Member Avatar for Hyperchunk

I just upgraded my whole system. New motherboard, hard drive, cpu, heatsink, ram, and video card. i was able to get through the vista install quite roughly, but whenever I boot up my computer it restarts after about 2 minutes. I was wondering if it was a power supply failure because I'm connecting a 20-pin connector into a 24-pin slot, or if that doesn't mattter? I'm also getting a CMOS checksum failure when i boot the system, also saying that overclocking failed, but everytime I try to change the setting, it reverts back to the defaults. Thanks.

ASUS A8S-X Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 2.4ghz
ATI Radeon X1300 512mb DDR2
1gb ddr ram
300 gb hd

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Problem symptoms point to two likely areas: unstable power delivery and a BIOS/CMOS issue. correctly flagged power/overheat/driver causes, noted adapter options (short-term), and reminded that the board needs its auxiliary CPU power feed. The following checklist expands those suggestions into practical steps to isolate the fault.

Start with the BIOS/CMOS path. A failing CMOS battery or corrupted settings will produce checksum errors and can make the board revert to defaults. Replace the coin cell, clear CMOS with the jumper or by removing the battery briefly, then enter BIOS and save settings. If the checksum/error persists after a fresh battery and clear, consider a BIOS reflash from the vendor (only after verifying stable power).

Do basic power and hardware isolation next. Run a minimal boot (one RAM stick, no extras) and swap in a known-good PSU if available. Measure voltages with a PSU tester or multimeter under idle and load; rails should stay within spec. Adapters can work temporarily but may not supply sustained current and can overheat — for reliable results, use a proper modern PSU. Also inspect and reseat all power connectors and pins; poor seating or bent pins will cause instability. For connector and rail details see the ATX specification overview (ATX power supply).

Finally, collect system logs before discarding software causes. On Windows, look for abrupt shutdown entries (Kernel-Power/Event 41) and enable crash dumps for post-mortem analysis (). If crashes continue after battery/CMOS steps and a verified PSU, suspect board-level faults or cooling/contact issues and proceed with component swaps (PSU, RAM, CPU cooling) to isolate the defective part.

For reference on CMOS behavior see: CMOS battery.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

sounds like you need a 24 pin PSU - could be overheating thats causing the reboots too - or a bad driver in vista?

Member Avatar for ethen_steel

Depending on what PSU you using you might be able to get a 4 pin adaptor for the missing 4 out of your 24.

If not best thing to do is upgrade your PSU, I recommend a Hiper Type-r 580W Fantastic PSU and looks awesome too.

Member Avatar for dcc

You not only need a PSU with a 24 pin connector, you are going to also need one that has the 12V 4pin connector for the CPU. If you look at your motherboard there is a square four pin connector just off of the corner of the PCU. Not having the proper PSU connections could also explain why you are having problems.

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