Computer Randomly Restarts Itself

janix2011

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Apr 3, 2011
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The computer I am having problems with is a collection of components that I have switched out over time while upgrading my main gaming computer. I am trying to get this secondary computer working so that my niece can play Minecraft on it. I believe that I had the computer working at one point, but it has been sitting in my closet for a while since then.

Firstly, here are the specs:

Motherboard
Processor
RAM (I have 4 identical sticks)
Graphic Card
Power Supply
HDD
CD ROM
Case
CPU Cooler
Windows XP

The problem I am having is the computer is restarting itself randomly. Typically this happens at or around the bios splash screen. Although, sometimes it actually makes it to Windows and will not restart for around 5-10 minutes. I haven't been able to really test much because it restarts too fast to run any type of test. I did manage to get to the Computer > Properties screen and did see that all 4 sticks of memory are showing up and the graphics card is as well.

I would like to try and diagnose this without having to buy anything to "attempt" to fix the problem, but if anyone thinks it is a good chance that a particular piece of hardware is the culprit I will go and buy one at Best Buy to test it out.
 

freshbakd

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Mar 17, 2012
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I would suspect heat first clean the hell out of it. That may not fix your issue, next suspect is power supply or a simple short check connections and recheck unhook EVERYTHING i know a pain but worth a try.
 

janix2011

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Apr 3, 2011
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18,510


I cleaned everything really well and checked all connections. Still restarting.
 

janix2011

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Apr 3, 2011
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Well, I think I have ruled out RAM being the issue. I tested all 4 sticks of ram individually and still restarting. That is unless all 4 sticks are bad. I also reset the bios at the same time while only having 1 stick of ram, motherboard, hdd, and gpu hooked up. Still restarting.

I really wish this type of thing were easlier to diagnose. Is there a way to have error messages show up before the system restarts to see what is causing it?