Very, very, very, annoying problem with my new PC I built

[jciiv]

I built a new computer. Here are my specs:

Gigabyte K8 Triton Motherboard w/ nForce 3 chipset
AMD 64 3400+ processor
BFG GeForce 6800 Ultra OC (256) video card
1 gig PC3200 DDR DIMM
Soundblaster Audigy 2 soundcard
Win XP Home SP2


Now I have been having a lot of problems. A lot of programs will crash for no reason, like Firefox and IE, and HL2.

And it seems a lot of things "trigger" my computer to restart. Windows doesn't slowly shut down or anything, it just clicks and restarts like the power switch on the PSU was flicked on and off. Some of the things that have triggered it to do this have been clicking the X box in IE to close it, alt-tab in to a program, or even buying a certain item in Counter-Strike: Source. It has been really bugging me and if anyone can please give me an idea as to what the problem is, I would appreciate it.

 

[bjc112]

What brand PSU, and what size?

Everything running at default speeds as well?

 

[jciiv]

500w PSU that came with my case, here:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications...etails.asp?EdpNo=1113572&Sku=A107-3000

 

[Chaotic42]

Do you have access to a multimeter? If so, do something that triggers it to restart while you have the meter hooked up to the power in the computer. See if any of the rails drop really sharply.

 

[mauiblue]

Are all the drivers up to date? Heat could be an issue, also. Some PSU even though rated at a high wattage may still not be up to the task at hand. Good luck.

 

[jciiv]

The thing is, I have absolutly no idea what exactly makes it restart. It is different ever time. I may be surfing the net and closing and opening windows a lot, but then one time, like just happened about an hour ago, it will restart. It is compltely random and it may not happen for hours and hours that I use the computer.

 

[jciiv]

I forgot to mention that when Windows reboots, it says "windows has recovered from a serious error" and it tells me that its a faulty driver.

When it first started happening, I had not gotten the updated drivers for my chipset or video card because the files from nVidias website were said to be corrupted. So I got the chipset driver from the Soyo website and the vid card driver from another random site and they installed, but the problem persists.

 

[thirdlegstump]

What kind of memory do you have installed? Could be memory errors too.

 

[jciiv]

I have a single gig stick of US modular PC3200 DDR. I know I need two sticks for DDR, but I havn't recieved the other one yet. I read that using only one stick of DDR will just degrade performance. Is it likely this is the problem?

 

[Gerbil333]

My money is on the PSU or the RAM. Try Memtest86+.

 

[thirdlegstump]

I've never heard of US modular..are they a type of value ram or just some unheard of high end stuff?

 

[jciiv]

Originally posted by: deathkoba
I've never heard of US modular..are they a type of value ram or just some unheard of high end stuff?

I don't belive they're bargain memory. They cost about the same as Corsair, etc.

http://www.usmodular.com/

 

[jciiv]

Originally posted by: Gerbil333
My money is on the PSU or the RAM. Try Memtest86+.

i downloaded the .zip, but now how do I use that program?

 

[Chaotic42]

Originally posted by: jciiv

Originally posted by: Gerbil333
My money is on the PSU or the RAM. Try Memtest86+.

i downloaded the .zip, but now how do I use that program?

Download the kind for floppies, format a floppy disk, extract the zip file, and run the batch file that comes out of the zip file. Then reboot with the disk in the computer.

 

[Melchior]

PSU or Memory. Most likely memory.

 

[l Xes l]

i bet on memory...

 

[Ike0069]

Originally posted by: jciiv
I have a single gig stick of US modular PC3200 DDR. I know I need two sticks for DDR, but I havn't recieved the other one yet. I read that using only one stick of DDR will just degrade performance. Is it likely this is the problem?

Just to let you know, DDR (double data rate) is the type of RAM you are using. You need 2 identical sticks to run in dual channel.
But, S754 doesn't support dual channel.

 

[RanDum72]

Check if the mobo has an updated BIOS. After that, check what kind of timings the memory has under the BIOS. try to have the mobo run memory timings by SPD or the least aggressive settings. Make sure everything is seated firmely in their places (memory, cards, cables, etc..)

 

[Net]

Check your CPU temperature. Did you apply thermal compound? Use a cpu temp program or check it from
the bios. If it is that I would use the latest artic silver compound. i think it is 5 or 6.

 

[PurdueRy]

Memory, either overheating or an error on it. If memtest doesn't turn up any errors, then try backing off your ram timings

 

[Tiamat]

My money is on the Memory. Boot into Memtest86 and run 2 loops of tests 1-7 and 1 loop of 8-11. The latter is for nit-picking and takes longer than a night to run.

If memtest says you get 0 errors (i would be surprised), then check out your psu.

 

[orchiduk]

There's also a way to turn off automatic restarting in Windows (can't rem where now...) so that if it encounters a critical error it will blue-screem instead of restarting. If you then get blue-screens it's a fairly safe bet it's tyhe RAM. If you still get restarts after that it's most likely the PSU. Has it ever just powered-off completely by itself? That's also a sure sign of a faulty or underpowered PSU.

 

[PurdueRy]

its in system under advanced and startup and recovery

 

[Chunkee]

i bet it is the memory

 

[imverygifted]

try loosening your memory timings, thats what my money is on