HUGE SCARE, my computer shut down and would not turn on!

[Irish_PXzyan]

hey guys.

OK so..I bought a brand new game called PREY..ive played it for about 1 hour 20 mins..I then took a break for 1 hour..I then launched the program again..and after 10 mins of gaming..the computer completely shut down and then rebooted right away without me pressing the boot up button...then after 3 seconds I heard this strange noise and boom,...the computer just shut down??
I then waited for 10 seconds wondering wtf just happened...then I clicked the button to boot it up..and all I heard was a weird sparky noise..I instantly switched the power off the plug due to it sounding not normal...

Ok so..I checked inside my comp and everything appeared normal..no strange smells or anything looking wrong. I tryed to boot it again..but this time nothing happened...no noise and no picture.I then messed around inside wondering if any connection to the mainboard were loose...it still failed..but then..I took the switch out of the mainboard that connects from the comp case..the boot up switch..and put it back...and boom..it worked??? everything is back to normal again..or is it?

Iam scared that this will happen again..is it anything to do with PREY?? everything is turned on..AA is 2X and AF is 2X playing on 1280x1024..my specs are:

GeForce 8800GTS
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0Ghz
1.5gigs of PC3200 DDR DIMM 400mhz RAM
Wins XP home

my specs or given by my name for further viewing.

Can someone help me here..is this a freak thing..which I hardly think so..and should I do something about this?

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

Oh could be static. My guess is that. psu COULD HAVE BLOWN, but thats a nice psu. I say a card overheated.

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

the GPU overheated???? its not overclocked or anything???

would it be the high settings in prey just killed the gpu??

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

Check your gpu temps from within the nvidia control panel. Cpu with coretemp.

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

the PSU has not blown...iam on the computer now...so the PSU is still working!

ok..iam going to do a few tests now..thanks for the help

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

Sounding like static as I read again and again. Also, Prey did nothing wrong... It is a demanding game, that is all. Static I tell you. The sparky could have killed your mobo, (thank g-d it did not) but it probably reduced the life. Too bad, but that cpu and mobo do need to be upgraded so...

and explain this

but then..I took the switch out of the mainboard that connects from the comp case..the boot up switch..and put it back...and boom..it worked???

in greater detail...

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

heh ok.

What I mean there is..ok..I have a Xion2 style case..and inside the case there are 4 little switchs such as, power SW, power LED,H D D and reset switchs..I took the power SW out of the mobo..and simply put it back in again..nothing fancy or special..and then the computer started up again.
Also..the GPU temp is 55-56C with fan speed at 80%
So that aint a problem I beleave.

How does the static get loose in the first place?? and could that damage the CPU,RAM,GPU??

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

So this is you with socks on, rubbing your feet on the carpet. Since your are not grounded, static charge builds up. Lets say your friend is, and you touch him. He gets shocks. Same with you computer. It is ground, you build up charge. Bam.

I could damage / kill all of them yes.

 

[ktr]

Hopefully you have a quality surge protector...

 

[PVTCaboose1337]

Hopefully you have a quality surge protector...

yep...

 

[ex_reven]

maybe its a short circuit

i remember i had cathodes in my case and i disconnected them one day
i turned on the computer, only for it to completely power down itself

turned out that when i disconnected the cathodes that an exposed wire touched the chassis, shorted, and killed the power.

 

[k0rn_h0li0]

haha you plugged it in wrong nice job or you messed up it happens to me too i only want to do it once when i hook it all up

 

[ex_reven]

haha you plugged it in wrong nice job or you messed up it happens to me too i only want to do it once when i hook it all up

that doesnt help...

 

[francis511]

you guys, this one time, i was playing a video game ,think it was sonic something
and i heard this reaaly loud crack from the pc.when i opened it up, the cd
inside the drive had been spinning so fast ,it shattered!!!!

 

[ex_reven]

you guys, this one time, i was playing a video game ,think it was sonic something
and i heard this reaaly loud crack from the pc.when i opened it up, the cd
inside the drive had been spinning so fast ,it shattered!!!!

yes you get that
but thats slightly off topic

 

[HookeyStreet]

Youve been talking about upgrading and I think now is the time to do so

 

[ex_reven]

Youve been talking about upgrading and I think now is the time to do so

Niiice

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

heh hes right

I was indeed talking about upgrading..and I think this will only boast that thought big time..I no longer think about it..I know I will buy new mobo,ram,cpu in at least 2 months

I just hope that the mobo desides to be nice for the time being.

 

[Seany1212]

You say that your card is at 55-56C with 80% fan? is that at idle or when playing prey, if its at idle, start up prey, get to a graphically demanding bit, tab out and check your temp.

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

Nah its 49C when idle at 80% fan speed..when gaming it reachs to 54-55C..but when the computer has been on for over 7 hours..it tends to rise to 56-57C when gaming I played prey this morning for 2 hours, it was 54C..I have preys settings on the highest everything can go but AA is 2x and AF is 8x and run a smooth 60FPS and never seems to go below that or get any higher.
Vertical Synch is also off.
Everything seems to be fine now..