Tech assistance - PC restarting when running games and other applications

[RhodeTrip]

I've bought parts for a new PC for gaming, with Windows 7 clean install. It starts and works fine until a game starts, or anything remotely stressful kicks in. It then crashes the whole PC and restarts. This happens whenever a game loads up and starts in Origin or Steam (Menus load in, but as soon as the game loads it crashes). 3dMark caused the same problem

• We’ve run a memtest, three times, each time it crashed and restarted the system again – once at 2%, then at 3%, then at 40% progress
• Windows event viewer and the memtest show no errors
• We have swapped out the GPU for another, the problem still occurred
• A friend took the 8GB RAM away and tried it is his system, no issues
• The memtest was running outside windows, so we believe it’s definitely a hardware issue
• I have had issues with sound being crackly and distorted through the optical output of the motherboard too
• It’s not blue screening, and automatic reboot is also disabled, as is the antivirus avast


Specs

AMD 8350 eight core CPU
Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3 Socket AM3+ ATX Motherboard
8GB Corsair RAM
Corsair CX600 power (Power calculator recommends 414w for this setup)
AMD Radeon HD 7970 GPU
128GB OCZ SSD

Based on this, it looks like the motherboard or CPU is causing a short but any ideas would be appreciated!

 

[spigias]

hi,
same problem with my new rig(same specs) i have manage to fixed it by
1updating bios,
2reducing northbridge and hyper transport frequensy to 2000mhz
3setting memory overclock setting to profile1.
now works flawlesly.
good luck

 

[Feldmarschall]

Hi,

These kind of restarts point to overheating CPU or GPU or PSU failure.

Your power supply should be sufficient for this PC.

I would like you to try to run either EVEREST ULTIMATE (it's free for 30 days) or PRIME95 to test your CPU with temps under full load.
Furmark Burn in for video card temps.

Solution lies within these components.

Best regards

 

[mouse24]

If your PC is constantly restarting randomly I would NOT try to update the bios. Most gigabyte mobos have a bios backup system so a corrupted bios isn't that big of a deal but still, save it for later once we try a few more things out.

I agree with feld, it could be overheating, though since its crashing in memtest that is a bit odd. Make sure your memory profiles are set properly and you aren't overclocking them. Also check the temperatures (when idle and under load)

Also check that your cpu voltages are correct, that might also be causing the instability with memtest. (memory controller is on the cpu)

 

[RhodeTrip]

All, thanks for the quick and helpful suggestions. We'll try them and post back soon, really appreciated

 

[RhodeTrip]

Hi All - update.
We removed the CPU and reapplied the thermal paste, checked all connections and left it running overnight. It's now working fine, Crysis and Bioshock running on full settings. We're going to leave it on and keep pushing it to test, but it looks like there is no hardware fault per se.

I'll post again with another update when it's had chance to bed in (nothing more irritating than finding a thread which describes a problem you're having, with no conclusion!)

It seems thermal paste may need time to perform to it's purpose, or maybe it was a connectivity issue

 

[Feldmarschall]

Hi,
I'm glad you made it. Who knows, maybe it was really something like CPU cooler not seated properly or simillar.
Thermal paste achieves it's best results in aprox 100 hours but difference between brand new and best result is maybe couple celzius, so that should never be an issue.

 

[RhodeTrip]

Hey all. Problem has started again! Ran fine for a couple of days and now getting the same issues. Nothing changed no new software even! I think I may need to take it to a repair centre for a diagnostic but any ideas?

As it has worked fine, maybe this does point to a software issue.....

UPDATE - I ran EVEREST ULTIMATE to determine why my new PC was crashing and restarting when I started playing a game. When I tick each box on the program individually it does the test no problem, plus with all other combinations - except when stress cache and stress GPU are ticked and started, this crashes it again.

Does that mean the memory is faulty or a GPU issue? Or perhaps compatibility

Many thanks

 

[Feldmarschall]

Hi,

Run Prime95 also.

 

[RhodeTrip]

Hi,

Run Prime95 also.

Hi Feld. Done this, it's stress testing the CPU and no crashing is occurring

 

[Feldmarschall]

Hi,
It's probable that your motherboard is mailfunctioning. I think you'll need to go to repair shop and RMA that motherboard. Your original assumption is correct as it seems.

 

[RhodeTrip]

Hi. It was the PSU. I took the whole unit back to the place where I bought most of the parts. They replaced the PSU under warranty following diagnostic.
Cheers