Computer problems

[SPARTACVS]

Help a n00b, please :oops: . My motherboard has intel integrated graphics, but for the last year or so, I've been using a GeForce 6600GT on the open PCI-Express port, and things have worked perfectly. Yesterday I was playing FEAR, and I left it on the pause screen and left the room for 5 minutes or so to get a drink, when I came back, the computer had shut down on it's own. I pressed the power button repeatedly to no avail, unplugged it and plugged it into a new socket in the wall to try again, and it still wouldn't start. At first I thought that FEAR had just fried my PSU, but upon experimenting I found that the computer would start up just fine if I took the video card out and ran it off integrated graphics, so my PSU is not completely fried I guess. But, as soon as I plug that nVidia card back in, the CPU fans start to spin and the logo on the front of the case glows for about a half a second, and then just stops.

Does anyone have any experience in a problem like this? Any advice at all would be great. :?

[Neod101]

What wattage is your PSU?

[ForsetiAvatar]

In addition to the PSU wattage, check the fan on the 6600GT. I have seen fans die and the card burns out. W/ something like FEAR running it would only take a couple of minutes to kill the card w/o a fan. Do you monitor system temps? It could also be a combination of the 2, your graphics card got too hot, causing it to draw more power than the PSU could handle and blew out a cap on the PSU.

[melodic]

werid check for burn marks on the card... :S icky...intel :P

[SPARTACVS]

I think I may be pushing it on my PSU. It's maximum wattage is 300W, and according to the calculator at http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/, it says 280W+. It may be coming up on 300, because that site didn't have my GPU, I put it down as a vanilla 6800, but I really have a factory OC'd BFG 6600GT, which may suck up more power.

[VaKo]

Go and buy a 500W power supply until you can get a better one. 300/280w really isn't enough for anything more than a basic stock config. Not sure if it will fix your geforce (check your warrenty if its fubar'd, then RTR (return to retailer) that thing). But it should make your PC a lot happyier in the long run.

[SPARTACVS]

Go and buy a 500W power supply until you can get a better one. 300/280w really isn't enough for anything more than a basic stock config. Not sure if it will fix your geforce (check your warrenty if its fubar'd, then RTR (return to retailer) that thing). But it should make your PC a lot happyier in the long run.

I'm thinking that's just what I may have to do. I'll just go buy a higher wattage power supply tommorrow. I'm really happy that when I took the fan off my nVidia chip, nothing was melted or anything... so I'm good when it comes to having a non-screwed card.

Thank you to everyone who helped me out, now my comp will be in good working order in time for Half Life 2: Episode 1!

[Uncle Toxie]

Have you (or do you have the chance) put the card in another system to see if it still works? I didn't see that in the thread but I was really only skimming.