Solved Please give advice on replacement motherboard

[Serpentz]

Could someone help me find a good replacement motherboard for the rest of my components?

This is a looong story...sorry in advance.

Here is what's going on. I had a motherboard die: MSI K9 SLI Platinum. Yeah it's a MUCH older board. A capacitor decided to start bulging, and I had everything setup how I liked it, so I found an exact replacement. Long story short, the board I found was used and was cheap. I put it all together with a new 550Watt PS and ran it for a few days. Everything seemed fine, then for no reason, the computer just shuts down....no warning...nothing. Power light on the front of the case is flashing and the only way I can restart the machine is by switching off the PSU and unplugging it, waiting till it discharges and then plug it back in.....and then it switched back on. I thought it was some overheating problem after doing some research. So I bought one of those pretty good Thermaltake SpinQ fans. I thought I had figured out the problem and maybe the mainboard was shutting down because of heat. A week ago, it decided to shut down in the middle of work....no warning. It wasn't hot at all. CPU was barely at 40c and the system was a few degrees warmer. So I cross this out. I check the BIOS on the MOBO and it's the last one they put out for this board. I found a bunch of threads on a forum talking about MSI boards and this shutting down for no reason problem. I didn't find a solution. Computer was acting fine....until today. Today it decided to act up like a red-headed step child. It shut down 4-5 times before I boot it in safe mode and backed up all my stuff. While in safe mode, it was fine. It didn't shut down or act up. I rebooted into windows and 17 seconds after (Event Viewer) it shut down again. Thinking I had some kind of weird stuff going on. I rebooted back into safe mode and started looking for some kind of sign. However when the power shuts down abruptly, there's nothing you can see here. I found some errors on Windows Indexing files being corrupt. At this point, after all was backed up, I wrote zeroes to the drive and reinstalled a clean Windows 7. 10 seconds into a fresh install in Normal mode and it shuts down again! I went BACK into safe mode...and it was stable.

To me this makes no sense at all. I would like to guess it was the power supply because it's not a name brand high power unit. But if it was the power supply...wouldn't it kill over in safe mode just the same? So at this point...I'm guessing it's the motherboard.

What I would like for you guys to do, is offer me some advice for a replacement motherboard. I don't have a ton of money to throw into this thing because eventually it will get left behind here when I move back to the states.

My system:

OS Windows 7 Ultimate CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 5600+ Motherboard MSI K9 Platinum SLI_JUNK!Memory G-Skill PC2-6400 4GB Graphics Card(s) MSI GeForce 8800GTS OC X2 SLI Sound Card M-Audio Delta 1010 PCI Monitor(s) Displays 2X Acer 22" LDC Screen Resolution 1680X1050 Hard Drives 2X Hitachi SATA 500GB
Thanks in advance.

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

In safe mode the drivers for your video card are not active....I would try a power supply....

 

[essenbe]

I would agree about the PSU being suspect. If you would like this is what I believe to be the link to your MB. Check the specifications to be sure your ram and other hardware is compatible with the MB.

 

[Serpentz]

Thanks for the reply guys. I'm thinking I am going to go for an ASrock motherboard that supports AM2-AM3 so I can upgrade later.

Also, what do you guys think about Antec power supplies? Any brands I should stay away from that are complete junk? Here in Russia, they don't have much of a selection on stuff unless it's online. And I made a mistake of buying one junk power supply already (Kimpro) <<--- It looked OK, had modular cables, fan speed control. But after a month the fans starting making noise and I do believe this is the main problem now.

Going to replace MB and PSU to just be done with it.

Thanks for the replies and cheers from the Tundra

 

[essenbe]

In my opinion Antec is a good PSU. Personally, I prefer Corsair. But Seasonic and some Cooler Master PSU's are good. Do your research, Make sure you are getting sufficient power, Also check the different models, some models are better than others. Go to sites that sell computer equipment and read the user feedback. That will help you know if the specific PSU you are looking at is reliable and is right for you,

 

[Serpentz]

Hello, I checked out Newegg and Antec is looking good. I hate to buy another Motherboard if its just the powersupply that is bad. Maybe I should just get a new PSU first. The thing that doesn't make sense to me is that the computer will run fine in safe mode, but not normal as it shuts down without warning. Today I booted it to grab some stuff off my backup drive, and it stayed running (was off all night) for about 5-10 mins before it shut off.

Maybe someone could explain why the computer will stay running in safe mode, and not normal if it is indeed the PSU. I'm very intrigued about this problem. Keep in mind that the only thing on the drive is a fresh copy of Windows 7 Ultimate....so it's not drivers because no drivers are installed yet. I know its hardware for sure.

Thanks everyone.

 

[essenbe]

Just a guess from me. In safe mode several of the services are not operational and therefore it requires less power. that is just a guess and is assuming that it is the PSU. The K9 board is not that bad of a board, but they can go bad also. I know because my board is in RMA now. But, whether it is the board or not, I would suggest a good quality PSU. If you have run memtest86 and eliminated the ram, Prime 95 to test the CPU, Furmark to test the graphics. Then download the programs from your Hard drive mfgr. If all those tests pass it is reasonable to assume it is either the MB or PSU. There are tutorials on this site on running each of these tests. If you have done that, I would try a new PSU first because you will need one in either case. After the new PSU, if you still have the same problems you will know that it is probably the Motherboard.
These are just my opinions and what I went through before RMAing my MB.

