Very strange computer problems

[revolink24]

So I consider myself to have a high level of technical knowledge, but I'm still stumped at this one.

On a clean install of Windows on my Crucial M4 SSD (which has no SMART warnings), my computer will randomly do the following in the following order.

1. Sound will cut out
2. Applications will freeze
3. Mouse pointer stops working
4. Computer "reboots"

This happens on average about once every half hour to 1 1/2 hours.

However, on the computer "rebooting" (which it definitely does, as my fans spin up for a brief second again), my computer is seemingly on (all fans running, lights on) but no peripherals, including my monitor, are responding. My LED lit mouse and keyboard are not lit.
The hard drive activity LED is in a constant activity state when this happens.

The same reboot issue sometimes occurs if I use the reset button on my case. I need to power off the machine entirely and reboot in order for it to come back to life.

I did some basic tests to try to diagnose the problem. Ran Memtest86 for 11 hours and 11 passes with no errors. It's notable that the computer did not crash/"reboot" in this time.


This issue appeared randomly. No major system changes happened in this time. It also occurs on a clean install on the same hard disk.

So I've come up with a list of possible culprits. Unfortunately, pretty much everything in the system could be a culprit.

1. The GPU. The display crashes and resulting lines across the screen can be a sign of GPU failure.
2. The PSU. The reboot oddity could result from this I guess. The only thing that makes me skeptical is that no crash happened after 11 hours on memtest. Seems like a crash as a result of the PSU would occur then.
3. The motherboard or CPU. Pretty obvious why this could be. Any problem with the motherboard/CPU could cause any number of problems.

Very low likelihood of it being RAM, after memtest.

Anyone got any ideas?


Oh, and system specs.

AMD Phenom II 1090T Black Edition
Radeon 5770
8GB G.Skill 1600MHz DDR3
Zalman ZM600HP PSU
Crucial M4 64GB SSD
Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 motherboard

 

[sadams04]

Overclocked? If so, what are the settings?

You have done some good troubleshooting, but I would still be looking at the memory. Do you happen to have another pair of modules you can throw in and see how things go? Some modules will pass Memtest, but still show problems (not errors). Rare, but it happens. The PSU could, and I stress could, cause those types of problems (voltage drops). Zalman isn't exactly the highest qualtiy PSU, but should be fine if you have been running for this long. Maybe pull another PSU to test with... Past that I would be looking at firmware updates for the motherboard. The Crucial M4 may have an available update (depending on the age). Doubt the GPU would develop into a problem with that wide range of symptoms. Good luck and don't give up... These types of problems are a PITA!

 

[revolink24]

Nope, not overclocked. I have a friend who I'll borrow a GPU from to make sure that's not the issue. Then I'll try pulling out RAM if that doesn't solve the issue.

Thanks for your input!

 

[sscultima]

my guess would be the ssd

i had issues with a hard drive before that it would keep cutting power and starting back up, sound would go, then game or video would freeze, then mouse, then reboot.

do you have any other drive to test and install windows to?

if that isnt the issue might possibly be the video card, i usually rule out the cpu until last, same with the motherboard, since most cases the only reason cpu would fail are bent pins, and motherboard with blown capacitors, but i would not bother testing them in this case due to the fact the memtest ran that long.

 

[revolink24]

Best answer selected by revolink24.

 

[revolink24]

sscultima, you sir are correct! Was the SSD. Thanks everyone for advice.