> Power supply, or maybe a fuse/circuit breaker in the power circuit, would be my top suspect.


Thanks for your response. Is there any way I can test this without another PSU to pop in? (if it helps, the last time it shut off, the screen kind of did this thing where half the screen died in like alternating horizontal stripes of black and the actual screen. Then like 2-3 seconds later it just shut off.

There was a storm about a week ago, slightly before this started happening, where we lost power. Could this have damaged the PSU?


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

> where we lost power. Could this have damaged the PSU?


When power goes off and then again when it comes back there can be spikes or brief periods of "brownout." And anything connected is in potential danger.



> Is there any way I can test this without another PSU


Not that I know of. There is probably test equipment, and it probably costs more than another PSU.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

Do you mean PSU?

I guess they're not to expensive, I could just order another one. Hmmm...wish I knew this was the problem for sure, but thanks for the info.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Have you checked the temps?


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Have you checked the temps?


Yes, if you read the first post in the topic I stated that I've already gone over temperatures and have pretty much ruled out overheating as far as I can tell.


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## TerryNet (Mar 23, 2005)

Yeah, I meant to type PSU. Sorry.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Have you checked temps in the bios? Speedfan and core temp are frequently unreliable. HWmonitor is better and it gives you the voltages and tracks them.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Have you checked temps in the bios? Speedfan and core temp are frequently unreliable. HWmonitor is better and it gives you the voltages and tracks them.


Ahh, well I was only able to find the CPU temp in BIOs, and it was reading about the same as what Core Temp and Speedfan gave me. Nothing too high.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Try HWmonitor http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor/versions-history.html

Post a screen shot of it after it has run a while


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Try HWmonitor http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor/versions-history.html
> 
> Post a screen shot of it after it has run a while


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

I'm not familiar with MSI boards as I don't use them, but MSI must have a utility to check voltages. HWmonitor is showing your 12v at around 8v. It could be HWmonitor not reading the sensor correctly.

Check the RAM with memtest86. http://www.memtest.org/ This takes a while. Do you know how to create an ISO file?


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> I'm not familiar with MSI boards as I don't use them, but MSI must have a utility to check voltages. HWmonitor is showing your 12v at around 8v. It could be HWmonitor not reading the sensor correctly.
> 
> Check the RAM with memtest86. http://www.memtest.org/ This takes a while. Do you know how to create an ISO file?


I'm unfamiliar with how to make an ISO. There's a lot of files to choose on here, which should I get?

Oh, BTW in the BIOs I was able to run a RAM test straight from there. It said the RAM was good, if that counts for anything.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Download this one http://www.memtest.org/download/4.20/memtest86+-4.20.iso.zip
I use Imageburn to create ISO http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
Install Imageburn and use the one i circled to create a bootable disc.
Memtest is a thorough test of your RAM, like I said it takes a while.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Download this one http://www.memtest.org/download/4.20/memtest86+-4.20.iso.zip
> I use Imageburn to create ISO http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download
> Install Imageburn and use the one i circled to create a bootable disc.
> Memtest is a thorough test of your RAM, like I said it takes a while.


Thanks! I'll post the results when they finish.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

You can select mode from the drop down (Mode) menu at the top.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

Been going steady for 2 hours now, no errors yet.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

It's probably good then. 
Next test the HDD I don't know who your drive manufacturer is Hitachi/IBM
Seagate, Samsung, Maxtor & Quantum
Western Digital
Again create an ISO and run it.


Another thing you can do is unplug all usb devices except keyboard and RAM, unplug the CD/DVD ROM and run the computer with nothing but the essentials. If it doesn't shut off on you start adding things back in one at a time until you find what is causing shut downs.

You can also try uninstalling your video card drivers and reinstalling them.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

I have my OS installed on an SSD and then a regular HDD for storage. Should I test them both, or just the one with my OS on it?


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

No don't test the SSD. You treat them differently and you don't defrag them.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> No don't test the SSD. You treat them differently and you don't defrag them.


