New build keeps randomly restarting

stravs

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May 8, 2014
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I recently purchased and assembled this barebones kit with a VisionTek Radeon HD 7750 Video Card and an extra stick of matching ram. The problem I'm having is that the system seems keeps randomly rebooting.

Sometimes it will post and allow me to get as far as unpacking the windows 7 system files and then reboots on me. So far I have:

1) Tried both sticks of RAM individually in every slot as well as another stick of DDR3 I had lying around.

2) Removed all nonessential mobo jumpers (HD LED, HD Audio, Front USB ports).

3) Rearranged power leads from the power supply to rule out faulty wiring.

4) Tried different sata ports for both the HDD and DVD Rom.

5) Switched PCIe ports for the video card

Nothing seems to be working. I even went through the BIOS to make sure all the settings were accurate. Any ideas?
 

stravs

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May 8, 2014
4
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4,510


I haven't tried updating the BIOS yet, but yes, it will occasionally reboot while in the BIOS.
 

dingo07

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if your BIOS is up to date, and it reboots while in BIOS, then you either have a hardware fault or the PS is bad - check you inserted the processor correctly without bending a pin

you do not need the CD and drives connected to test hardware, see if it reboots after updating BIOS without the drives connected

 

stravs

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May 8, 2014
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4,510
When I disconnect the HDD and the DVD drive, the system seems to be stable. I am going to try testing using the original RAM and if evrything appears to work, next I'll plug in the HDD followed by the DVD drive and see when it's starts behaving badly again.

Just as an aside. I had another case fan plugged into the power supply directly (the motherboard only had 2 onboard.) I unplugged that as well to test the core of the system. You don't think that could have been the issue do you?
 

dingo07

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Solution

stravs

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May 8, 2014
4
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4,510


Turns out it was a bad DVD drive. I replaced it with one I had laying around and everything seems stable Thanks for the help!