[ale] OT: Can Bad PS Cause Hangs?

[Jeff Hubbs]

By way of an update, I've replaced the PS with a 300W one that at least has
voltages that don't make the mobo alarms go off at POST, however, my problem
hasn't gone away.  One of the other symptoms I've been having (but more
rarely) has been sudden inexplicable X restarts.  Someone on IRC took a look
at the xdm error file (which starts off with a Stack Trace report) and said
he thought my problem was almost certainly bad or inappropriate RAM, which
was the next tack I was gonna take anyway.  I found a useful user-mode RAM
testing program on Freshmeat, but I think that to really get any meaningful
results out of it, I would need to reboot into "linux single" and run it
from a floppy.  If anyone has a better way to test RAM, I'm all ears.

- Jeff

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ben Conrad [mailto:bconrad at genuity.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 31, 2000 10:00 AM
> To: 'Jeff Hubbs'; ale at ale.org
> Subject: RE: [ale] OT: Can Bad PS Cause Hangs?
> 
> 
> I had a problem with W2K server on my 800MGz A7V.  It would 
> always lock just
> the kb,mouse and display when running graphics intensive 
> stuff (Winamps
> G-Force plug-in).  The last thing that I tried was to down 
> rev my MB bois
> from 1004a to 1003.  That solved about 95% of the freezing 
> problems, now
> only Unreal Tourny freezes on me sometimes.
> 
> Good luck.
> 
> Ben.
> 
> 
> 
> ____________________________________
>  Ben Conrad
>  NT Administrator, NOS Team
>  GENUITY INC.
>  617.873.5146
>  bconrad at genuity.com
> ____________________________________ 
>    
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Jeff Hubbs [mailto:Jhubbs at niit.com]
> > Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2000 3:10 PM
> > To: ale at ale.org
> > Subject: [ale] OT: Can Bad PS Cause Hangs?
> > 
> > 
> > I've been trying to chase down the cause for occasional 
> > freeze-ups with an
> > Asus K7V mobo with an Athlon 700.  Freeze-ups tend to be 
> high-activity
> > related (e.g., SETI at Home client, fractal screensaver).  
> > 
> > My first attack was a big hockin' heatsink and two beefier 
> > fans that pull a
> > nice updraft through the case.  A Good Thing to be sure, but 
> > this didn't
> > cure the freeze-ups.
> > 
> > When checking the BIOS settings, I noticed that two of the 
> > power supply
> > voltage alarms on the mobo had been disabled.  When I 
> > re-enabled them, I
> > found out that the -5V supply was sitting at about -5.50V - 
> > low enough to
> > make the alarm go off.  The other voltages are within range 
> > (at least as far
> > as the mobo alarms are concerned).  
> > 
> > This box was built-to-order by a local establishment.  My 
> > suspicion is that
> > the tech that built up this box intentionally disabled the 
> > alarms to cover
> > up a bad PS.  
> > 
> > My question to you is this:  in your experience, would this 
> > condition likely
> > result in freeze-ups under load, and would you regard -5.50V 
> > as being way
> > off for a 300W PC PS?
> > 
> > - Jeff
> > --
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> > in message body.
> > 
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