Tested the HDD long and short, checks out fine. Uninstalled and reinstalled video drivers, we'll see if I still get a shut off.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Do you have anoter power supply that you can use or borrow. Remember the 12v rail was showing 8v. It probably is an error in the reading from the mobo, but is worth checking out.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Do you have anoter power supply that you can use or borrow. Remember the 12v rail was showing 8v. It probably is an error in the reading from the mobo, but is worth checking out.


I don't, unfortunately. I might just order a new one, but I'd rather know that the problem is the PSU before spending my scant amount of money on one.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Saving_Throw said:


> I don't, unfortunately. I might just order a new one, but I'd rather know that the problem is the PSU before spending my scant amount of money on one.


Cheap power supplies are just that, they are one of the most important parts of your computer it's not a good place to take shortcuts.

Have you disconnected everything as I recommended in post # 20?


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Cheap power supplies are just that, they are one of the most important parts of your computer it's not a good place to take shortcuts.
> 
> Have you disconnected everything as I recommended in post # 20?


It's a 750w from a brand that I remember reading was very good (can't recall off the top of my head). If anything, I think when my house lost power it could have been damaged.

I haven't disconnected things yet, I'll do that. I have an old logitech keyboard, Razr Naga mouse, and just the one disc drive. I'm waiting to see if I freeze/lose power again, and if I do, I'll try disconnecting everything. Thanks for the help so far.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

Damn it, happened again. The weird thing is, it shuts off, makes the 3 beeps that it always makes when it turns on, and just sits on a black screen with the white underscore in the upper left corner. The power on the case is on.

Grr...I guess I'll try disconnecting the mouse and disc drive.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Let me know how it goes.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Let me know how it goes.


So this time, after about 30-40 min, my windows UI went away, leaving only the mouse cursor and the desktop wallpaper. I hit CTRL + ALT + DEL and it just took me to a black screen, then after a few seconds, computer beeps and goes back to the black screen.

Could there be a problem with windows after all?


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

I still think it is the PSU. But the only way any of us can tell for sure is try a know working PSU in your computer.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> I still think it is the PSU. But the only way any of us can tell for sure is try a know working PSU in your computer.


Yeah, that seems to hold up to the fact that I lost power right around the time this started to happen. I guess my only option is to risk a windows repair/fresh install, or order a new PSU.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Try a windows repair or restore point from before the problem started. It can't hurt.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Try a windows repair or restore point from before the problem started. It can't hurt.


Ok well I restored, only having the options of a few dates that were only 3-4 days past, which was still after I lost power, OR a date 9 months ago with a disc image I created. I went with the disc image because the other dates were only a few days ago.

Now, it's acting all funny. Firefox isn't working, the windows security center won't open, _and _I can't restore back to my original time. The only dates I have available are today, and they're all just points on this new restore. So I'm stuck here...and it's all screwed up, and I can't get back to my original state of earlier today.

Help?

**Update*: I was able to get all of the windows updates to download, and I did the shut down/install option. As it was installing them (there were about 50) half way through I got the same power off/shut down that I've been getting. I restarted, finished the windows updates, reinstalled firefox and also got windows security working. I still can't return to my original point before the restore, but windows is fully updated and working, so I guess I'll just wait and see if I lose power again.

I'm still thinking it's something else, hardware related, since I had the same power lose when it was installing the windows updates.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Let us know there are some other things that you can try.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Let us know there are some other things that you can try.


It ended up shutting off and giving me the same error again. Back to square one, except that now I can't return to my original state in windows. :-/


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

I really think that the power supply is the problem.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> I really think that the power supply is the problem.


This is what I have now. http://www.amazon.com/Antec-Current-HCG-750-BRONZE-Supply/dp/B0046L1PC6

Since I probably need to get a new one, would it be worth upgrading a tad based on my other specs?


