Computer help for you geniuses

[rulian]

Okay, here is an interesting computer problem
......

MY PC tower works perfectly well laying on its side,
when I stand it up on it's feet it cuts off at random points.
I've checked no wires are getting tangled on fans or anything.
Have not changed it other then move it to the other side of the desk
I have my sensors reading all normal temperatures

thoughts?

[NogDog]

Weird.

My first thought was something with the hard drive, but I would have expected the opposite: having problems when it's on its side. Only other thing I can think of is that some card is a little loose, perhaps, and depending on the position gravity may help it seat better. You might want to pull any cards, clean the contacts, and re-seat them.

[rulian]

NogDog I followed your suggestions and basically disassembled/reassembled the pc hoping my mother board wasnt going fritz, although I cant be certain my meddling didnt do it but my cpu cooling fan and heat sink were loose so that might have been also a problem, but then again that should have registered higher temps. I also uninstalled some drivers I had installed before moving the pc but i wouldnt think that woudl have done anything.

That seemed to have done the trick, but it was pretty fustrating while it lasted. Thus the mystery remains unsolved, but the pc is back up and running.

Thanks NogDog

[bpat1434]

Higher temps might not be registered but I know that if my fan drops below a certain RPM, the computer shuts down. Now, I haven't had that happen (thank god) but if you have good airflow, then the fans might not be doing much anyway.

If your CPU fan is just pushing air into the case, and the case-fans taking the air out, then if the CPU fan is sitting say 3mm above the fins of the heatsink, will you notice a temp difference? No. But there might be a "problem" that your system sees that you don't, so it shuts off to save itself.

My brother had that happen, so he first installed a giant fan at the top (yay for cutting aluminum) which helped a bit. He still couldn't get it to stop shutting down, so he ripped it apart, modified the case, and installed a liquid cooling system. Since then, he hasn't looked back. But he did figure out that it was a fan on his memory I think that was loose, but since he already had the liquid system he just went ahead with the mod.

At least your computer doesn't make the fans jump off their bearings!! My main intake fan, from the original case, went up this past winter. It sounded like the bearing was just needing some oiling, so I took the faceplate off and saw the fan had in fact vibrated itself off its seat and the fins were wobbling as it spun.... mystery of the loud clicking noise (enough to wake you up, and even make you worry) solved!!

[rulian]

You know that could have very well been it.
Because the heat sink was loose on the top side of the machine when it was verticle meaning that they would have lifted of the cpu.
I really hate those push and twist tabs, I mean, I like the idea of them, but in practicality they are hard to twist under tight conditions and dont hold very well

[NogDog]

Whatever it was that did the trick, glad you got it working. Hope it keeps on keeping on.