My newly built gaming computer randomly restarts (please help :()

[Rebrag]

I just built a brand new gaming computer less than a week ago. I'm not the "most" tech savvy person, but if you can accurately describe stuff, then I can usually catch on

Components
Case - Cooler Master HAF932
Power supply - Corsair 750HX
Processor - Intel i7-2600k
Motherboard - ASUS Z68 P8Z68-V PRO
Heatsink - Noctua 6 NH-D14
RAM - 8GB G.Skill DDR3 12800 (two pairs of these, so 16g ram)
Video Card - XFX Radeon 6970

Everything runs perfect except for one main issue:
-Every few hours that I'm using my computer, it will seemingly randomly restart or freeze. The only pattern that I can seem to find with the restarts/ freezes, is that it always happens while gaming (either sc2, wow, etc). It also froze once while I was watching a stream on justin.tv
My video card temperature never goes above 80C and from what I've read on the internet, it seems like video card temperatures don't really become an issue until around 100C.

This issue is really bothering me and some help would be greatly greatly appreciated. Thank you

TL;DR - My new computer randomly restarts

 

[Jay_83]

Well, you say BIOS reports a CPU fan error. There really might be one. I'm willing to bet that the max temp of 41C for CPU cores is low load temp, even with a nice Noctua. What about heavier loads? Try monitoring the temp during a prime95 run. Might be that the HSF is not seated properly and can't cope when decently stressed.
Also, make sure that the CPU fan is actually plugged into the "CPU FAN" header on the mobo. Maybe you plugged it into a "CHA FAN"- a header for miscellaneous chassis fans? This would keep your CPU fan spinning, but the mobo would not see it as a CPU fan. Though to be honest, I strongly suspect your rig would simply refuse to boot in that case.
Anyway, start off with these two things, then we can move on. I'm sure others will have suggestions as well

 

[Rebrag]

Well, you say BIOS reports a CPU fan error. There really might be one. I'm willing to bet that the max temp of 41C for CPU cores is low load temp, even with a nice Noctua. What about heavier loads? Try monitoring the temp during a prime95 run. Might be that the HSF is not seated properly and can't cope when decently stressed.
Also, make sure that the CPU fan is actually plugged into the "CPU FAN" header on the mobo. Maybe you plugged it into a "CHA FAN"- a header for miscellaneous chassis fans? This would keep your CPU fan spinning, but the mobo would not see it as a CPU fan. Though to be honest, I strongly suspect your rig would simply refuse to boot in that case.
Anyway, start off with these two things, then we can move on. I'm sure others will have suggestions as well

Apparently I was silly and I did in fact have my heatsink plugged into my motherboard in a "CHA FAN" slot, so I fixed that. After fixing that, when I started up my machine, it actually booted straight into windows 7 (when regularly it booted into the motherboard BIOS). I'm "assuming" that this means that my "CPU Fan error!" is fixed (although I'm not 100% sure).

I downloaded prime95 and ran it for 5 minutes, my cores each went up to around 48C. When I stopped the test, they quickly dropped back to mid 30s.

Also to note, before you replied, I had my computer restart whilst playing sc2 on high graphics settings, I noticed the Video Card temp slowly crawling up to the high 70s, then it restarted. When I don't have any games open, my vid card is at 55C. This is making me wonder if it is a video card issue.

 

[Gosu-Vu]

Apparently I was silly and I did in fact have my heatsink plugged into my motherboard in a "CHA FAN" slot, so I fixed that. After fixing that, when I started up my machine, it actually booted straight into windows 7 (when regularly it booted into the motherboard BIOS). I'm "assuming" that this means that my "CPU Fan error!" is fixed (although I'm not 100% sure).

I downloaded prime95 and ran it for 5 minutes, my cores each went up to around 48C. When I stopped the test, they quickly dropped back to mid 30s.

Also to note, before you replied, I had my computer restart whilst playing sc2 on high graphics settings, I noticed the Video Card temp slowly crawling up to the high 70s, then it restarted. When I don't have any games open, my vid card is at 55C. This is making me wonder if it is a video card issue.

I'm not sure if graphics cards have a temperature threshold that will shut down the computer or restart it. That's odd. Are you sure the motherboard is mounted properly in the case and isn't touching anything metal? That graphics card temperature isn't bad either. Try taking it out and booting your computer off the intergrated graphics on the motherboard and see if the freezings occur or still happen. You should be able to determine if it's the graphics card causing it or not hopefully. Do the freezings happen only when gaming? Or when at the desktop for long enough as well?