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Quality is more important that quantity, 750w is more than adequate for your system.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007657%2050001459%20600014023&IsNodeId=1&name=701W%20-%20800W

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0001697 600014023&IsNodeId=1&name=701W - 800W

Corsair is very good, their upper end is made by Seasonic.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Quality is more important that quantity, 750w is more than adequate for your system.
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0001459 600014023&IsNodeId=1&name=701W - 800W
> 
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0001697 600014023&IsNodeId=1&name=701W - 800W
> ...


Great. I guess if my problem persists after replacing the PSU, it's probably an issue with the motherboard or processor, yeah?


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

We have tested your RAM and your HDD, even though the tests are resonably reliable it still is no guarantee. It gets to a point all you can do is swap out parts until you find the problem, but in this case I'm guessing it's the PSU. When a PSU goes bad it can damage other parts of your computer so yes your mobo could be bad, but probably not. CPU's rarely go bad.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> We have tested your RAM and your HDD, even though the tests are resonably reliable it still is no guarantee. It gets to a point all you can do is swap out parts until you find the problem, but in this case I'm guessing it's the PSU. When a PSU goes bad it can damage other parts of your computer so yes your mobo could be bad, but probably not. CPU's rarely go bad.


Well I might not be ordering a new PSU in the near future since $ is tight at the moment, but at least I've narrowed down the issue to probably hardware, and probably PSU. I appreciate your help with everything!


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Your welcome and good luck with it.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

Thought I'd do a little update. I got my new PSU (750W Corsair) and the computer is up and running. I've been on now for about 30 minutes, and haven't had "the incident" reoccur so far.

One thing does bother me, though, and it's that HWMonitor is still reading the +12V as 8.

http://i.imgur.com/gt4Tw.jpg

Hopefully it's just an error, though. I'll keep you posted.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

I don't think it would run for 30 minutes if at all at 8v. Besides you have a new PSU and you're getting the same reading. I wouldn't worry about it.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> I don't think it would run for 30 minutes if at all at 8v. Besides you have a new PSU and you're getting the same reading. I wouldn't worry about it.


Well, it just happened again. 

I saw the monitor go to sleep, went over to check on things, clicked in firefox because I saw you replied, and firefox froze up. A few seconds later, pretty much everything froze up and then shut down.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Turn off all your sleep settings (set to never) and see if it still does it.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Turn off all your sleep settings (set to never) and see if it still does it.


I tried doing this (hibernate too) with the old PSU while trouble shooting and still had the problem, but I'll try it again now. (Speedfan is reading around 10.4V, but that's also what it read with the old PSU as well)


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Unplug everything in your computer except the HDD, mouse, keyboard and video card and run it and see what it does.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Unplug everything in your computer except the HDD, mouse, keyboard and video card and run it and see what it does.


So pull out the RAM? (I don't have anything else plugged in except my mouse and keyboard, HDD and SSD, and video card.)


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Try running on one stick of RAM.
Is your OS on the SSD?


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Try running on one stick of RAM.
> Is your OS on the SSD?


Yeah, OS is on the SSD.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Then disconnect the HDD


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Then disconnect the HDD


Okay, I'll pull out one of the sticks of RAM and disconnect the HDD.

(Although when I was putting the new PSU in, I forgot to connect it to the HDD when I first booted up, and it said something about "failed to connect to boot device" which is weird, because the SSD is where my OS is installed. Should I still do this?)


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

When you installed the OS on the SSD did you have the HDD plugged in?


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> When you installed the OS on the SSD did you have the HDD plugged in?


Well, I built this guy about a year ago, but I'm pretty sure I had everything plugged in, HDD included, when I did the original OS install on the SSD.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Usually best to install the OS on an SSD then install your HDD's.
Unplug the HDD and see what happens, you may have some files that windows needs to boot on the HDD. You can always plug it back in.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Usually best to install the OS on an SSD then install your HDD's.
> Unplug the HDD and see what happens, you may have some files that windows needs to boot on the HDD. You can always plug it back in.


