Overheating cause multiple reboots?

[KaozDragon]

I've posted this in homebuilt section but no replies, forgive me for reposting here =)

Hi all, this is my 1st time posting even though I read this forum everyday. Ive read through most of the reboot issues other ppl encountered and I feel my case might be a little different and would like some help to shed some light on my case.

I have a pretty old system that I've built in '02:
Athlon xp3200+
nForce2 ultra 400 BIOS 1004
1.5 gig Kingston HyperX pc3200 ram
Antec TruePower 350w
eVGA 7600gs AGP (using cd driver for lack of support of new drivers)
NEC 20wmgx2 LCD

About 2 weeks ago I've upgraded my ram (from 512--> 1.5gig of same exact ram, from 1 stick in single channel mode to 3 sticks in dual channel) and video card (from radeon 8500LE-->geforce 7600gs agp) becuase I wanted to max out this system before passing it to my gf and building a new system next year for myself. Everything worked fine until this morning when I woke up to find my computer constantly rebooting itself every 2-3 seconds. my LCD wouldnt even be able to show POST bb4 the system reboots itself. I manuelly powered down the system by turning off my power supply from the switch in the back. After about an hour I turned on my system and everything booted up normal. I worked on my comp for 2 hours with no problem. Before I left for work I left Azureus on to continue dling some stuff, no other apps were open. 3 hours later my gf comes home to find my computer doing its self reboot every 2-3 secs again. I haven't been able to test out more of my system because I have no other computer at home and hence im posting at work. My initial impression is that it's over heating, but I've never encountered that problem in the past 5 years using this system and my computer didn't over heat after my upgrades for 2 weeks (and I leave the computer on most of the time for downloads over night). Any suggestions? Thanks in advance and I'll try to follow up as much as I can.

side note: my computer is not OCed nor is my vid card

 

[KaozDragon]

sorry for not specifying the mobo, its A7N8X-E Deluxe
as far as memory goes, the manuel does support having 3 slots filled and in dual channel mode. when i installed the sticks there was no problems POSTing and it passed memtest in dual channel mode (was detected automatically). This whole rebooting issue didnt start till 2 weeks after upgrade was done, and i ran my comp almost 24/7 since (rebooting here and there).

 

[Grimmy]

If you think its over heating, do you have software that monitors the CPU temp?

Speed fan is free:

Speed Fan

Also, if your temps look okay, perhaps running Memtest could help you determine if the ram is running correctly:

Memtest86

You can download and burn the ISO to a cd to run that program for around 6 hours at the most, I think.

Also, since its around 4 years old, did you blow out the dimm slots to free it of dust? Wonder if some dust is causing anything with the modules.

GL.

 

[Grimmy]

sorry for not specifying the mobo, its A7N8X-E Deluxe
as far as memory goes, the manuel does support having 3 slots filled and in dual channel mode. when i installed the sticks there was no problems POSTing and it passed memtest in dual channel mode (was detected automatically). This whole rebooting issue didnt start till 2 weeks after upgrade was done, and i ran my comp almost 24/7 since (rebooting here and there).

Sorry, I deleted my post, after doing some searching. I think I found another MB that had 3 slots, and it showed it could populate all 3 dimm slots with SS/DS.

Ahh.. so it was running okay for awhile. hmmmm.

Edit:

Might be possible that you have spyware running on it. Does the task manager show usage when it should be idle?

 

[KaozDragon]

Hmmm it very well could be dust in the DIMM I kinda just plugged the new sticks in and since everything started up fine i didnt check. I'll run the tests you suggested and check the slots for dust ASAP when I get home and post my results when I get home. Thanks for your input and I hope i can narrow it down to something simple =)

 

[Grimmy]

Heh, I edited my other post.

Not sure if you use any spyware programs to rid the system of unwanted background software.

Spybot Search & Destroy is good.
Windows Defender

Could try:

Trend Micro HouseCall

For free scanning.