***UPDATE*** If the graphics card is reaching 100C thats pretty high, I missed that part. Did you try cranking the fan speed too 100% while gaming? Also are you running any sound cards or anything in PCI slots? I got random freezes and BSOD when i was trying to run a sound card.

 

[Rebrag]

I'm not sure if graphics cards have a temperature threshold that will shut down the computer or restart it. That's odd. Are you sure the motherboard is mounted properly in the case and isn't touching anything metal? That graphics card temperature isn't bad either. Try taking it out and booting your computer off the intergrated graphics on the motherboard and see if the freezings occur or still happen. You should be able to determine if it's the graphics card causing it or not hopefully. Do the freezings happen only when gaming? Or when at the desktop for long enough as well?

***UPDATE*** If the graphics card is reaching 100C thats pretty high, I missed that part. Did you try cranking the fan speed too 100% while gaming? Also are you running any sound cards or anything in PCI slots? I got random freezes and BSOD when i was trying to run a sound card.

No extra sound cards or anytihng extra in the PCI slots.

How do I edit the fan speed?

The freezings didn't happen when gaming, but the restarting did. I don't know if they're caused by same issue, I'm just trying to list everything off with specific details, the fan error is definitely fixed.

 

[Gosu-Vu]

No extra sound cards or anytihng extra in the PCI slots.

How do I edit the fan speed?

The freezings didn't happen when gaming, but the restarting did. I don't know if they're caused by same issue, I'm just trying to list everything off with specific details, the fan error is definitely fixed.

Is your video card nvidia or ati?

Like is it a geforce 260 or a radeon 6970, or what.

 

[Rebrag]

Is your video card nvidia or ati?

Like is it a geforce 260 or a radeon 6970, or what.

Radeon 6970, lol I'll edit the opening post

 

[arson94]

Gosu-Vu, I don't see where Rebrag said his 6970 reached 100C. I only see where he kept seeing that graphics card temps don't become a problem until around 100C.

Rebrag, you might just be experiencing BSOD's and the computer automatically restarts because you don't have the option disabled to not restart upon system failure. Your research is correct in that graphics card temps aren't an issue until 100C or so. Disable (uncheck) the 'Automatically restart' check box under the 'System Failure' section in the 'Startup and Recovery' settings.

Type "advanced system settings" in your start menu search field and click the 'Settings' button in the 'Startup and Recovery' section. Uncheck the 'Automatically restart' check box. Play again until it restarts or blue-screens and let us know which one actually happens.

 

[Rebrag]

Gosu-Vu, I don't see where Rebrag said his 6970 reached 100C. I only see where he kept seeing that graphics card temps don't become a problem until around 100C.

Rebrag, you might just be experiencing BSOD's and the computer automatically restarts because you don't have the option disabled to not restart upon system failure. Your research is correct in that graphics card temps aren't an issue until 100C or so. Disable (uncheck) the 'Automatically restart' check box under the 'System Failure' section in the 'Startup and Recovery' settings.

Type "advanced system settings" in your start menu search field and click the 'Settings' button in the 'Startup and Recovery' section. Uncheck the 'Automatically restart' check box. Play again until it restarts or blue-screens and let us know which one actually happens.

Okay, playing now

And you're right, mine has never gone above 80C to my knowledge. I was just stating that 100C was where other websites said the issues were.

 

[arson94]

Go go go!

 

[Guest]

are you fully functional now? if not, try testing your ram individually to see if you got a bad stick.

 

[arson94]

are you fully functional now? if not, try testing your ram individually to see if you got a bad stick.

We're still waiting to see if his computer is really restarting instantly or if he's actually blue-screening after disabling the option to automatically restart upon system failures. He's currently playing a game to trigger the event.

 

[Rebrag]

We're still waiting to see if his computer is really restarting instantly or if he's actually blue-screening after disabling the option to automatically restart upon system failures. He's currently playing a game to trigger the event.

Okay I set the settings like you said, and I didn't see a BSOD, it restarted completely.

I am utterly clueless as to what the issue is

 

[arson94]

Okay I set the settings like you said, and I didn't see a BSOD, it restarted completely.

I am utterly clueless as to what the issue is

Ok, no BSOD is more info than we had before so it's not necessarily bad yet. When your computer restarts while gaming, does your hdd make a clicking or clanking sound like metal on metal contact kind of sound right before or as it restarts?

