Power supply too weak?

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LancerZero

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Okay, since no one answered my previous thread I've been having to troubleshoot on my own, and I think it might be that my power supply isn't pumping enough juice for the upgrades I've put in.

Here's the problem: at about every other reboot, the graphics will appear . . . messed up. The wireless network card cuts out at random. Both of those problems began when I installed my new graphics card. Here's my computer's stats:

AMD Duron 750MHz - used to have a 60mm CPU fan, but I replaced it with an 80mm thermally controlled case fan.
320MB RAM (originally 64MB)
16x DVD-ROM (originally 48x CD-ROM)
8x CD-RW
ATI Radeon 7000 64MB Graphics card (originally 8MB)
CompUSA 5.1 channel sound card (originally 2-channel onboard sound)
Belkin wireless-g network card

And all of that is running off of the 250-watt power supply that came with the computer. Might power be the issue, or is it likely something else?
 
Unplug any unnecessary device out like both your CD and DVD drive, the floppy drive, sound card and try again. If the same problem occur it could be an IRQ conflict with the NIC and video card. You could move the NIC card to another slot and the BIOS will try to assign another IRQ for it. If it doesn't occur then the power supply is not giving adequate power.
 
That might be it . . . that could explain why, for instance, when I had my sound card in slot #2 the DVD and CD-RW drives suddenly wouldn't work, and the sound card got stupid. It works fine in #3 . . . alright, I'll unplug the data cables for the two optical drives, and take the sound card and the wired ethernet card as well.

Just to be clear . . . the NIC is my wireless card, right? Or is it my 10/100 ethernet card? I'll edit this post as soon as I've tried what you suggest.

EDIT: I haven't run it yet, but I followed the link in the "Random Rebooting" stickied thread to go to the PSU calculator. It said I need at least 233 watts, and the thread says to add about 50 watts to that. So regardless of whether or not the PSU is the problem, sounds like I should look into a 350 watt model anyway. Alright, time to click "edit post" and give it a go . . .

EDIT: Okay, I removed my wireless-g card, my wired ethernet card, and my soundcard and disconnected both optical drives from the motherboard (though I left their power cables plugged in), and couldn't get the problem to reappear. So I think you're right, it must be some kind of address conflict. But how do I diagnose exactly which card caused the problem, and fix it, other than putting stuff back in until something goes wrong?
 
I would gradually connect each device 1 at a time. When the problem comes up then you know the last thing you put is causing it ( I suspect at this moment it is one of the PCI devices) You can always switch them to another slot. Tell me how it goes!
 
another thing:
when buying psu's DONT get a generic brand.. it might be 500 watts but since its generic.. it will be equal to probably a 300-350 brand name... so id get a 350-400 BRAND name psu if i were you :D
 
I read it wrong last time. put your sound card at the bottom or on the next to last slot slot. put your cd and dvd roms back (they should have anything to do with this) then try it. I think the that it the psu or wireless card.

I had this problem with a ati 9200 (some the screen would boot up funny) on my wife's sony viao and getting a bigger PSU fixed it
 
Static_11 said:
another thing:
when buying psu's DONT get a generic brand.. it might be 500 watts but since its generic.. it will be equal to probably a 300-350 brand name... so id get a 350-400 BRAND name psu if i were you :D

I learn that here. I use to buy these 580 psu that cost 25.00 at this computer factory in my town, but a guy here ( 4W4K3) convinced me, that since I had a 2000.00- 3000.00 computer that I built myself, that I shouldn't run it on a 25.00 psu. he also taught me how to read the rail voltage amps. I got a $100.00 500 watt PSU and it made a dramatic increase in performance on my computer
 
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