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My computer restarts when playing games?

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I have recently re-applied thermal paste on my CPU and HD Radeon 4670 card 1 GB ddr3.

They don't overheat as i have checked the Temps through hardware monitor form CPUID as well as speed fan.

I am guessing that the problem is with the PSU. I have a 450 Watt PSU which ran fine for a year but now my comp is restarting while playing games.
HD 4670 card recommends 400 Watt PSU.

i reached this conclusion as i have removed automatically restart computer if error is encountered in startup and recovery and i dont get any blue screens or green screens as the computer restarts...nor any error messages.

Further details: Core 2 duo 2.2 Ghz E4500, 2 GB DDR2 ram with intel D945GCNL MOTHERBOARD and Windows 7 Ultimate 32 BIT operating system.

Computer is 4 years old.

Graphic card and PSU are 1 year old.

Thank you for your time...

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Thanks for the quick reply.

I haven't overclocked my Graphic card. It is left at factory settings. Also My PSU is Mercury 450watt 20+4 pin.

I am aware that 450 Watt is enough for the computer but is there any problem with the connections or power supply with the PSU wires like wear and tear problem though i couldn't find any visible damage to the wires. Also it ran properly till 1 year.
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Power supply Master

Random is right in that a quality 450W PSU should easily power your system. Mercury PSUs aren't known for their quality/reliability.

Did you change settings in order to stop auto reboot on failure/error? If not, then you may be getting a BSOD without knowing it. Can you check your log files to see if you're getting any errors in there. If you're really not getting any error reports, then I would lean towards a faulty PSU.

Rugger said:
Random is right in that a quality 450W PSU should easily power your system. Mercury PSUs aren't known for their quality/reliability.

Did you change settings in order to stop auto reboot on failure/error? If not, then you may be getting a BSOD without knowing it. Can you check your log files to see if you're getting any errors in there. If you're really not getting any error reports, then I would lean towards a faulty PSU.


if you mean in windows event viewer/log

I have some DNS and DHCP error...but those are due to internet connectivity...those are okay..

But i have a kernel-power critical error...it says as follows...

//The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

event ID: 41

I think you are right Rugger, this might be that BSOD related stuff and i also googled that event ID and error.

Please tell me how to correct it...I also think that a PSU cannot just stop working after a year with no major change.

All temperature conditions are optimal.
Power supply Authority

PSU's get worse with age, a poor quality PSU will a) get worse quicker and b) start off worse. So yes a PSU can just stop working after a year, in fact they are more likely to stop working after a year.

13thmonkey said:
PSU's get worse with age, a poor quality PSU will a) get worse quicker and b) start off worse. So yes a PSU can just stop working after a year, in fact they are more likely to stop working after a year.


Ok i'll check if my PSU is proper or not. I'll run it on another comp with graphic intensive applications and see.

But according to another thread i just saw, hundreds of ppl have had this problem (Event ID 41, Kernel-power) who get reboots without error messages while rebooting while running graphic intensive applications...they all cannot have faulty PSU's right.

However, there was no solution in that thread, just ppl stating the same problem and some unsusccesful fixes.
Power supply Authority

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2028504

windows shut down unexpectedly, which is exactly what you'd see from an underpowered psu being stressed by an upgraded GPU.

If you put it in another machine, there are 2 things that will happen
either:
nothing will happen as the other machine requires less power.
or:
the other machine requires more power and it will fail, possibly damaging the other machine (a recent patient of mine lost a Mobo like this)

that is the collective wisdom so far
Power supply Master

There are some good troubleshooting tips in this MS thread:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/window...

There is the potential for driver issues and hardware conflicts to cause this type of error, too.

That being said, your quote for possible reasons for the to occur includes "lost power unexpectedly" and that points directly to the PSU. Random reboots are a common issue with faulty or failing PSUs. I would try the things suggested in the above thread and try a different PSU in the PC that is having the issues. Don't use a potentially suspect PSU to operate another computer, use a PSU from a known good PC to troubleshoot the 'bad' PC. Obviously whatever PSU you want to use in the bad PC must meet the systems power requirements...400-450W is enough in your case.

Rugger said:
There are some good troubleshooting tips in this MS thread:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/window...

There is the potential for driver issues and hardware conflicts to cause this type of error, too.

That being said, your quote for possible reasons for the to occur includes "lost power unexpectedly" and that points directly to the PSU. Random reboots are a common issue with faulty or failing PSUs. I would try the things suggested in the above thread and try a different PSU in the PC that is having the issues. Don't use a potentially suspect PSU to operate another computer, use a PSU from a known good PC to troubleshoot the 'bad' PC. Obviously whatever PSU you want to use in the bad PC must meet the systems power requirements...400-450W is enough in your case.



I found the solution.

It was those stupid Windows Updates...For a year i hadn't updated Windows so there was no problem. So i re-installed Windows 7 and turned off automatic updates. Now I haven't gotten and reboots or errors in log while playing Arkham Asylum for 4 hours and everything is working perfectly. I hope it stays like this for atleast a week to confirm that this is the solution.

thanks for all your help Rugger and also thank you 13thmonkey. i am so happy now yeaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!

Power supply Authority

so you think it was the updates forcing your machine off, just change the setting to install at a time of my choosing or whatever and then it won't force the machine to shut down.

13thmonkey said:
so you think it was the updates forcing your machine off, just change the setting to install at a time of my choosing or whatever and then it won't force the machine to shut down.


No, i mean some windows updates made my computer unstable.

I wasn't rebooting because of completing update installation...it always prompts for reboot.
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