QuickBasic Cafe Forum

These r my system specs :

SIS K7S6A mainboard
AMD 1800 Mhz processor
1 gig of memory ; 1 512 MB stick ; 2 256 MB stick
Radeon 9600 SE grafics card
37 gig hard drive
3 12.5 V fans
400 Watt power supply

Nothing is overclocked.

At first when I installed the 512 MB stick the comp would run for only 5 minutes and then it would restart. The funny thing is when I rearranged the sticks now it runs for a couple hours before restarting. I thought that it was over heating so I installed 2 fans , 1 sucking air in and the other blowing the hot air out , and I installed a clip on heat sink on the 512 MB stick. After I turned of the comp and touched the stuff inside everything was cold except for the power supply. I know that the memory sticks aren't broken because the comp runs if only one is installed. That leads me to belive that the power supply can't handle the memory being doubled and it over heats , because after the comp restarts it doesn't run for very long , but if I leave it alone for some time it runs for a couple of hours again. So what should I do? Get a new power supply? Better cooling ? , but I don't think so since 3 fans + the power supply fan is enough. Should I install the heat sinks on the other memory sticks? Or do all of that? Plz help.

P.S.
Rearanging memory sticks doesn't help.  If the 512 MB stick is in the slot 3 then the comp runs for like 5 minutes. If it is in the slot number 1 though , it runs for a couple of hours before it restarts.  :-[  Plz help.

i dont know why tearranging the SIMMs would change the time it runs, but i think that you may have too much power demand from your power supply. All the cooling keeps the circuits cool, but requires a lot more power. AMD chips are generally low poer, as are most modern SIMMs, but cooling fans still have moving parts that need more electricity. Try this: put something on your pointer finger to rotect it(a bandaid will do, but i recommend a thimble from a sewing kit). Now push on the cooling fan's blades until they stop. remember how much force you had to apply to stop them. Unplug all but 1 of the fans, and turn the machine on again. If it takes more force to stop them when only 1 is in, you are demanding too much out of your power supply. Ok, this is no biggie. i had this problem once too, it's common. There are 2 solutions to this:
-get a better power supply(this is a hastle to change the power supply, but it isnt that hard)
-take most of the cooling fans out

Now, if you want the cooling fans to keep going in there, go with the first one. Otherwise, you can get a similar effect with heat syncs. You instaslled one onto your SIMM, although SIMMs dont usually overheat, but it is simple physics that tell why a heat sync wil work(especially the ones with the sticks coming out in a grid formation, and combined with a fan).
The heat sync takes the heat from the CPU and SIMM, and the heat travels along the sticks. Since the sticks have a large surface area, they are cooled very rapidly by a fan.
by using a heat sync, you only need 1 fan, and can keep a low power demand from the power supply. Most computer stores sell heat syncs for around $2(at least where i live). Try that, and i think your computer will be much more cooperative.