 

[Serpentz]

Excellent. I really appreciate the response.

I've got one more question before I make my list and check prices: What is the very minimum PSU Wattage you should go buy for a configuration like mine? I am going to upgrade my old Geforce 8800GTS OC to a Geforce GTX 460. I just want to make sure I get enough power.

Some people on Newegg seem to be pretty happy with this and its 500w AND Earth Friendly

http://bit.ly/gdAyiw

Do you guys think this would be plenty for my setup?

Thanks again!

 

[essenbe]

Try this calculator.

 

[Serpentz]

Oh thanks. That's really cool...and handy. Well I came up with 503 Watts so I'm guessing this one will do. It's $140 here in Russia...everything here is double or triple

Thanks tons

 

[essenbe]

To me, rule #1 with PSU is always buy more than you think you need.

 

[Mark Phelps]

Personally, I would avoid Antec. I just had my second PSU burn out in less than three years -- and they were both Antec 500-watt PSUs.

I got an PCZ PSU for about what I had paid for the Antec, and it's working fine.

But ... I would agree with buying more than you need. I replaced the Antec 500W with a 750W.

 

[society misfit]

To me, rule #1 with PSU is always buy more than you think you need.

Agree! Perhaps sink a little more $ into the PSU and get something with a little more power.

I too experienced the same problems with an older socket 939 MSI board. Would run fine for a while then just shut down. It eventually just crapped out and wouldn’t boot at all. The board was only a few months old and instead of going through all the BS getting it replaced I just bought a ASUS board which is still running 4 years later!

 

[Serpentz]

So with your experience, your motherboard was doing this and it wasn't a power supply? See the thing that gets me is that its fine in safe mode....but if I go into normal it just poops out about 15seconds to 1 minute later. I can keep it on all day in safe mode.

Weird? To me it is....because it seems to me if it was the PSU, then the PSU would crap out regardless of which mode it was in. Think I'm going to put the PSU in another machine and see what happens. Wish I had a voltmeter *looks around*

 

[society misfit]

In my case it wasn’t the PSU it was the motherboard.

Windows disables a lot of drivers in safe mode which in turn would puts less stress on both your PSU and motherboard.

If I’m reading this correctly you are running 2 GeForce GTS 8800 overclocked plus 2 hard drives on 550 watt PSU? I’m guessing you are over taxing your PSU even if it’s not under load. I’d start with a bigger/better PSU and if you are still having problems then perhaps replace your motherboard.

Have you tried removing one of your video cards? If things run smooth with only 1 card (not overclocked) then you are most definitely over taxing your PSU.

 

[essenbe]

I thought in a previous post you said you have a junk PSU and were going to buy a new larger PSU and Motherboard.
I would suggest that you should buy just a new PSU and install it. Then if it continues having problems you can buy a new MB. You may not have to buy a new Motherboard.

It seems to me that when you start in safe mode, several of the services are shut down, therefore you are requiring less power from the PSU. That could suggest that the PSU is your problem, not the motherboard. Also, if you are planning to buy both anyway, buying just a PSU first will cost you nothing and may save you from buying a Motherboard.

 

[Serpentz]

Well, I've tested it without all 4 sticks of RAM and only one video card, and even unplugged all but the OS drive. Taxing the PSU was the first thing that came to mind. This didn't help my testing procedure unfortunately. The machine still shut down once it got into normal mode RIGHT after a fresh install of Windows 7. So since your last post....I got bored and tore down what I like to call my "Dinosaur" which is an Intel 2.20GHZ with a whopping 256 MB's ram, running a fresh install of XP and nothing else. I pulled out the PSU, replaced it with the PSU I was stuck buying here in Russia. Kimpro 500Watt is the name...ehh..don't ask. I was up against the wall at the time. I put this in "dinosaur", put in one of my Geforce 8800GTS OC video cards, and have had it running for about an hour now and it's not shut down on me. Granted this isn't as power hungry of a system as my other system, but it's somewhat close. I know this doesn't mean anything....but now I'm defintely leaning towards a junk motherboard. I can get an ASRock that is a hybrid and supports AM3-AM2 processors and the price is about $60. I'm going to get a new PSU as well. Still this just goes to show how important it is to get a GOOD PSU as the heart of the machine and with computers....anything can happen. I'm super glad Seven Forums is around.

Thanks for all the help everyone

 

[society misfit]

Out of curiosity, have you tried the PSU from your old ‘dinosaur’ on your MSI board? If you can, try running it with 1 stick of RAM, 1 HDD and 1 video card to see if you still experience the same problems. If it runs stable then that rules out your motherboard. If it still shuts down then you may still have either a bad MB or a underpowered PSU…or both!

 

[Serpentz]

I was going to try the PSU from dinosaur, but its rated at 300watts max and only has a "Legacy" type plug (missing 4 extra pins)...so it wont work. Dinosaur is still running with the PSU and hasn't shut down

 

[society misfit]

Well if you are planning on getting another PSU, start with that first. It may prove that your motherboard is fine and save a you few extra dollars (or rubles!) and having to re-install windows. If you are still having problems then go with the motherboard of your choice.

Totally understand your frustration. I went through something similar not too long ago but it turned out to be just a loose connection that was totally over looked!
http://www.sevenforums.com/graphic-cards/131951-radeon-6850-sporadic-crashes.html

Good luck!