Comp suddenly keeps rebooting.

[stumben32]

Well this sucks, see if anyone can help

Symptom: Computer keeps rebooting. Its as if someone keeps flicking the power button. Sometimes I can Boot up but then within like 2 min ( if lucky ) it will do it again.

Its making some odd noises to make it more strange. like my cpu fan will wind up and down like it doesn't know wtf to do. Also I hear a 'click' from the HD when it reboots, but really can't tell if these noises are a clue or a side effect of the problem.

Backround: the pc is about 4 years old But I did replace the power supply with a new corsair 550w this year. mobo is asus slii premium and athalon x24400 processor.

what I have tried: the problem just randomly started 2 days ago, id say gotten worse. At first I could start up a defrag or virus scan and get maybe 40% through before reboot. so I was not able to scan. tried safe mode and various boot options no luck. I tried resetting the power strip, replacing plug no dice.

I feel like its something with the motherboard...just no idea what.

ideas? help!

 

[mechBgon]

As a starting point, try starting it up and going into the BIOS to the Power > Hardware Monitor section. Let it sit while you watch the voltages and temperatures. Does it stay running OK when it's just in the BIOS, or does it still reboot? Any weird readings on the voltages or temperatures?

Also look for any capacitors on the motherboard that are bulging or leaking.

 

[stumben32]

Good idea however sadly, I can't even sit in bios for more than a few seconds when I just tried.

could barely get a chance to look at temps, voltage running down the numbers ( couldn't look long enough to tell ya what's what)

something like:
24 degree cpu
26 degree mb
1.36
3.32
4.97
11.96

I could let it sit and try again.

can't see any thing odd looking at the board.

one more thing that matters little now. this happened roughly...4 mos ago. it behaved like this ( but not as bad ) for maybe an hour then was mysteriously fine.

 

[CoinOperatedBoy]

Reset your CMOS. I would also recommend testing your voltages with a multimeter.

 

[imported_Jubei]

Happened to me once, CPU heatsink fell off and the since the board couldn't sense any fan on CPU it promptly switched it off. Once I opened up the case, found the heatsink had fell off - the bar holding it on top of the CPU snapped in half (I use a vertical case). Check to see if CPU fan is working ...

 

[stumben32]

Guys I figured it out. It was my powercord. In all my years of computing I have never had one of those things go. Took me a while to figure it out lol.

I think I have some "dirty power" coming in through this circuit though, I also got a new power strip ad pluged it into a differet socket for my psu. And actually my computer is running nice and silent more so than it has in a long time.

Time to buy a real UPS I think.

 

[stanley123]

There could be a lot of factors with your computer keeps on rebooting. I used to experience the same thing, also my old PC was 4 yrs old then. But when I checked, everything seemed to be normal. Then I found out that the virtual memory was not enough for the heavy multi tasking that I was doing. I then deleted some of my heavy duty software (such as flash, camtasia, etc).

I don't have the rebooting problem again now.

By the way, how big is your RAM? If you're sure that your hardware is okay, the problem could be with the softwares.