If not, then let's do this. You said you ran prime95 before for 5 min, but that doesn't tell you anything more than just your temps rise to 48C in 5 minutes. You need to run it longer to see how high the temps really get. When you open prime95, a window pops up with settings for a torture test after you click 'just stress testing.' Choose 'In-place large FFTs...' make sure the number of torture test threads is set to 4. Well, the i7 2600k can do 8 threads so set it to 8 threads. Run prime95 until the temps get close to 70C or so (72.6C is max operating temperature for your CPU) or until the temps start to plateau and it takes a while for the temp to rise another degree.

This will let us know for sure if your CPU is overheating as it shouldn't get to 70C at stock settings I don't think unless your room temp is higher than normal, like close to 80F or higher. Also keep an eye on the prime95 window every now and to see if reports any errors for any of your cores/threads. If all turns out well, we'll have to check out your RAM next.

 

[Rebrag]

Ok, no BSOD is more info than we had before so it's not necessarily bad yet. When your computer restarts while gaming, does your hdd make a clicking or clanking sound like metal on metal contact kind of sound right before or as it restarts?

If not, then let's do this. You said you ran prime95 before for 5 min, but that doesn't tell you anything more than just your temps rise to 48C in 5 minutes. You need to run it longer to see how high the temps really get. When you open prime95, a window pops up with settings for a torture test after you click 'just stress testing.' Choose 'In-place large FFTs...' make sure the number of torture test threads is set to 4. Well, the i7 2600k can do 8 threads so set it to 8 threads. Run prime95 until the temps get close to 70C or so (72.6C is max operating temperature for your CPU) or until the temps start to plateau and it takes a while for the temp to rise another degree.

This will let us know for sure if your CPU is overheating as it shouldn't get to 70C at stock settings I don't think unless your room temp is higher than normal, like close to 80F or higher. Also keep an eye on the prime95 window every now and to see if reports any errors for any of your cores/threads. If all turns out well, we'll have to check out your RAM next.

Okay so I ran the test, did "In-place large FFTs" with 8 threads, and after a minute or so, my computer FROZE. It did not restart. I was staring at my processor temperatures, and when it froze they were only at 48C.

What does this mean?

EDIT: I'm running it a second time as I type this, and its been running for ~17 minutes and my processor is capping out at 50C, its going up and back down between 51 and 50. No crashing 17 minutes in.

 

[arson94]

What about that clicking sound I mentioned earlier? Do you hear anything like that when it restarts or freezes? Anything like a metal sounding clink or clank sound.

 

[arson94]

Oh ok, well it doesn't seem to be overheating then. Guess we need to check your RAM. Have you ever used memtest to test your RAM?

 

[Rebrag]

Oh ok, well it doesn't seem to be overheating then. Guess we need to check your RAM. Have you ever used memtest to test your RAM?

I've never heard of memtest lol, I will download it.

I stopped the prime95 after 30 mins, never got above 51C.

EDIT: I haven't really checked for the clicking noise because it hasn't restarted in a couple hours, I will pay attention next time it restarts

 

[arson94]

You shouldn't really have to pay attention too hard, the clicking should be fairly audible. Anyway, memtest is just a bootable .iso you burn to a cd and boot into. It runs and you see if it detects any errors.

 

[Rebrag]

You shouldn't really have to pay attention too hard, the clicking should be fairly audible. Anyway, memtest is just a bootable .iso you burn to a cd and boot into. It runs and you see if it detects any errors.

Hey do you have skype so you could maybe help walk me through some of this stuff, because it's honestly all new to me.

 

[arson94]

I don't have skype, sorry. All I have is AIM lol. If you have AIM you can IM me.

 

[correon]

Try go to bios and check info for temps, fan-errors for cpufan and other mobo info there - maybe it says there what the failure is - Asus got nice bios screen - the mobo got nice info about almost everything.

 

[Rebrag]

Sorry for not keeping updated in a couple days, but I'm still having the restarting issue, however I haven't seen the computer actually freeze in a while.

As of now, it ONLY restarts whilst gaming with high graphics.

I haven't been able to get the memtest to work yet, however

 

[pcenvy88]

What monitoring programs are you running? This issue sounds similar to the one I had few weeks ago... Try turning off all your benchmarking software while gaming, especially SpeedFan and MSI AFterburner.... these two programs always crashed by system while playing BC2. hope this helps

 

[Rebrag]

What monitoring programs are you running? This issue sounds similar to the one I had few weeks ago... Try turning off all your benchmarking software while gaming, especially SpeedFan and MSI AFterburner.... these two programs always crashed by system while playing BC2. hope this helps

I've just been running CPUID Hardware monitor