I unplugged the HDD from the power supply and upon boot got this message:
_
Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key__

I'll leave it on and see if I get a freeze after having changed my sleep/hibernate settings.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

Saving_Throw said:


> I unplugged the HDD from the power supply and upon boot got this message:
> _
> Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key__
> 
> I'll leave it on and see if I get a freeze after having changed my sleep/hibernate settings.


Shoot, it still happened again.

It seems to occur either after 40 minutes, particularly after a period of inactivity. I left the computer for about 20-30 minutes, came back, and the first thing I clicked on kind of stalled up. I tried opening MS Paint, just to see if something would work, and it started to open, then the computer just sort of seized up and then after 10-15 seconds shut off.

It seems to be the only things it could still be are a bad motherboard, or the install is somehow messed up over both hard drives. The thing that confuses me though, is that it just recently started to have this problem. About a week before my original posting, which was right around when I had lost power (which is why I assumed I fried the PSU). It seems like if the problem was with the windows install, it wouldn't have been working fine up until just recently. Especially since I'd barely been using it leading up to this problem.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

The power outage could have messed up Windows. Have you tried a windows repair with the install disk?


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> The power outage could have messed up Windows. Have you tried a windows repair with the install disk?


Hmmm not yet, I restored to a previous date. Is a windows repair as simple as booting from the disc and selecting the obvious choices? If you think that would be a wise step, at this point I'll try anything.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

It's that simple, I would try it.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

So I booted from my Windows 7 disc, and got these series of screens.

- I clicked at the bottom on repair.
- Ticked the top "recovery tools" window.
- Nothing was listed in my operating systems panel, so when it said to insert instillation media for device and drivers, I found my SSD disc, but it told me it couldn't find what it needed when I tried to run what was on the disc.
- So I'm left with these options, and I'm not sure how I should proceed.

Images 3 and 4 are swapped:


http://imgur.com/VpiDp


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Try startup repair


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Try startup repair


It said that Windows cannot repair computer automatically. It said if I had recently installed a device such as a camera or music player (I only have my mouse and keyboard plugged in) to remove it and restart.

Edit: Also, I don't know if it's important, but this new PSU is a bit noisy (at least more than my previous one)


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

> It said that Windows cannot repair computer automatically. It said if I had recently installed a device such as a camera or music player (I only have my mouse and keyboard plugged in) to remove it and restart.


If it was mine I would do a clean install.



> Also, I don't know if it's important, but this new PSU is a bit noisy (at least more than my previous one


If it's just fan noise I wouldn't be concerned.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> If it was mine I would do a clean install.
> 
> If it's just fan noise I wouldn't be concerned.


Alrighty....guess it comes down to the clean install.

Before I go ahead and do it, 1. Should I completely wipe my HDD (would any lingering files cause issues on a fresh install? I really would like to avoid having to do this since it has a ton of my files) and 2. Should I disconnect the HDD from my PSU before going ahead with the clean install?


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

No just disconnect it before you install.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> No just disconnect it before you install.


I did a fresh install, everything was looking good. I was in the process of updating my drivers and such, and the screen basically bugged out/froze up again. This time is was basically alternating between going black, and a glitchy desktop with black wallpaper, empty windows, random messages opening up, etc. I _did_ notice in "My Computer" where my hard drives are listed, there was a "System Reserved" of about 100MB that had not been there before. I also noticed it during the install where I deleting my previous partition, but I left it alone since I wasn't sure what it was.

Should I go ahead and try a clean install again and this time remove the System Reserved as well? Could this problem be CPU or Mobo?


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

No system reserved is used by windows. You definately have a hardware problem. Let me review this post and refresh my memory of what we have done so far and what to do next.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> No system reserved is used by windows. You definately have a hardware problem. Let me review this post and refresh my memory of what we have done so far and what to do next.


I really appreciate that, thanks man.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Do you have another video card that you can try? We're down to swapping out parts to find the problem. Power outages can take out computer components and it may have damaged your video card. But it could be any other component too.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Do you have another video card that you can try? We're down to swapping out parts to find the problem. Power outages can take out computer components and it may have damaged your video card. But it could be any other component too.


