# PC Shuts Off, Case Lights Stay On



## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

Hey everyone, can you tell me if the problem is with the power supply or somewhere else? I ran Hot CPU Tester Diagnostics on Ram, CPU, etc, and they all came out fine... I can be in the middle of anything, and suddenly my computer turns of - that is, everything stops, but the lights of the case are still on... while the computer is completely off... Any ideas?

I opened the case, and it seems that the fans are not clogged with dust or anything like that, and the power supply is fairly new. The power supply did seem warm, but not burning hot.

Here's My Hardware:
--------------------
Asrock 4CoreDual-VSTA Motherboard
630W microATX Xion Power Supply (Xion Case)
Intel P4 E4500 2.2GHz
2GB DDR2 SDRAM
XFX GeForce 7900 GS (AGP)
80GB IDE Western Digital HD
IDE CD-RW and DVD-RW drives
External USB2 HD
USB2 switch connected to mouse, keyboard, printer and scanner

I'm a bit frustrated, cuz I just bought this new power supply a few months back, when my old one died (but when that one died, the entire PC shut off, including the case lights). Please help!


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

You need to download and run SensorviewPro and post what the temps and voltages are when you first turn the rig on. Then, run it for a while while making it work (like a game) and then post the temperatures while it is working. 

Post back with questions/concerns/information.


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

Upon system start, here are the stats:

CPU: 50 C / 122 F
GPU: 48 C / 119 F
SYS: 34 C / 94 F
CPU Clock: 2210 Mhz

CPU Fan: 0 RPM (????)
SYS Fan: 2058 RPM

VCoreA: 1.23 V
+3.3V: 3.31 V
+5V: 5.05 V
+12V: 11.40 V
-5V: 2.80 V
-12V: 1.46 V
+5VSB: 5.02 V
+VBAT: 0.03 V

I am in the middle of a game and here's what I see:

CPU: 51 C / 124 F
GPU: 48 C / 119 F
SYS: 35 C / 95 F
CPU Clock: 2210 Mhz

CPU Fan: 0 RPM (???? i can see it spinning)
SYS Fan: 2281 RPM

VCoreA: 1.23 V
+3.3V: 3.31 V
+5V: 5.05 V
+12V: 11.40 V
-5V: 2.95 V
-12V: 1.54 V
+5VSB: 5.05 V
+VBAT: 0.29 V

If I play for a few minutes, it turns off. I noticed that CPU temp spikes up to 56 C, but drops back down as soon as I Alt-Tab and switch to desktop view. Also GPU temp spikes up to 57 C and also drops when back to desktop. Any idea why it just turns off?

Furthermore, I just ran Hot CPU Tester Diagnostics, and my specs went up as so:

CPU: 61 C / 142 F
GPU: 48 C / 119 F
SYS: 37 C / 99 F
CPU Clock: 2210 Mhz

CPU Fan: 0 RPM
SYS Fan: 2844 RPM

VCoreA: 1.22 V
+3.3V: 3.31 V
+5V: 5.03 V
+12V: 11.40 V
-5V: 3.20 V
-12V: 1.71 V
+5VSB: 4.99 V
+VBAT: 0.29 V

And nothing happened to the PC (as in it didn't turn off). Maybe it has something to do with that game or graphics processing? cuz otherwise my computer stays on for a long while before turning off. The other concern is maybe the power unit's fan isn't cooling it off enough... Any suggestions?


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## magnethead (Mar 18, 2006)

wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too hot CPU.


(granted it's a P4)


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

You need to start by redoing your thermal paste. Tell us also how many fans, where located and which direction they are blowing.


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

ok that's probably where the problem is. There is no thermal paste btwn the CPU and the fan. Overall there is a fan on the CPU, one more by where all the devices get plugged in, one as part of the case side wall, one under the HD deck, and one as part of the power supply.

I've never applied thermal paste before so your input on which one to get and how/how much to apply would be much appreciated.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

DO NOT RUN THAT RIG without thermal paste or you will fry your CPU eventually. Here are instructions:


Applying Artic Silver Thermal Paste


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

Thanks, there is of course a heatsink. For some reason the articles I've read online before said if you have heatsink, thermal paste is not required... but I guess they may have been outdated. Just ordered Arctic Silver 5, thanks for the link to the instruction guide.

How does this explain the crashes tho? I've ran Hot CPU Tester utility several times and my PC (though it did get hotter temperature wise, as pasted above) never turned off. However during a game, it always tends to turn off.... Are these symptoms of another problem (in addition to there needing to be thermal paste)?


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

I don't know any sources that are legitimate who would not recommend thermal paste. Certainly the manfacturers of the CPU recommend either thermal paste or the factory thermal pad and warn you not to run a PC without one or the other.

