Random Restarts and Freezing when loading!

[youngl]

okay heres the situation;

specs:
300W PSU (came standard with case)
Syntax Skt A Mobo
166mhz fsb - Athlon XP 2800+
1x 512mb DDR
ATI Radeon 9600 256mb AGP4
Modded Case with Cold Cathode Tubes
Firewire 800
6x USB2
2 HDD, 1x 40Gb Maxtor, 1x 160gb WD
FDD
2 CD/DVD, 1x NEC DVD-RW, 1x IDE DVD-ROM

----

After installing some 400mhz 512mb RAM into my motherboard which supports 133mhz (I guess it underclocked itself) now my as the first screen loads up; the one which says 512mb, AMD Athlon XP 2800+, list the hdd (you know the screen im talking about) well as it loads this screen, more often than not it freezes and I am unable to accesss the bios or anything else, it then takes several restarts to get past that.

When running windows during the loading process, it often just restarts itself (no blue screen or anything).

Why is this happening.

I have two Ideas personally,

1) is my PSU not powerful enough 300watts seems to me a bit on the below average wattage. I thought maybe since installing my RAM that it possibley requires slightly more power now. Ive had to reduce my AGP4x graphics card to 2x, had to underclock my CPU even more so now it runs at 133mhz and is detected as being an 2200+ instead of 2800+, and there are many other settings I had to reduce in the bios to get my pc past the loading stage.

2) my second thought was that maybe the RAM is making my computer play up, although I am not sure why this would be.


if it is my PSU, can anyone recommend me a good one to purchase and suggest a reasonable wattage for this. I need it to be cheap but good.


Thanks!

 

[pc_boy]

your first guess has a high chance of being the cause... another one is that the RAM is not compatible with your setup, not because it's DDR400

 

[macdude425]

Have you read the Random Restart sticky and tried some of the things Elbatrop lists?

 

[damasta55r]

You sure, i thought it did support pc3200 and besides it'll just be underclocked. Perhaps its overheating.

 

[youngl]

My moterboard supports the following;

PC1600/PC2100 up to 2gb or PC133/PC100
AGP 4x
166mhz FSB CPU

Ive managed to get my system stable by undeclocking all of my hardware, my 8x ATI running at 2x, my DDR400 running at DDR133, my CPU 333mhz runing at 133mhz. and I unplugged my mods in my case. This is really stupid, and anoying me like crazy. The only thing I could think of is that all hardware running at their optimum speeds was drawing to much power and that the psu could not handle it seemin its only 300w, just wondered if you did agree. I dont think its overheating I thought if you underclocked that in general it would all be running at a lower tempreture.

I uesd PC Wizard and PSU calculator:

PC Wizard:
CPU temp - 34o

PSU Calculator recommend mininum of 301watts PSU

 

[joshd]

you probably need a higher psu IMO

 

[TMT]

Why don't you just buy a new motherboard that DOES support your hardware? Rather than spending out on a power supply you may not need. Just a thought...

TMT.

 

[youngl]

very true TMT, I dont know why I keep putting off getting anew motherboard, ive upgraded all the components but have not upgraded the motherboard, i suppose its because I thought i could get away without having to buy one. Suppose this is not really the case.

Im no good when it comes to choosing motherboards, I dont know which makes are good, what the extra features do etc, etc.

here are a few I was considering;

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=58198

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=83809

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=65354

are any of these 3 any good? probably not knowing my knowledge on motherboards! If not any recommendations,

 

[TMT]

Out of those, I'd go with the Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=58198). It's obviously the most expensive. But, you're getting a lot for your money! Plus, it's fairly future-proof if you wish to upgrade any further.

I have an Asus board (not that one, though). It's never let me down once! I also got it from eBuyer, and their service was great.

TMT.