Computer randomly reboots

[EastHastings]

i had a custom computer system built for me by my cousin. It's got an Intel, Pentium 4, 2.40 gHz, a MSI 655 MAX-LS motherboard, a GeForce FX 5800 128MB, Corsair 533mhz 2x256MB RAM (512MB total), and a 120.0 gig HDD. in addition to all of this, the system has 6 FANS TOTAL! one on the side, one on the top, two in the back, and two on the power supply. there is plenty of ventilation and the like.

anyway. the computer has randomly been rebooting. it would mostly reboot during high-end games (most notably Morrowind). in addition to this, games seemed to crash a whole lot. sometimes, however, the computer would reboot when it was just sitting idly at the desktop. twice, the computer rebooted, and as the desktop was loading, it rebooted again! the rebooting is fairly random, as far as i can tell. it does it during grueling activities (high-end games, full-screen DIVX movies), but it also does it during idle moments. the other day, it rebooted when i clicked "apply" on a new background.

i've tried pretty much every solution told to me. i used to have a SB Audigy installed, but someone suggested that it may be the problem, so i had it removed. i bumped up the power supply from 350 to 400 in case of a power problem. i tried a manual Windows Fix, because i was getting the "Windows has encountered a serious error" on bootup occasionally. i tried ALOT, and the computer STILL reboots. i thought i had solved the problem with the latter. upon each reboot, the computer was logging an event in the Event Viewer, called "Save Dump". the error spoke about the computer "rebooting from a bug check". someone forwarded me to a help page (

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q317277

) because i was having that exact problem. boy, was i glad. i did the Workaround method by disabling the virtual memory. i thought i had fixed it for good. the computer still reboots, but it's stopped logging "save dump" events in the Event Viewer, so now there's no real evidence of the rebooting at all.

my cousin who built the computer is equally stumped. he wants to take the computer to his house for a couple of days to diagnose, but i'd really like a second opinion on what's wrong. at this point, the only remaining problem i can think of is the RAM. SOMEONE HELP ME! i'm going nuts here.

 

[EastHastings]

also i left out one minor detail - the computer reboot a significant amount of times during installations and uninstallations. when i had a game installing, the computer would reboot about 2-5% into the installation. when i uninstalled a game later, it did the same thing.

 

[EastHastings]

one final thing (i can't find the edit option, if there is one): the memory is 533DDR, and it's got a special type of cover on it to relieve extra heat. i'm running Windows XP Professional. sorry to leave that out.

 

[777Ziggorat]

Hi, either your CPU is overheating, and usually with newer MB's they have a failsafe to switch off the Computer when that happens, or you seem to have a software problem. Could even be a virus.

My suggestion if you're close to killing someone(which sometimes happens) is to install a 2nd operating system (Win98) or Win 2000 if you have the disks. Atleast this way, you will be able to tell if it is hard/software related.

SB Audigy has never given me problems btw.

gl

 

[PeterGriff]

You have covered most of the easy options. I would say that RAM is the most likely possibility left, especially given the random nature of the reboots and errors. Borrow some or buy the smallest quatity you can to check, then add more if thats the fault. The registry error can come from faulty RAM also (as well as from bad registry writes from some installers).
Your case is well ventilated so overheating in general shouldnt be a problem, but an incorrectly seated or fitted CPU fan could cause the CPU to overheat (as suggested in the previous posts) and cause similar problems.

In XP you can also prevent the auto reboot from happening - your PC will probably stop with a blue screen instead, but at least you can read the error message and hopefully get clues from this.Control Panel -> System -> Advanced tab -> Startup and Recovery (settings button)-> uncheck the "automatically reboot" box.

Peter G

 

[Hainley]

This REALLY does sound like a memory problem...that's the route I would take on it.

Cheers!

 

[GDX]

I think its a memory issue or maybe video memory from your video card

Gordon R. Durgha
gd@vslink.net

http://www.vslink.net

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=1217371

 

[shellac]

I'd have to go with the overheating.

Just my guess.

 

[EastHastings]

i don't see how it could be overheating. the computer is in an uncomfortably cold air-conditioned room. it has the 6 fans, like i said. it has tons of ventilation - both on the sides of the computer and in the back. if the computer is truly overheating, i would need to put icepacks on it. it's getting pretty much all the air it's gonna get.

thanks for all the help though. my cousin used memory that was specifically mentioned on the motherboard's site (

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/mainboard/mbd/pro_mbd_detail.php?UID=424&MODEL=MS-6730).