I have an old tower that might have a working video card. I can give scrounge around for it and give it a try (or if there is any kind of program I can run to test the video card that would be great too). I'll try to find it and swap it out to see if that fixes the problem.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Swap it out if you can.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Swap it out if you can.


I found my old tower and instantly remembered that the video card in it got fried a few years back from some sort of similar power surge incident. One of the little silver towers as a split in the top and there's something that's trying to push out. Looks pretty busted.

The video card I have now _does_ seem fine from what I can tell. I was able to play a game for about 20 minutes, then quite because it all seemed fine and nothing was overheating. I wish I had another card to swap out; is it possible to take it out and just try using whatever graphics are integrated into the motherboard? Is that possible?


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

> is it possible to take it out and just try using whatever graphics are integrated into the motherboard? Is that possible?


Yes, but I don't see a VGA or DVI connection on that motherboard.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Yes, but I don't see a VGA or DVI connection on that motherboard.


Hmm...so is there any way to guess at the probability of a certain component being the problem? I'm trying to decide if I should return the PSU if it's not something I need/not helping the problem.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

I wouldn't return the PSU yet. The PSU could have been damaged along with something else. There is no way to be certain what the problem is without changing out some parts. 

The only other thing I can think of that you can try is connecting another HDD and disconnecting the SSD and installing windows on it and see if it still has the same problem. That would rule out the SSD as being faulty.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> I wouldn't return the PSU yet. The PSU could have been damaged along with something else. There is no way to be certain what the problem is without changing out some parts.
> 
> The only other thing I can think of that you can try is connecting another HDD and disconnecting the SSD and installing windows on it and see if it still has the same problem. That would rule out the SSD as being faulty.


I have an old external hard drive. I can move anything I have stored on it to my current internal HDD, and then try installing window on that.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

That will work.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> That will work.


Well I'm not sure what's wrong, but my external HD only lets me view properties. For some reason I can't open it or view anything inside. Does the SATA need to be plugged into the motherboard or something? I mean, my computer is detecting it, it's just now showing in "My Computer" and in the lower right usb section I can only see properties.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Is it showing a drive letter?


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Is it showing a drive letter?


No, not showing up at all in my computer, but the little pop up window detected the USB device.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

You said it was showing in "my computer" in post # 81 and in post # 83 you said it's not showing at all, which is it?


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> You said it was showing in "my computer" in post # 81 and in post # 83 you said it's not showing at all, which is it?


There is no associated drive letter corresponding to this external HDD showing up in "My Computer. In the lower right hand part of the screen there was a small window that popped up saying it had detected a USB device, but from there I could only look at the properties.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Can you right click on it and select "Manage"?
Was this drive working on this computer before?


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Can you right click on it and select "Manage"?
> Was this drive working on this computer before?


No, it's only showing up under "Printers and Devices". The last time I used it it was working, which was about a year ago. I just use it as backup for important files, which I haven't had to update in awhile.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Go to start menu, right click on computer and select Manage, go to disk management. Doses it show up? If so right click and assign a drive letter.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Go to start menu, right click on computer and select Manage, go to disk management. Doses it show up? If so right click and assign a drive letter.


In disk management the drive has a yellow warning symbol next to it, I think it needs the drivers? But it couldn't find them automatically, and I'm almost positive I don't have the disc for it anymore.

Gaaah, I'm cursed.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

No it should be able to read it with out a disk, the disk would have been some type of backup software.
Have you used it on this computer before?


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> No it should be able to read it with out a disk, the disk would have been some type of backup software.
> Have you used it on this computer before?


I'm pretty sure I have never used it on this computer before, I mainly used it on my old desk top and my laptop (which is what I've been on during all of this trouble shooting).


