presbp Posted February 15, 2007 Report Share Posted February 15, 2007 If I turn my computer off for more than 15-20 minutes or so my computer will freeze at my Asus BIOS screen and I just have to turn it off and reboot. Why is it doing this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 This could be a failing power supply unit.When you machine starts from cold, it takes a finite time for the PSU to power up and charge its capacitors etc. enough to supply power to the machine. Normally this is very quick and the power up goes ahead as it should. If the PSU is failing, this time to charge up becomes prolonged such that the computer freezes during the loading of either the BIOS or the operating system.The reason it powers up OK a short time after switching off is due to residual charge in the output capacitors being able to compensate for the lack of power in the PSU. (Hope you can follow that).If you can, try another (bigger) PSU (power supply unit) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
presbp Posted February 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 This could be a failing power supply unit.When you machine starts from cold, it takes a finite time for the PSU to power up and charge its capacitors etc. enough to supply power to the machine. Normally this is very quick and the power up goes ahead as it should. If the PSU is failing, this time to charge up becomes prolonged such that the computer freezes during the loading of either the BIOS or the operating system.The reason it powers up OK a short time after switching off is due to residual charge in the output capacitors being able to compensate for the lack of power in the PSU. (Hope you can follow that).If you can, try another (bigger) PSU (power supply unit)I have a Antec TruePower 2.0 550Watt PSU, so I don't think the size is the problem. I have an Asus P5B Deluxe/Wi-f AP edition, an nVidia 7800GT, Core 2 Duo E6600, 2 gigs XMS2 DDR2800MHz RAM, Hauppauge HVR-1600 TV Tuner, 2 DVD drives and a Sundblaster Audigy 4. I switched some of the fans in my case so my PC runs cooler than it used to.. and because the Antec TruePower 2.0 has a thermal management fan the power supply fan runs at only 800RPM. How do I know for sure I am having a dying power supply? If it dies on me I will be angry because I just spend $2000 to build a new one after my other PC's PSU failed and fried my motherboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 The only way I know to check a potential failing supply is a swap out with another one. I don't think a more powerful one is necessary from what you say about the current oneI have seen these symptoms so often.Another point is that I often use Antec cases for my builds and four PSUs in these have failed in about 50 - 60 builds.As your build is new, it may be that the PSU is faulty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
presbp Posted February 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 The only way I know to check a potential failing supply is a swap out with another one. I don't think a more powerful one is necessary from what you say about the current oneI have seen these symptoms so often.Another point is that I often use Antec cases for my builds and four PSUs in these have failed in about 50 - 60 builds.As your build is new, it may be that the PSU is faulty.I have been running this power supply for 4-5 months now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 Turn off all caching and shadowing of system ram (if the option is available). You can also turn off S.M.A.R.T. monitoring.This may help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 Quote from prespbwhat do you mean by this? Where would I do this in the BIOS?It would depend on your motherboard make and model.I would check the asus website to see if there is any information about your BIOS. http://www.asus.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
presbp Posted February 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 I unplugged everything that had power to it except for the case fans and the videocard (I have no onboard video) so both DVD drives, the hard drive, and the 7in1 media bay were unplugged.I let it sit for 15-25 minutes and then booted it back up. I didn't see the BIOS screen it just straight to loading Ubuntu from my external hard drive. Sometimes the monitor won't receive a signal for awhile (monitor light is orange) and then it will show up a few seconds later. Sometimes though the boot screen comes up as soon as the PC is turned on. I then noticed that my surge protector is blinking so I switched the power socket and the surge protector I was using and left the PC off for about 20-30 minutes and then started it up and it loaded normally. Maybe it was that surge protector?? (it is pretty old like 10 years or so) Should I just get one of these PSUs or is something else going on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarecrow Man Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 Get a new surge protector. Using an old one has a higher risk involved than a newer one. I wouldn't let them be more than 2 years old, even though they often have lifetime warrenty's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted February 16, 2007 Report Share Posted February 16, 2007 I agree, in the first instance get a new surge protector - much cheaper than a new PSU.Despite claims, surge protectors have a finite life and the most common MOV type can present a high resistance with age - limiting the maximum current drawn - until warm-up when the resistance lowers.I didn't initially realise that you had old protective equipment in line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
presbp Posted February 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2007 Ok, so now I have half of the PC power plugs going into one surge protector on one outlet and the others on another surge protector in another outlet. So using two surge protectors, each on a different outlet.You surge protectors trying to stop my PC from having its electricity. I'll show them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-pops- Posted February 17, 2007 Report Share Posted February 17, 2007 So using two surge protectors, each on a different outlet.You surge protectors trying to stop my PC from having its electricity. I'll show them.Are they new ones? Or at least more recent than 10 years old? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
presbp Posted February 19, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2007 So using two surge protectors, each on a different outlet.You surge protectors trying to stop my PC from having its electricity. I'll show them.Are they new ones? Or at least more recent than 10 years old?I am using both of the surge protectors and they are about 10 years old each. Since I have started using both of them on separate outlets I have not had any freezes at the BIOS screen. I left the PC off for 9 hours overnight and then turned it back on and about after 5 seconds the BIOS screen went away and went to loading the operating system. When loading Ubuntu (Linux distribution) from my external harddrive it froze but I don't know if it is just doing that because it is an external drive or not. I would rather just deal with the surge protectors until I have to get my 750watt PSU later when I get a DirectX10 videocard.Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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