Why is my computer restarting?

[idiotekniQues]

i think that sounds more and more like a psu issue.

you need to get another psu in there for a few days, burn some discs - and find out.

obviously your ram is ok. the odds of it being your cpu are very low, much lower than your ps for sure.

 

[spitz10]

I agree on it sounding more and more like a power issue. Again, I dont have any spare PSU's, and even if I did, I have gone days and days burning DVD's without it ever restarting.

Here what is so troubling:

It very well could be a PSU issue, but if it is, alot of stuff doesnt make sense (the randomness of the restarts, the fact that often times, nothing is happening when the restarts happen, and my temps are so low).

It very well could be a motherboard issue, but what exactly that would be seems very hard to find out.

It could be CPU, but doubtful.

It could be RAM, doubtful.

It could be vid card, doubtful.

Someone brought up that they had the exact same symptoms, and it ended up being their on-board audio. Considering all this, and the fact that the restarts really only occur about once every 5-7, its hard to really invest a hell of alot of time and money into this. I would have to pay to ship back my PSU, and I would have to wait over 2 weeks to get a new one. That seems like a lot of trouble for a PSU that cost 50 bucks total, and a problem that occurs once a week. And again, we dont even know if thats the problem....

But hey, if I am on here trying to figure it out, it is obviously a big enough problem.

 

[imported_Seer]

I have almost the exact same issue. Question: does touching / hitting / knocking your case affect it at all? Doing so to mine will almost guarantee a restart, yet left untouched it will run for days. I think its either an HDD or PSU issue. HDD because my harddrives frequently don't show up / disappear. I guess you're not having that problem though. PSU because the symptons match it more, other than that.

 

[idiotekniQues]

well replacing the psu is a heck of a lot easier than a mobo. it could be the mobo, but that is a PITA - and since this does sound like either or - do the easier one first. it should be the next thing you attempt to do.

 

[spitz10]

Another update:

I unplugged all the lights etc. from the motherboard (HDD, case light) and I also plugged in the EZ plug, which wasnt plugged in before. Two restarts in 5 days, neither while burning dvds, so it looks like this EZ plug might even increase the chances of a restart. So now, I have basically tried everything, except a different PSU. My last thing I am going to try is to turn off the onboard audio, which someone had mentioned solved their problem, which had the exact same symptoms as mine.

I am kind of mad at myself for passing up on antec earthwatts 500w that was $50 AR a couple weeks ago. I am basically convinced now that this is a PSU problem.

Any other ideas left?

 

[spitz10]

anyone?

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: spitz10
anyone?

Ummmm...onboard audio been turned off yet?

 

[spitz10]

yep thats what i am in the process of trying right now. To really have any idea if it is working or not, I would have to wait at least a week.

 

[spitz10]

I posted an update at the beginning of the thread. Let me know what you guys think

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Maybe caps http://www.badcaps.net/ident/

 

[spitz10]

nope, all caps seem to be in good shape

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: spitz10
anyone?

Heh!

Sorry for being late to the party... don't know how I missed this?!?!?

Every time I've experienced a problem like this, a new power supply has fixed it -- except for one occasion, where it turned out to be a bad power cable.

On this occasion, a girl at work was having the same spontaneous shutdown problem. A couple of co-workers looked at her computer, including someone in the 'IT' department, but no joy!

Someone suggested letting me check it out, so I took her machine home and ran benchmarks for, like, two days with no problems. Then, as fate would have it, I bumped the desk one night, while I was walking by, and her machine rebooted. Hello?!?!?!

Turned out that the AC power cable -- the one that runs from the wall plate to the PSU -- was loose in the socket. Every time I wiggled it, the computer would reboot. Who would have guessed???

I replaced the AC power cord and she never had another problem!

Anyway, this walks, talks, and smells like a power problem. I would replace the PSU and see what happens... never hurts to have a spare PSU laying around, you know? Or, if you buy one locally, like at Fry's, you can always return it for a refund.

 

[spitz10]

thats exactly what I was hoping, except i just replaced my power supply, and the same thing happened within 5 hours.

Oh, and I have also tried about 3 different cables.

 

[VinDSL]

I see...

Well, then, it looks like the game is afoot...

Speaking for myself, I'd just start replacing stuff -- anything and everything -- until the problem fixes itself.

I did this to my car once -- worked on it the almost a week with no joy -- started replacing parts, one-by-one -- turned out to be a bad rotor in the distributor.

That's all I can suggest, at this point... Sorry!

 

[spitz10]

So does anyone think there is ANY way this is a software problem? I really do not want to do a windows reinstall, especially since that does not seem like the problem at all.

 

[swtethan]

it might be a virus

 

[spitz10]

I guess that is a possibility, but these restarts literally happened as soon as I built my computer, so unless I caught a virus in the first few days, I doubt that is it.

 

[spitz10]

what should be my next step?

 

[spitz10]

any more suggestions?

 

[zagood]

Re-install windows.

-z

 

[spitz10]

noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

haha, anything other than that?

 

[Kniteman77]

/cry ?

 

[VinDSL]

Originally posted by: spitz10
noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

haha, anything other than that?

Okay, fine!

Buy a new mobo...

 

[spitz10]

OK, a little update:

One, I ran prime 95 on all 3 different tests on they all came back with zero errors overnight. This also never led to any restarts.

Two, as I said before, the restarts have increased to almost once per day or at best every 2 days, whereas before they were closer to once every week. Last night, it restarted on me, except this time, it wouldnt get passed my motherboard loading screen, it would just hang there, and I would be forced to press reset, or power down completely. I tried this about 5 different times, and everytime the same thing happened. So I went to the back of my computer and unplugged all the usb devices and plugged them all back in, then booted up, and this time it got past the mobo screen but said, overclocking failed, F1 enter setup, F2 setup defaults.

So i ended up getting into windows fine again, but this is really confusing. This same "overclocking failed" screen came up both times i installed a different PSU. Anyone know what implications this could have on the restarts?

 

[Late4Dinner]

This reminds me of a problem a friend of my brother recently had. IT turned out to be a short. The case design (Antec, no less) placed the bottom 5.25 bay too close to the MB. When a drive was installed in that bay, it would hit the IrDA header. Interestingly, the computer would still function randomly. Go figure.

So, I guess what I'm saying is, scrutinize every part of the computer where a short might occur. It may not be the solution, but at least you can then rule it out, and it doesn't cost anything. Good luck.