BUT, i suppose it could still be the problem.

 

[EastHastings]

now that i look at it, the recommended memory on the motherboard's site is DDR400. i'm pretty sure my cousin used DDR533 (that's a type, right?) i'm not good with anything to do with memory, but from what i'm hearing (both here and elsewhere), that is most likely the problem.

 

[jfryer]

try running memtest86 v3.0 (

http://www.memtest86.com/),

if you have problems with your memory, this should find it.

You might also look at your PSU, I know you have upgraded from a 350W to a 400W but I can assure that bigger numbers (ie wattage) are not important, the amount of Amps that the PSU can deliver is much more vital. Somewhere on your PSU there should be a sticker detailing the number of Amps you can get on the 3.3V, 5V and 12V lines. The 12V number is the important one here, if it doesn't deliver at least 15 Amps you are going to have problems, esp. during intensive things like installs (lots of HD and CD usage) and games (latest graphics cards soak up power like a sponge soaks up water), and fans use the 12V line also, 6 fans can use up a bit of juice.

Recommend problem finding steps:
1) Check your PSU for 15+Amps on the 12V line (17+ is better!)
2) Run memtest86 overnight (at least 8 hours), if your memory is faulty (or not compatible) this will tell you.
3) If everything seems happy at this point, but it is still rebooting, run Prime95 overnight (

http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm)

it has a stress test/stability mode that will push your CPU to its limits.

One (or maybe all three) of the above tests should fail, recommend fixes would be:
1) Buy a PSU that can supply enough Amps
2) replace the memory
3) check the heatsink, if it is not seated properly no amount of fans will stop it over heating (I dont think it is a heating issue, that just turns the computer off, it shouldnt reboot it)

I hope that makes some sort of small sense, good luck.



-------------------------------------------
There is no magic, only onions
-------------------------------------------

 

[dcwtechmech]

I had the same problem and I think its the memory as well.

Let everything that have breath praise the Lord.

 

[axgrinder]

I have just had the pc from hell with similar problems. In the end, I disconnected the reset switch from the mobo and it has been up and running now for over 18 hours. It might be worth a try.

 

[Marsh48]

I think your cousin may have overclocked the system a little too much, if he overclocked. If so, your system may run well for quite while until it warms up or is stressed by a particular program (games especially), then it reboots. Ask him if he overclocked, and if so, have him reduce the settings and see if that works. I had the same problem.

 

[EastHastings]

well gentlemen, it looks like it was the video card (my GeForce). my cousin took the computer to his house and tested the hell out of it. memory works fine, and so forth. he seems to think the video card's DDR memory is the problem. mentioned something about the computer running smoothly with a different card. also said the blue screen of death made mention of errors consistent with memory errors, and the RAM was fine.

 

[aw261174]

I reckon this could be one of several things, most of which have already been mentioned.

I don't think its a memory problem, in my experience dodgey ram usually gives you lots of bluescreens, rather than just reboots.

1. Check your reset and power switches, someone already mentioned this but didn't really explain why. I had a PC which would randomly reboot and had a nightmare trying to fix it, after stripping the thing out of the case completely I found that my reset but was sticking and causing the reboots.

2. Check your power supply and cabling. I had two PC's and monitors and a fish tank light running off one power board (yes i know) one of the pc's was fine and would run 24/7 without rebooting, the other one always turned off within a 24 hour period. Turned out every night when i turned of the fish tank light the second pc would surge and shut down. It would also shut down at random periods throughout the day. After I plugged a few things into a different outlet it never happenned again.

3. Overheating. Even with a perfect flow of air through the case, if the cpu is not getting a good contact its heat sinks it will overheat. (cool air cools the heatsinks and in turn the cpu,) doesn't matter how cold the heatsinks are if its not transferring it properly to the CPU it will overheat. I think applying some arctic silver to the cpu should help out.

If its a new PC you might also want to try setting the bios to a failsafe setup, if its unstbale because its overclocked this will put it back to its most stable settings.

Sorry about the length of this, my first post, but this might help.