Here's a puzzle for you techs...

[Coconut]

So I upgrade my Graphics Card to run Left 4 Dead better to a GEForce 9600x. The day I get and install it, my computer starts hard rebooting itself, and eventually won't power up at all. I run out to my parent's house and grab a new power supply. Once I put that in, everything runs great. ... for about a month...

Last night, my computer started hard rebooting again, and eventually, again, stopped powering up. I left it overnight and in the morning it started again, BUT almost as soon as windows loaded, it hard rebooted AGAIN.

Now... I've opened the case and unplugged the Graphics card from the power supply. The card is still running off the motherboard, but without being plugged into the power supply, won't send information to the monitors, but I can use remote access to use the computer a bit. During today, it has rebooted twice, but for the most part stays on.

WTF is going on? Is my new card overheating my chip and the warming weather is exacerbating the problem (explains why it didn't happen over the last week.) If so, what do I do about that? Is there any chance my power supply is overstressed with my new card? I don't see how that could be.

Thanks for any suggestions on what to try.

[Vitruvian]

Have you tried reinstalling the old graphics card?

[Coconut]

Will probably try that tonight and go a few days with that...

[leetninja]

sounds like driver incompatibility since its booting into windows - that or your psu cant handle it - how many watts?

you running intel chip?

[aworldnervelink]

Check your system logs for error messages... there could be a clue in there.

[leetninja]

test the compatibility by taking the card out - if you have no problems start looking at the event viewer

[Porcupine_in_MA]

[Coconut]

sounds like driver incompatibility since its booting into windows - that or your psu cant handle it - how many watts?

Why would it work for a month and now start messing up? If it was drivers. I'm pretty sure it's hardware based on what it's doing by hard rebooting and sometimes shutting itself down completely..

450 watt power supply

[K. Darien Freeheart]

Run a temperature monitoring app.

I know that my motherboard powers itself down when the sensors read too high. They claim it's not a defect but a "feature". Perhaps that's what's happening to you.

[Coconut]

Run a temperature monitoring app.

Are they free? Do you have a link? Yes, I could google it, and will if you don't respond, but I'm at work now and don't have time for research

Thanks for the suggestion. I think that it's either a heat issue or a power supply issue.

[K. Darien Freeheart]

For Windows XP, Vista

SpeedFan -> http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

For Mac OS X

Temp. Monitoring Dashboard Widget -> http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/status/temperaturemonitorwidgetedition.html

For Linux

Google it for your distro/desktop environment, but lm-sensors is a good place to start.

[Coconut]

Quick question.

Do sparks coming from the power supply fan give anyone a hint what the problem is?

Other issue that isn't matching up though, is the fan on the graphics card will start off strong as the computer boots, then slow down to a point where if I stop it with my finger, it sometimes has trouble getting started again, so it makes me think I have a faulty graphics card fan causing overheating there. Unless that is just a feature of the 9600 GT

I feel like Dr. House. Brain or heart? Brain or heart?

I may have a video of this up soon . If I get my computer working again to post it.

[thinkliberty]

It sounds like the barring or motor on your fan is starting to fail... if it's a month otd call your video card manufacture and send it in for replacement

[Coconut]

It sounds like the barring or motor on your fan is starting to fail... if it's a month otd call your video card manufacture and send it in for replacement

I don't think so... but only because I explained it wrong.
When the computer first starts or reboots, the fan starts strong and loud. As windows begins to load, it switches to a quieter, weaker, spin. It's not like it slowly weakens. But if my card is overheating, and blowing out my power supply at the same time, that's one big issue.

[thinkliberty]

If it slows after windows loads a driver could be reading the temp on the card and turning down fan. It could also be cat hair/dust bunny blocking the fan from working

How many watts is your PSU rated for? If you have the make and model that would be better to know

(don't stop the fan with your finger, it does not take long for the GPU to burn out.)