During games, your computer gets very hot. It will then shut down to keep from burning up or damaging the CPU. I know you will be tempted (at least I think so) to run it without the paste, but please do wait before you damage something badly. Not worth risk unless you have a lot of money to replace computer components, because if it gets too much heat, it can also damage other components like memory or the video card.


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

One correction hardware wise in terms of the CPU:
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 2.2 GHz

The paste should be here within two days. I will re-apply and see if the problem still persists. Hopefully that will solve the problem.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Do post back and let us know where you are with this problem. :grin: I hate to harp on an issue, but don't run that rig without paste unless you want to replace a good bunch of your hardware after it burns up.:4-thatsba


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

Gotcha, wont till I apply the paste. What do you mean by "rig" though? SensorView just gives the temperature and voltage info, from what I saw. Is there an option to run something, that I've missed? Or do you mean not to turn on the PC altogether?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

not to turn it on at all


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

Ok, I ended up getting a new motherboard and video card for other reasons, but I am still using the same CPU, memory, etc... I've applied the thermal paste, per the manual specs... Here's the updated temperature reading from SensorsView:

CPU: 47 C / 117 F
SYS: 33 C / 92 F
CPU Clock: 2201 Mhz

CPU Fan: 0 RPM
SYS Fan: 1835 RPM

VCoreA: 1.22 V
+3.3V: 3.26 V
+5V: 12.00 V
+12V: 0.00 V
-5V: 0.00 V
-12V: 0.00 V
+5VSB: 0.00 V
+VBAT: 0.00 V


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

the cpu temp is that on idle it should be around the 30c mark
what does the bios list the 12v line as and the 5v+


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

yeah it's weird, after loading a game for maybe 5 mins, the cpu temp is back up to 51C... I'll check the bios list tomorrow and will post.

Here's My Updated Hardware:
----------------------------
ASRock P45TS-R Motherboard
630W mATX Xion Power Supply (Xion Case)
Intel P4 E4500 2.2GHz
2GB DDR2 SDRAM
ATI Radeon HD 4850 (PCI-E 2.0 x16)
80GB IDE Western Digital HD
SATA DVD/CD RW drive

A few more concerns:

1) When connecting the various pins of the chassis to the motherboard, I connected the USB controller and the power button/elec controller, but did not bother with the audio pins... that is ok, right. The PC seems to start and run fine, just wanted to run it by you, and make sure it's not gonna cause any long term problems...

2) My power supply seems to get kinda warm. Is that normal. It's fan does seem to run fine, while the PC is on, so i'm guessing it should be ok.

3) CPU Fan rpm's don't seem to show up in SensorsView, however it does appear to be spinning, from what I can see through the glass window of my case. Should this be a concern?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

it's far from ok if that 11.4v you posted is accurate
you need the system speaker connected the bios beeps are there to alert you to something being amiss
you can check the cpu fan speed in the bios
it is plugged into the cpu fan socket?


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

Oh I see. I'll need to connect those asap then. Luckily I have a laptop to check these posts, without needing to turn on the PC.

The new temp stats were posted above... where everything starting with +12V is 0.00. The CPU fan is in its place on the MB / cpu fan socket and is plugged in to the cpu fan pin on the motherboard, right next to the cpu. It appears to be spinning, so I don't know why SensorView doesn't pick it up.


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

I need a little help. My motherboard pins are Ground, Presence#, Mic_Ret, Out_Ret, Mic2_L, Mic2_R, Out2_R, J_Sense, and Out2_L.

My case cables say Mic_IN, Ground, Out2_L, Out2_R, Ret_R, Ret_L, Mic_VCC. How would these map to the motherboard pins?

My case is XION II
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811208005

*The manual says if you use AC'97 audio panel, install as follows: 
- Mic_IN to Mic2_L
- Audio_R (RIN) to Out2_R and Audio_L (LIN) to Out2_L
- Mic_Ret and Out_Ret are for HD audio panel only (not needed to for AC'97)

I would really appreciate some help on this.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

the system speaker connects either where the case on and reset button connect to the m/b or it uses an onboard speaker on the m/b


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

well there are 3 sets of pins on the mb... one for USB (which I already connected), one for case on/reset/lights (which I already connected) and this last one for mic/audio/etc... Is it necessary to connect it, if I'm not going to be using onboard audio? And if so, can you please be more specific and tell me which cable goes to what pin (based on what I typed up above)? It would greatly help me.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

with these connections we all have to work from the diagram in the manual


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

Thanks for the replies. Typically I have no prob connecting these, the problem is (as posted above) the names don't match up. So I need some help...

Also, you haven't answered this - do I actually NEED to connect the audio/mic pins? Or can I just leave them not connected?

How do I address the CPU overheating issue. I have applied the thermal paste, and it's still the same temperature...


