[General Homebuilt] Odd reboot problem

lol

Well if you did a clean install of the OS that leaves out virus

Read this http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261145-31-read-postin...

1. Check all fans are working might be a heat problem

2. Make sure the OS and hardware are up to date

3. clean all the dust out of the PC and fans

4. run it with the side cover off if it dont reboot its heat

5. check your HDD RAM CPU run some programs that will stress test it

6. run it with 1 stick of ram @ a time and remove anything in the PC you dont need like 2nd DVD sound card ect

7. try to reset GPU RAM ect

8. make sure there is not a screw or anything grounding out the mobo

9. try a differnt PSU

10. try a new mobo

11. try a new GPU

12. maybe take it to a repair shop and let them have a look

After I posted my problem I started some initial testing myself. So far I have removed all HDD except for the Raid 1 (mirror) OS installed drives and one memory stick. This left me with 2gb ddr3. All seemed well, I left it on with the door off and walked by multiple times with no reboot. About 15 min later it freezes completely.

*sigh*

I just tried to boot into a PE winxp environment but it wouldn't even start while trying to setup the ramdisk. This was with the single mem stick o I installed the other two stick, rebooted, and now I'm in the PE easily. Currently running memtest and will relay the results later.

I should have mentioned this in the previous description but I think the amount of aggravation I had at the moment let it slip my mind! lol I was having a problem where the system would sometimes boot with no video output, other times with video for about 2 minutes and the cut out. I shipped the mobo to Asus who tested it and returned it stating that there was no problems with the unit. I got it back, plugged it all in, and the same problem occurred with the 4 sticks of RAM. I took one stick out and then it all seemed to work properly, aside from the reboot problem that is.

Also with my 4870, yeah I'm not to happy with this purchase. The output flickers, jumps, and stuff... very disturbing. I browsed some forums and read that generally this is a common problem for 4870s and one of the best solutions is to down clock the ram from 950 to 900 mhz. So, to remove the flicker/jumping, this has been done also. I don't really credit this as being the cause for the reboots though since from what I understand it's a windows fix which wouldn't take place before windows loads. I have no basis for this, it just makes sense for the settings not to take effect until windows loads and since downgrading the speed hasn't remained between different format/instillations.

Niklas_13, when I first saw your picture I was like, 'Nooo not /g/ troll!' lol There is a lot of useful information to assist me in solving this problem! I thank you, sir, for proving my initial thought wrong!  

NP I hope you get it working right m8, Its a bummer when a PC goes off the deep end.

Set bios to Optimal Defaults and make sure you have your ram volts set right.

Thanks for the support! I'm currently working on putting UBCD4Win on USB so I can use some of the PE tools on there instead of the one I was using before. The one I was using is good for other stuff, but apparently not so much for testing. lol I should have Memest86+ results soon though! I shall relay th results when the scan finished.

I read over the 20 suggestions and think they should also be the '20 Laws of PC Initial Diagnostics!' lol Below are the reply to them in order.

1. Read it when the MoBo first arrived.
2. I'm only using 4-pin, 8-pin setting is something relating to over-clocking the board which I have no interest in.
3. Installed all stand-offs except for one I believe, no extras left in odd positions.
4. Verified multiple times.  
5. dual 4 pin connectors attached.
6. At this stage now.
7. All were connected prior to removing a few for testing.
8. LDA775 board, I initially had 4/4 mem slots full. 1/4 currently for testing and will add to 3/4 leaving the furthest dimm open.
9. Plastic removed, and saved in case of RMA!
10. Thermaltake cooler is used and thermal paste applied.
11. CPU fan attached to MoBo CPU fan pin socket.
12. Not using a stock cooler.
13. No wires under the MoBo and no loose screws.
14. I did not use an anti-static pad while assembling. I know better but just haven't bought one for some reason.
15. Currently, 1 single beep cope upon boot.
16. Front bezel pins were attached to a separate pin strip which attached to the motherboard. This is on securely as well.
17. Rear switch is set to 'On'.
18. Yes.
19. reset the CMOS about 3 weeks ago when the problem started happening more regularly.
20. MoBo doesn't have integrated video.

When you built the PC, you used metal standoffs/screws with no insulating material between the board and the screws, correct?

Also, if you have any front USB/Audio plugs, you could try disconnecting them just in case one is defective.

Does the power button seem pretty sturdy/not loose?

Also try prime95 to test CPU and ram in a different way.

I ram Prime95 last night for about 3 hours which returned no errors. I had the same result from memtest86+. I left the machine on last night when I went to bed and woke up to a windows message about a bsod crash. Which is something new, generally I haven't received a message from windows from any previous reboot. I left Prime95 running through the night so it could be something relating to that. I'm not really sure

@ EXT64: I checked the MoBo over and only one screw didn't have the insulating spacer between it and he board. I have removed this screw. The power button seems sturdy enough, but I've never really checked it before so I'm not sure what to really compare it to.

I was thinking about heating again and remembered an incident where it rebooted upon walk by. This was shortly after windows install so the machine still went into 'sleep' mode via default power settings. So as I walked by, with the computer 'slept' it rebooted on it's own. This was after the PC had been in sleep mode for a while so if not all heat, than most heat would have dissipated from the system.

I should have mentioned it before but for cooling I have:
iCage from Thermaltake housing 3 HDD and uses a 25mm fan.
120x120x25mm fan on back of case next to CPU.
120x120x25mm heat pipe CPU fan (Thermaltake Big Typhoon).
pci slot case fan (placed under video card)
and a small side case fan, probably 70mm or 80mm.

In windows the temps stay around what is listed below:
Sysem: 52C
CPU: 37C
HDD1: 33C
HDD2: 37C
Core0: 45C
Core1: 44C

Also fan speeds while in OS:
Sys Fan: 2220 RPM
CPU0 Fan: 1918 RPM
Aux0 Fan: 1668 RPM

I don't think the app I'm using gathers info from the iCage.


Thanks again for all the help so far! I know we can iron out these problems together!  

Sorry, what I meant was that you should not use insulating (often paper) washers between the screw/standoff and the board. On my Gigabyte board, using even a few on them led to random restarts and restarts when plugging in USBs. Once they were removed it was and still is rock solid. You probably aren't using them, but I just wanted to mention it since the symptoms sound similar.

I'll try removing all the paper or whatever insulators and see how it fares. It's weird though, until yesterday it was all random reboots... not it's just freezing when I walk by.  

Last night I took the entire thing apart and reassembled it from scratch! The only think I changed when putting it all back together was not including the little paper insulators. So far I'm looking at around 7 hours up-time with not random reboots or freezing! I think if the system stays up for for over 24 I'm going to restore the OS image I had before I reformatted to test out the errors.

Thanks a lot for all the help guys!

I hope it works for you. The symptoms just sounded too similar to my computer's not to try.