PC Keeps restarting its self!

sxsam

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May 22, 2006
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For some reason my new build keeps restarting its self and its getting very annoying!!

Spec is:

AMD X2 4800+
DFI NF4 Expert
Western Digital 16mb SATA HD
OCZ Gold 2GB RAM
ASUS 7900GTX 512MB Graphics Card
Fortron Source 550w Power Supply

Anyone got any idea's as to why it keeps restarting its self??

This is my first build so if someone could advise me of stuff that I could have missed out or anyone known faults with any of my parts which could be making it restart that would be great!

Thanks, Sam
 

PCcashCow

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Jun 19, 2002
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Sam,


Did the restarts happen from the beinging? Or after drivers were installed on top of th OS?

You should be getting a dump file somewher eon your system just before dirty down.

You may want to reinstall the OS on this build beucase your system is freaking out about something.

Make sure your bios settings are at fails safe defaults, then do a reboot in to safe mode & check all device settings. If you dont see any minidumps there your next best bet is to do a reinstall with on sitck of that ram. The timmings could be off, or maybe a bad sitck. Just play around with a configuration that gets you stable. If you can't try a system restart, or use filemon to see what is triggering the restart.

BTW 16mb hdd? 160gig lol.
 

waylander

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More information please, it's pretty important to know WHEN it's restarting. How far do you get into the boot before it restarts. Have you been able to install an OS on it yet?
 

sxsam

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Sorry its a 250gb HD!

I can get in to windows XP, it does'nt always reboot at the same time, it just happens randomly! Dont get a blue screen when it does it, the system just fully restarts for no reason, the only things ive installed are the drivers that came on the CD's, sometimes it will reboot after a few minuites or sometimes it takes an hour or two!

Cheers, Sam
 

chuckshissle

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Yeah, it could be power issue,heat issue or memory error.

Run some test with that memory with MemTest and see if it has some error.

Also, take some temps of that cpu while in operation and see if your hitting the ceiling.
 

sxsam

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Im not sure on my timing or voltage, im at work at the moment so cant check!!

Case is a Tsunami Dream with 3 case fans and plenty of room!

Only thing is my old PC used to do it aswell, could it be anything to do with mains power fluctuating??

Cheers, Sam
 

waylander

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If you are getting power surges then yes that could be causing your computer to shut down to protect itself. I'm assuming that you are at least using a power bar with surge protection.
 

Echo72

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This is my first post but I've been reading these boards for sometime now ...
Anyway, I had this same problem a couple of weeks ago on a PC I had built a few months earlier. It turned out to be a bad memory stick (I was using two 1GB sticks). Try booting with one stick or the other and see if that stabilizes things.
 

sxsam

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It could be a massive coincidence but I highly doubt it!!

Ill make sure all the power cables are nice and secure and ill make sure theres not a problem with the RAM by running the memtest program and if its all fine i'll invest in a UPS!!
 

sxsam

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It could be a massive coincidence but I highly doubt it!!

Ill make sure all the power cables are nice and secure and ill make sure theres not a problem with the RAM by running the memtest program and if its all fine i'll invest in a UPS!!
 

sailer

Splendid
Im using a 4 plug thing that has a light on it saying surge, it doesn't stop power fluctuating i dont think!!

Would something like this do the trick??

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/ProductInfo.aspx?ProductID=3676&GroupID=467

That light indicating surge means you have a major problem with incoming voltage and that can surely cause your restart problems. The UPS you list should help out a lot, though if you can afford it, the 800VA would be better as it would give you a bit more time for saving your work and shutting down.
 

sxsam

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Can that one handle the power of the computer and stop the fluctuating though??

It will only last for 24 minuites if theres a power outage apparently, the last time the power went down in our house was about 2 years ago so i dont think that should be to much of a problem!!

If it will stop the random surges and fluctuating that would be really good!
 

tdubbers

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Just to be on the safe side....lets not completely rule out a software issue, by default, a Windows Install is set to "automatically restart on system error", so a BSOD will not be displayed unless you have changed the setting in the system properties, often people mistake simple software problems for much more serious hardware problems because of this behavior.
 

ikjadoon

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Well, try this, it might make the BSOD (blue screen) come up, and it'll give you some good information on what the problem is:

Start, Settings, Control Panel, System, Advanced, Settings under "Startup & Recovery". Under System Failure, uncheck Automatically Restart. Now if it restarts, it'll give a screen with the information. Post back w/ that info.

Another way to see what is up:

Start, Settings, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Event Viewer. Click system on the left hand side, and look for errors and debugging.

If there are no errors in Event Viewer or no BSOD comes up, assume that this is a power problem for sure, but bad power can cause BSOD's as well.

Does that motherboard come with some utility software? Look for anything to check the Voltages They should be good with that much power, but it won't hurt to check. If there isn't any software like that, go ahead and go into the BIOS. Go to something like System Status, until you find the voltages. They shouldn't be too far off from their designated marks, like the +12V shouldn't be fluctating in the low eleven's or the high 12's. Is it around 11.75-12.25? Ish? How about the other voltages? Are they intact as well?

~Ibrahim~
 

sailer

Splendid
Can that one handle the power of the computer and stop the fluctuating though??

If it will stop the random surges and fluctuating that would be really good!

Yes, the UPS will stop the fluxuations. It takes the incoming power, stores it in a battery, and then feeds a constant power without fluxuation to the computer, or what ever else you hook it up to. Years ago I had constant problems with my computer, BSOD and even complete shutdowns followed by restarts. A local computer shop told me that the electrical current in my area varied widely and was the probable cause of my trouble after I had replaced a motherboard that didn't hold up. I bought a UPS and like magic, the computer problems stopped. Well, most of them stopped. Now I usually have to blame problems on what I last messed with. At least I have no more power flux problems.