Member Avatar for wonderllamamatt

A couple days ago, I started up my computer and it failed POST. It gave me a long beep, followed by two short beeps. The LCD on the rear of my motherboard gives me a DRAM error. I shut the power off and turned it back on and the computer POSTed normally. The next few times I started my computer it was the same story. Then, yesterday, POST failed again, but I could not fix the problem by simply shutting off the power and turning it back on. So I...

1. Switched off the power supply.
2. Reseated the my RAM and both video cards.
3. Looked for telltale signs of damage to either and the motherboard (burn marks, burst caps, etc).
4. Switched the power supply back on.

The computer started up normally. Then, today, I started up the computer and it was failing POST again, so I...

1. Switched off the power supply.
2. Visually inspected the RAM, video cards, and motherboard.
3. Switched the power supply back on.

This has fixed the problem temporarily.

The thing that puzzles me is that every component in my computer is working fine once I reset the psu. Would I be correct in assuming that the problem is my psu and it needs to be replaced?

The system is as follows...

Asus Crosshair socket AM2 (M2) motherboard w/ Athlon 64 X2 5200+ (2.61GHz)
4 GB (4 sticks) Crucial SLI ready 800MHz DDR2 RAM
2 nVidia GeForce 7800 GT PCI Express video cards
Thermaltake Toughpower 700w atx psu w/ modular cables

  • 3 Contributors
  • 12 Replies
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  • 11 Months Discussion Span
  • Latest Post Latest Post by marxam

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Member Avatar for willcomp

Having to unplug PSU indicates a weak capacitor in PSU. If it were a motherboard capacitor, turning off master switch on PSU should do the trick.

Unplugging allows a weak capacitor to fully discharge.

That's a good PSU, but even good ones fail.

Member Avatar for wonderllamamatt

Having to unplug PSU indicates a weak capacitor in PSU. If it were a motherboard capacitor, turning off master switch on PSU should do the trick.

Unplugging allows a weak capacitor to fully discharge.

That's a good PSU, but even good ones fail.

Any suggestions for a good PSU to replace it with that I won't have to spend a lot of money on?

Member Avatar for willcomp

The one you have may be under warranty. Thermaltake PSUs are good buys -- decent quality at a reasonable price.

Don't cheap out on PSU. PC Power & cooling, Seasonic and Enermax are top line PSUs -- expensive, but worth it. Thermaltake, Coolermaster and Rosewill (better line) are good reasonably priced PSUs.

Member Avatar for wonderllamamatt

The one you have may be under warranty. Thermaltake PSUs are good buys -- decent quality at a reasonable price.

Don't cheap out on PSU. PC Power & cooling, Seasonic and Enermax are top line PSUs -- expensive, but worth it. Thermaltake, Coolermaster and Rosewill (better line) are good reasonably priced PSUs.

Unfortunately the PSU is a year and a half old and purchased by my brother so I don't believe it is under warranty anymore (if I am correct it expired 6 months ago) and unfortunately, I do not have the invoice from newegg to prove when it was purchased.

Unfortunately I am limited to a max of $150 for a PSU, so I don't have as many options as I wish I had.

Member Avatar for willcomp

Did you check out the 2 I recommended? Both are undet $150.00 and have sufficient power for your system.

Member Avatar for wonderllamamatt

Did you check out the 2 I recommended? Both are under $150.00 and have sufficient power for your system.

Yes. I checked them out. Unfortunately, neither have modular cables, which sucks, but they seem capable.

Member Avatar for willcomp

I'm not a fan of modular cables anyway. They look nice, but don't provide as reliable connections.

Member Avatar for wonderllamamatt

Turns out its not the power supply. Replaced the supply and the same thing happens. Looks like I need to replace the motherboard.

Member Avatar for willcomp

That's a bummer. Given symptoms, I really thought it was more likely the power supply.

Member Avatar for wonderllamamatt

That's a bummer. Given symptoms, I really thought it was more likely the power supply.

The real bummer is that I just spent money on a power supply that I can't return because I opened the package, and I can't really afford to replace my Asus Crosshair Board (still retails at $230 on newegg) which is a hell of a board.

Member Avatar for marxam

I had similar symptoms with my machine:

Intel Q6600 Quad
Asus P5N32 SLI-E Plus AI Lifestyle Mobo
4 GB DDR2
Nvidia 8500GT

Replaced the mobo, didn't work.
Replaced the Processor, still wouldn't work.
Gonna replace my case and power supply now, will post to update yo guys how I got on.

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