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

That's pretty common, used on another computer and not recognized or unable to read on a different one.
Check to make sure it still works on your laptop.
Use the search button on this site for usb drive not recognized. It will give you a lot of info to try.
I have to be away from my computer for a couple of hours. I will check back with you when I return.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> That's pretty common, used on another computer and not recognized or unable to read on a different one.
> Check to make sure it still works on your laptop.
> Use the search button on this site for usb drive not recognized. It will give you a lot of info to try.
> I have to be away from my computer for a couple of hours. I will check back with you when I return.


Great, thanks.

I was able to format my external HD to ntsf and assign it a letter, and it even shows up when I bring up the windows installation, but the I get an error. It says that setup does not support installation to devices connected by USB. The external drive does have an eSATA connector, but I don't think I have one of those, and there isn't one on this PSU either.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

I thought you were going to copy your files from your internal HDD to the external and install windows on the internal.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> I thought you were going to copy your files from your internal HDD to the external and install windows on the internal.


Ah that's true, I could do that. I was also thinking that I could pull out the internal HDD from my old tower and run an install on that (rather than having to delete anything from my current HDD).

I'll probably try one or both of these options later tonight and see if that solves anything.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Let me know.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Let me know.


I did a clean install of Windows 7 on an old internal HDD. It's currently the only HDD plugged in, and so far after about 30 minutes I haven't had any problem. I have all of my drivers installed, and I'll probably try running some Windows Updates next.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

Make sure your SSD has the latest firmware, but sounds like the SSd was the problem. Keep me posted.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> Make sure your SSD has the latest firmware, but sounds like the SSd was the problem. Keep me posted.


Still going strong, everything seems great. So...would you say that I should scrap the SSD? To check for firmware updates do I just need to plug it in and let the computer find the firmware updates?

If the SSD isn't saveable I'll probably order a new one, but I'm also wondering if I should hold on to this PSU or send it back if I don't need it.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

1) Click on the Start menu 
2) Open Control panel> System> Hardware 
3) Select device manager 
4) Expand disk drives 
5) Right click on the drive and select properties 
6) Select details tab > select hardware lds from the drop down menu and the firmware version will be displayed towards the right hand side.

Go to the SSD manufacturer's site and see what their latest firmware version is. They will have instructions on how to install it.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> 1) Click on the Start menu
> 2) Open Control panel> System> Hardware
> 3) Select device manager
> 4) Expand disk drives
> ...


Great, thanks! Do you think a firmware update is a likely cure to this problem, or are we just covering all bases before declaring the SSD rotten?


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

It cures it sometimes.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> It cures it sometimes.


Firmware updated successfully. When I first booted things up after plugging my other two drives back in, I did have an issue with windows starting up, and it prompted me to do a repair which fixed that. Not sure if that's relevant, but I thought I'd include that in my update.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

It may have fixed the issue. Keep running windows off your SSD and see what happens.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> It may have fixed the issue. Keep running windows off your SSD and see what happens.


I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say we're completely fixed. Everything has been smooth sailing since the firmware update. Now, if I ever need to wipe the SSD in the future for a clean install of Windows, will I need to update the firmware again or is that a permanent thing?

Otherwise, I guess I'd ask your opinion on keeping the PSU vs returning it. It _is_ a bit noisier than my old one, and I could certainly use the $100 back if I don't need the component.

Otherwise, thanks again for all of your patience and help! I'll update you if anything goes awry, but otherwise I think everything is back to normal.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

What are the make and models of the two PSU's that you have and the age of the oldest one.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> What are the make and models of the two PSU's that you have and the age of the oldest one.


This is my old one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371049

This is the new one I got: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

The Antec is not a bad PSU, but the Corsair is a better one. I would keep the Corsair.


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## Saving_Throw (Aug 25, 2011)

black-wolf said:


> The Antec is not a bad PSU, but the Corsair is a better one. I would keep the Corsair.


Yeah I think I'm gonna hold on to it, plus it doesn't hurt to have a backup PSU laying around. Thanks again for all of the help.


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## black-wolf (Aug 8, 2008)

You're welcome!


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