Computer restarts during full screen video, WoW

[valcrist]

Alright, so I am having trouble with a computer I just fixed up. I formatted both the drives and did a clean install of Windows 7 64-bit. Everything seems to run fine, except the computer restarts after watching fullscreen online video or playing WoW (specifically mentioning that because it didn't restart in my brief time playing Borderlands, the only other game I've tested.) The videos will play for minutes before the restart, and with WoW it varied from a few minutes to about half an hour.

Notes:

I recently ordered some new parts (mobo, RAM) to fix up an old computer that seemingly had a bad motherboard.
The restarts occur when using both the old 7800GT card, and the onboard graphics.
The restarts occur with both Windows 7 64-bit and Windows Vista 32-bit.
Fullscreen video played with WMP/VLAN seem to work just fine.
Everything but the case, mobo, processor, and RAM were being used in my then-current computer that worked just fine.
I've tried flashing the BIOS to what I thought was a newer version, but it turned out to be slightly older than the shipped BIOS. Problem persists.

I'd imagine it would be the video card, but it also occurs with the onboard video as well. Granted, the onboard is probably bad even compared to the very old 7800GT, but it should still be able to play fullscreen video, right? I'm buying a new video card (500/600 series) this weekend regardless, but it'd be nice if I knew that'd fix the issue (or if it was something completely different.) I've also tried NVidia drivers vs the default drivers the OS installs. My guesses now are the PSU, bad/incompatible RAM, or possibly the processor. I feel like I've singled everything else out.

Also another (possibly related?) issue: The computer is fickle to post. I'll turn the computer on and more often than not, everything turns on but it won't make the post beep and doesn't boot. Usually, letting it sit off for an extended period will very greatly increase the chance of it posting, but it's not guaranteed.

Some specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2.66GHz
4GB DDR3 1333
MSI G41M P23 mobo w/onboard video
GeForce 7800GT
Two Western Digital Raptor drives, forget the specifics. 150gb each.
Soundblaster X-Fi Elite Pro

Any input is appreciated. I'm probably in between intermediate and advanced when it comes to computer issues.

 

[Sunius]

Looks like RAM problem or the PSU. Ironically, you didn't post the specs of the PSU . What I can advice you to do is test memory using memtest tool. You can download it from here:

www.memtest.org

 

[valcrist]

Aye, realized that shortly after I posted. It's a 1000w Silverstone. I want to say it was a high efficiency model, but I forget. It worked just fine on the previous rig, which was the same save a dual core Athlon (and mobo) and 1.5GB DDR1 RAM.

Ah, memtest. Of course. I'll try that. I'm also going to try the onboard audio, since the Borderlands gaming was without the soundcard. I really want to avoid bringing it in to "professionals" so I'm trying everything possible.

 

[valcrist]

I also forgot to mention, the computer also restarted once during that system-rating test that Vista does on a fresh install. Once out of three installs, I believe. It also may have done it when I voluntarily did the test with the Windows 7 install.

 

[Sunius]

It should not be power supply, that particular model could run three systems like yours!

Anyway, do memtest and get back with the results!

 

[valcrist]

Memtest86+ came up with 47 errors in a single hour (I'm running a single stick atm) so I'm going to RMA it. I originally planned on getting a matching stick with this coming paycheck but I'm probably going to go ahead and get 2x4g from a different company (that was the first non-Corsair stick I've ever purchased, go figure.)

I should note that Memtest only detected the errors on a single sector (? I'm guessing that's what it was... there was only a single red line)

On an interesting note, before I ran Memtest, I ran my programs without installing the soundcard and full-screen video ran well, Diablo III ran well in the two hours I played it. I was going to chalk it up to the soundcard up until I got a crash playing WoW after ~10 minutes. Perhaps it had something to do with the soundcards interaction with the RAM?

I'm not completely sure how RAM works in that regard, so shedding an educational light on this would be much appreciated

 

[Sunius]

I'll try to explain it. Basically, memory looks like this:

In this picture, start of memory is the bottom. Text holds program instructions, or roughly speaking, .exe file is loaded there when you launch it.

Data holds constant values and global variables that will be static through out whole program. BSS holds global variables that haven't been assigned a value yet.

Then goes heap. It's dynamic memory that a program can allocate at any time. It grows up when program need more memory.

Finally, we have the stack. It's used for local variables and when, for example, a program function is called, a little bit of memory is given to that function and it's stored in the stack. It grows down.

The reason why you didn't have trouble during some time, you may have been lucky and that memory address was not used at a time.

I am glad you have solved your issue. RAM is number one cause for such issues.

 

[valcrist]

Finally got two new sticks in today. Eventually rashed. Ran memtest on both sticks individually. One was good; one had errors. Hooked the good one in by itself. Ran longer than before, but still crashed. Ran test on the stick again; still clean.

I'm pretty lost now. Last thing I could think it could be is the PSU. Just seems odd. I had been using the PSU in a previous rig with 0 trouble.