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

[Also, you haven't answered this - do I actually NEED to connect the audio/mic pins? Or can I just leave them not connected?]
yes i have
with these connections we all have to work from the diagram in the manual

i would guess they are front case connections if you don't use them then no need to connect


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

gotcha, in that case connector wise I should be all set. Now coming back to the original issue of this post - my CPU at idle still seems to run at 47/49 degrees... Which from what i gather is pretty hot for a core2duo... I've applied the thermal paste, and verified that CPU fan is not clogged or broken and is working properly. How else should I address this issue?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

address the power supply underpower generates heat


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

- ok, how much wattage would you recommend for my system?

- also, for my own education, would you please explain how would a weaker power supply cause CPU overheating?

- it's not the CPU fan I should upgrade somehow?

Here's My Updated Hardware:
----------------------------
ASRock P45TS-R Motherboard
630W mATX Xion Power Supply
Intel P4 E4500 2.2GHz
2GB DDR2 SDRAM
ATI Radeon HD 4850 (PCI-E 2.0 x16)
80GB IDE Western Digital HD
SATA DVD/CD RW drive


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

normally i would suggest a 650w min corsair but the 750w is on special a lot cheaper than the 650w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&Tpk=corsair+750w
look at it this way
a muscle bound fitness fanatic shovels 10 ton of sand onto a truck with ease
a pot bellied couch potato feels he is dying when trying to do the same he feels he is boiling from the inside out
psu's work on the same principle if the streanth is not there to begin with they are going to generate heat


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

Gotcha, ordered it yesterday so it should be here soon. In the meantime, I checked the bios, and there I got these specs:

CPU Temp: 39 C / 102 F
M/B Temp: 34 C / 93 F

VCore: 1.256 V
+3.30V: 3.264 V
+5.00V: 5.040 V
+12.00V: 12.038 V

Which looks ok, unlike the SensorView readings... My SensorView still shows CPU at 51 C. Is it possible for the temp to jump so high from bios to windows? Can SensorView be inaccurate?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

run this and you will see the current cpu temps in the tray
http://www.download.com/Core-Temp/3000-12565_4-10794077.html


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

While idle with Firefox running, I get these:

Tj. Max: 85 C
Core #0: 36 C
Core #1: 35 C

While SensorView is still showing 51 C. Seems like it's off.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

no problem there


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

So I've put in the new PSU (one you recommended) and with a handful of programs running at the same time, my CPU temps vary from 37 C (idle) through 52 C... and this is not running a game yet, this is running BitComet, Eclipse, and 5-6 tabs in Firefox. Seems still too hot, no? What do you recommend


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

redo the paste on the cpu with some arctic silver
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm
use a can of air to blow any dust out of the computer especially from fans and h/sinks


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

that's already been done... When this problem first occurred a month ago, I had bought this arctic paste, and applied it and blew out all dust from all fans and h/sinks and verified to make sure they were all spinning ok. What's else could it be? cpu fan?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

see what temps this gives
http://www.download.com/Core-Temp/3000-12565_4-10794077.html


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

pushkin69 said:


> So I've put in the new PSU (one you recommended) and with a handful of programs running at the same time, my CPU temps vary from 37 C (idle) through 52 C... and this is not running a game yet, this is running BitComet, Eclipse, and 5-6 tabs in Firefox. Seems still too hot, no? What do you recommend


that's what I meant above:

Tj. Max: 85 C
Core 0: 41 C [now]
Core 1: 39 C [now]


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

don't know if this has something to do with it, but take a look at my hardware info just in case:

Here's My Updated Hardware:
----------------------------
ASRock P45TS-R Motherboard (FSB: 1333/1066 MHz / MEM: DDR2 1066)
750W Corsair PSU
Intel P4 E4500 2.2GHz (FSB: 800 MHz)
2GB DDR2 SDRAM (DDR 667)
ATI Radeon HD 4850 (PCI-E 2.0 x16)
80GB IDE Western Digital HD
SATA DVD/CD RW drive

Since the CPU and RAM speeds are slower than what the M/B provides, I've checked prior to buying to make sure that they are both compatible.


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

Any ideas for what I can do to prevent my CPU from getting hot? Consider that I've cleaned all the fans, reapplied arctic silver, and replaced the PSU, When idle, the temperatures shown in CoreTemp are:

Tj. Max: 85 C
Core 0: 37 C
Core 1: 36 C

However, open a handful of tabs in Firefox, + another 3 or 4 apps, and core temp starts to vary, closer to 45 C... with a game running, it can go up as high as 55 C, or even 60 C.

What can I do to prevent it from overheating, and turning off, like it has been doing thus far?


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

check the bios tempreture setting is not set to shut down at to low a tempreture
check the fixing pins for the h/sink are secure
fit an after market cpu fan and h/sink


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## pushkin69 (Feb 16, 2008)

ok, thanks. can you recommend a good fan+heatsink to buy?


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