Also another thought came to mine. Your 350W PSU, could possibly be another thing causing the reboots. If you could lighten its load, unplug perhaps CD/DVD Rom, anything not in use to lighten the load to see if it can run longer. 3 stick of RAM will consume around an extra 21watts

 

[KaozDragon]

its quite possible my PSU is not keeping everything up. I 4got to mention that I switched from a lite-on cd-rom to a nec dvd-rw (not sure if that takes more power). also, my PSU is at the minimum requirement for my new vid card (350w, 18 amp on +12 rail). With the power consumption of 2 sticks of ram/vid card and possibly dvd-rom, now it makes sense that my PSU is dying...dunno how it didn't occur to me after reading so many posts about people getting random reboots a good amount of them point to PSU as source of problem. main reason i thought my case might be different is because it reboots at such a fast rate (2-3 seconds max, monitor doesnt even get to light up) over and over again, then boots up fine after I leave it off for 1 hour. just seemed to me its the cpu's self protection when over heating thats causing it...but then again im no expert when it comes to how cpu responds to overheating hence im posting =D

 

[tool_462]

When you say it will boot up fine after about an hour. I would guess it is a PSU problem. It is a fairly old PSU, not beyond the lifespan, but if you leave it on a lot it could very well be the problem. But just to be sure, try to lightly wiggle the CPU heatsink&fan and see if you accidently bumped it loose while installing your RAM or something.

 

[KaozDragon]

ok....I tried isolating the problem, unplugging 1 thing at a time to see if anything changes. I took some load off my PSU bu unplugging my dvd-rom, HDD, and eventually even the extra power into vid card. Same thing occurs, restarts every 2-5 secs. I even got booted restart when im in BIOS.

the strange thing is. sometimes its quick restart as if i pressed the restart button (even if i have the restart button unhooked from mobo) and other times the system completely shuts off, then magically turns itself on after 5-10 seconds. the mobo light was always on though unless i flip the switch in back of PSU, which was the only way i could get the system to stop turning itself on and off. i also tried removing some ram and switching DIMM but it changed nothing

tool_462: i checked position of HSF and its still very secured, non of the pins were off.

this is by far my weirdest computer experience....the HSF was warm to touch so im pretty sure my cpu is not over heating, so the only 2 things i can think of is either my PSU is shot and its powering itself on/off (although mobo light was always on regardless) or some how my mobo fried when i left it on over night....atm my system always restart or shut down by i even get to winxp loading screen =( has any1 experienced this b4?

edit: when the comp is actually on the PSU fan seems to spin normal and LED light is on. all fans work till systems shuts it self off, i could still adjust cpu fan speed through control knob

 

[trixst4r]

The LED light on the mobo usually stays on for a little bit even after you shut off the power (same for lights on keyboard and some optical mouse). I believe it's just a bit of a capacitance thing. So I'm just saying that the light should not be an indicator if your PSU is the problem or not.

Have you tried pulling all your new stuff out and putting the old stuff back in?

 

[Teine2006]

On the off chance, Do you have a Fan Controller on your PC?
I had one of these reostat types that decided to go south, Fan itself kept running fine but my system would reboot at random. Removed the speed controller and have not had any other problems with random reboots.

 

[theaxemaster]

Check the temps on the other things as well, like the northbridge and ram.

 

[KaozDragon]

trixst4r: ya i have swapped the old parts back in, same results

Teine2006: i have the fan controller that came with the tt case and the one for cpu (coolermaster aero7+). i disconnected the case controller, same issue still

theaxemaster: I've checked the temps by means of touching right after the system shuts itself down. ram=cold, northbridge cold, cpu fan, warm


k now the system shuts off then starts itself up more often than just restarting. i smell a kind of sweet smell emitting out the back of the PSU. i think imma pick up a PSU at best buy to see if it changes anything.

 

[stallyn]

Sounds like a classic memory or hardware conflict, try memtest.org's software, also try swapping each ram stick one at a time to see if it runs, if nothing to avail, check the voltages,

 

[Grimmy]

Doesn't even sound like he can get far, since it reboots.

I'd say the 350W PSU should be the workable min, since it did run for 2 weeks with the extra RAM installed, but there's a good chance a power surge may have took somewhat of a toll on it, since its around 4 years old, and runs for a considerable amout of time. (heh, and the smell coming off it).

Hopefully a new PSU will get the system to be stable again.

