PC restarts only when watching online videos

[SchmuckofNI]

I really don't understand it. My specs:
GAMA790FXDS5
1200 watt silverstone psu
8 gigs of drr2 800 gskill running at 2.1v (they are technically ddr1066 mem, but can't run at 1066 once I go over 4 gigs)
AMD Phenom 2 3.0ghz (not overclocked)
1x 250 gig seagate drive
2x 500 gig seagate drive
1x tb samsung
4870 1 gig ASUS radeon graphics card
I have tried numerous things. It seems to only happen when I watch online videos like hulu or utube. I have never had a restart while gaming or anything else. I thought it may have been the outlet I was using (its ungrounded apparently), but I tried to connect to one of my grounded outlets, the pc restarted again 20 minutes into watching Buffy on hulu. I don't get an error code or nothing. I even disabled the restart on system failure in bios AND in windows vista 64 bit. So I really don't know what could be causing these random restarts, I know it isn't a virus or spyware because I just scanned my machine with avast! and spybot search and destroy which found nothing. I really hope someone out there can help me, this has been going on for the past 3 months and is very irritating. Thanks!

 

[r_manic]

Does your PC randomly reboot when you're downloading large files? If so, then maybe there's something wrong with your ethernet card that's causing it to reboot your computer when it's under heavy activity. That's the only problem I could think of, since online videos are some of the most demanding apps on a computer's network hardware.

 

[sharken]

Graphics driver issue, go back one version, try that...

 

[SchmuckofNI]

I have already tried going back to the earlier graphics card driver with no avail. PC doesn't reboot when using torrents, just when watching online videos. Very strange indeed. I thought it may have been the onboard ethernet card, but my pc would have had connection problems which it doesn't.

 

[sailer]

Its quite possible that you're overheating something, most likely being the video card, but possibly the CPU. Have you checked the temps while watching HULU? I'd do that, using the latest drivers from ATI and CCC. If you see the temp going up, you can adjust the fan speed higher to bring it back down. For myself, I did have to download the latest drivers to get my 4870 to run correctly with HULU, along with adjusting the fan speed a bit higher.

 

[ALIBABA_79]

I think it's overheating the cpu because of dust.
Unplug-clean dust out of cooler and fan- make sure no dust covers pc and power supply air intake. Check your heat sensors with sandra(free software). Let me know if this works.

 

[SchmuckofNI]

No, its not overheating, my temps for the cpu are 30c idle and 35c at full load. As I have said before, its only with online videos. I can play my games for hours and watch dvds without a single hickup. System usually stays between 35-38c and my gpu usually stays between 37c idle 50c full load (from what cpuid has told me). I just cleaned all the dust out of each individual component and even took out the whole motherboard and reseated the cpu very recently due to these random restarts. Even before that my system stayed pretty cool. I'm beginning to think it may actually be the onboard ethernet card, but I thought I'd get a second opinion before I start replacing parts.

 

[SchmuckofNI]

UPDATE: When I booted into windows vista, before I could get in, the pc restarted again. I saw a red flashing light coming from my motherboard, very strange. I get a solid green light with my Ethernet card, but its currently flashing orange. Not sure if that means anything, but something is definitely going on.

 

[r_manic]

Have you tried swapping your ethernet card with another one? I still think your problem has something to do with your online activity.

 

[SchmuckofNI]

No, I think I will try that tomorrow, will keep everyone posted.

 

[SchmuckofNI]

Update: Just tried a new ethernet card, watched about an hour of hulu and it happened again. I'm starting to wonder if it is indeed time to replace the mobo or try a reformat. Anyone else got an idea what could be causing these restarts from watching hulu and utube?

 

[r_manic]

Hmmm... before we can actually declare this as "caused by online video"... can you try other online video sites like Metacafe or whatever? In any case, let's try revisiting the other suggestions... can you remove your video card and try using your motherboard's onboard video? Would it also be possible to check your CPU temps while watching online video?

 

[SchmuckofNI]

Already checked my cpu temps, they are at 33c when watching hulu or youtube (with cpuid). As I said before, its ANY online video after about 30-40 minutes of watching it. I don't have any onboard video with this mobo. Just to check if it was indeed the video card, I put in a high def movies for 4 hours straight yesterday without a single hickup. Not sure what to think of this, but I send a friendly description to gigabyte and they told me it could be my ethernet cable, which I replaced and didn't change the situation. To even think that a network cable could cause a pc to restart is rather absurd in my opinion..

 

[r_manic]

Sorry for the late reply Schmuck... the only suggestions I have left are:

-Check if your system is clean of any viruses or worms—with another AV program.
-Is your Flash updated to the latest version?

 

[SchmuckofNI]

Apparently, I'm not alone with this error. It has something to do with the latest bios on my mobo causing the random restarts. I'm just going to replace it, its not worth using a half pc. Thanks anyway.