 

[KaozDragon]

ok. I've took out everything and connected a BFG 650w PSU (bought from best buy for test purposes, made sure i could return it even opened =D). with only ram/vid card hooked into mobo, it was still the same. 1 thing i noticed is that the temperature from on the mobo (cpu fan/northbridge) feels warm to the touch...however the SOUTHBRIDGE (MCP-T) feels significantly hotter, is that normal? or have i found the source of my problem? it doesnt really burn my finger, but i have to take my finger off after laying on it for a few secs.

EDIT: I took out the new ram I've bought and left my old stick in system. the resets/shutdown still keeps occuring.

 

[Grimmy]

Gawd.. you didn't have to get a 650W PSU.

So its still constantly rebooting?

Just to be sure.. when does it reboot?

During POST?

Can you get into the bios?

After POST, and the Win logo comes up?

 

[KaozDragon]

lol i know i didnt need a 650w psu, however best buy was real close and thats the only psu they carry heh. didnt care for the overkill was just to test if any difference in change to rule out my psu...which it did.

during the reboots its weird, at 1st ill barely be able to get in bios, but b4 i can even navigate through it my comp restarts...and soon enough its restarting at the speed my monitor doesnt even get to show post. eventually the system will just shut down. after maybe 10-20 seconds it turns on again then shuts down. from then on it just repeats turn on/shut down...arg 8O

 

[Grimmy]

Man.. heh, that is an annoying problem.

I did search and found one other forum, on your board:

Open Tech Support - Random reboots

One of the people repling pretty much points out his problem was having a wire stop his CPU fan, which in turn, cause his CPU temp to go up.

How clean is that HS, and is the Fan in good shape? I'm pretty much thinking now your right about CPU temps, but then, you were not able to get into the bios to see what it reached.

 

[KaozDragon]

wow nice find! I've been searching for hours for some1 who experience same problem lol. Thing is before I hooked up the 650 psu, I took everything out and cleaned out all dusts on fans/case. I took off the HSF and cleaned out the dust piled on the fan fins as best as i could, then cleaned both the cpu core and HSF with high concentrated alcohol, reapplied some AS5 then reseated the HSF. after that i just put mobo in case with ram/vid card and plugged psu to mobo. everything started off just like usual and the reset/shutdown continued to plague me :?

EDIT: for their case though it was because wire got stuck. mines is totally free and spins. if only i can get into bios...

 

[Grimmy]

Welp... I'm pretty much fresh out of ideas.

Thing is.. you said it ran fine for 2 weeks with the memory upgrade.

Kinda wonder if a power surge hit your system, and caused this type of problem. Hard to trouble shoot systems when that happens.

Did you notice any burnt traces or molex plugs (20 pin MB connector)?

Have you tried, for the hell of it, resetting the bios by jumper?

Edit:

Found another forum:

SysOpt Forums - Asus

Soo.. yer not alone. :lol:

 

[KaozDragon]

lol in fact i did reset CMOS. when i took the mobo out to clean i took out the battery and i put it back together after like an hour (which should reset it since from what i read its recommended 30 minutes).

i checked all capacitor on mobo/vid card (didnt check psu since the 650 was giving me same problem. no visible leakage/swelling. no burn marks anywhere. im leaning toward some sort of powersurge thats making it run funny...after all, i left it on for 2 days downloading, checking it every 8-12 hours when i get home from work. on the 2nd day i wake up and find it going ape sh!t lol...however im still not very sure if its a powersurge. none of my clocks reset and i was able to use my computer again after hard-off for 1 hour. left house after 2 hours of problem free use and my gf calls me to tell me its going ape sh!t again. GAWDDDD!

the last article u linked me mentioned he heard clicking noise from HDD, i heard nothing and problem persists with HDD disconnected lol.

 

[aBg_rOnGak]

Sorry if didn't read carefully,my head's full of text :lol: but hav u tried minimal boot, wit 1 stick of ram at a time n ur mobo just lying on..say a phone book?

 

[KaozDragon]

hehe sorry i tend to write up as much detail as possible.

ya ive tried booting with nothing but ram and vid card installed, 1 ram at a time at different slots. same situation

 

[aaargh_again]

While reading this I first thought PSU but my second thought is yer graphics card memory as its been left on and its new, sounds much like a dry solder joint too me