Random Restarts

italianstallion · 2 Jan 2014 at 12:48

Having issues with my PC randomly restarting all of a sudden.

Since it was built properly in August it has been running mint with no issues while at uni, have been playing games fine.

So i bring it home during the christmas break and i start getting random restarts. No BSOD or warning, the only thing i have to go on is the error logs, which show a kernel-power failure, error id 41, which isnt exactly much to go on.

System specs are

AMD Phenom x2 555BE OC @ 4.0Ghz 1.41v
Gigabyte LMT-USB3
XFX Pro450W
Samsung 840Pro SSD
Radeon HD5850

Not sure why it started doing this all of a sudden, could be a psu issue somehow?

FuF · 2 Jan 2014 at 13:19

Something moved inside while traveling? Check all the cables and hardware are connected correctly.

Admiral Huddy · 2 Jan 2014 at 13:33

Yes definitely look for any loose cables.

Before looking at the minidump, take a look at the Event manager. To access the event manager from Control panel and administration tools.

Look through system logs looking for any critical errors and look up the event ID at www.eventid.net. Simply enter the event ID and click on search. A description of the problem should be returned from the extensive user built knowledge base.

As you said, the system dump is a little harder to understand and you need to use the debugging tool to help decipher. The mini system dump is normally located in your Windows system root %SystemRoot%\Minidump. If you are able to view the log, Google any stop messages listed.

You can read how to read and debug the mini dumps on the Microsoft website.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315263#method4

Lastly, if you're machine is just restarting without a BSOD, then Open Control Panel. Click on Startup then click on Advance tab. Click on Settings in the Start up and recovery section. Un-tick the box that says "Automatically Restart". This should give a BSOD which may be more helpful.

You can use Blue Screen Viewer to help.
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

DaleTheWhale · 2 Jan 2014 at 13:33

Has a SATA cable come loose, have seen this in the past, when a SATA cable is loose from the HDD and it just BSOD's.

Havana_UK · 2 Jan 2014 at 15:14

The fact that you've moved the PC and the random restarts happened immediately afterwards points to a lose connection somewhere as the obvious first place to look. Check your RAM is seated properly, all PCI/PCIe cards are seated properly and that all power connectors are secure.

Failing any resolution with the above, it's possible that something's come loose as the PCB level, particularly if the system has endured any harsh shocks during transport.

nniitt · 2 Jan 2014 at 15:37

buggy bios?

italianstallion · 6 Jan 2014 at 01:16

ThaReaperGuy said:
Has a SATA cable come loose, have seen this in the past, when a SATA cable is loose from the HDD and it just BSOD's.

Havana_UK said:
The fact that you've moved the PC and the random restarts happened immediately afterwards points to a lose connection somewhere as the obvious first place to look. Check your RAM is seated properly, all PCI/PCIe cards are seated properly and that all power connectors are secure.
Failing any resolution with the above, it's possible that something's come loose as the PCB level, particularly if the system has endured any harsh shocks during transport.

When it is on it is completely stationary, and the restarts happen randomly so it seems, so a loose cable would prevent the system from functioning from the offset no? I have checked/reseated the cables however and they all seem fine

nniitt said:
buggy bios?

Bios has been stable since i bought it on the latest version so shouldnt be an issue.

Whilst on the bios subject...i noticed during boot the memory check on the bios screen takes significantly longer than it used to...that combined with random restarts could suggest a ram issue? I did however try each stick individually but the same thing happened each time

Havana_UK · 6 Jan 2014 at 09:34

italianstallion said:
When it is on it is completely stationary, and the restarts happen randomly so it seems, so a loose cable would prevent the system from functioning from the offset no? I have checked/reseated the cables however and they all seem fine

Bios has been stable since i bought it on the latest version so shouldnt be an issue.

Whilst on the bios subject...i noticed during boot the memory check on the bios screen takes significantly longer than it used to...that combined with random restarts could suggest a ram issue? I did however try each stick individually but the same thing happened each time

You say you've checked all the cables...have you also checked that the RAM is properly seated, the same for any expansion cards you have plugged in too? Also worth checking that the heatsink is properly secure too (and maybe removing and reseating it to be doubly sure). Do you monitor the CPU & GPU temps, and if so, does there appear to be any correlation between your restarts and CPU or GPU temperatures?

Admiral Huddy · 6 Jan 2014 at 09:48

Did you get it to Bluescreen rather than restart as i suggested?

italianstallion · 6 Jan 2014 at 14:30

Havana_UK said:
You say you've checked all the cables...have you also checked that the RAM is properly seated, the same for any expansion cards you have plugged in too? Also worth checking that the heatsink is properly secure too (and maybe removing and reseating it to be doubly sure). Do you monitor the CPU & GPU temps, and if so, does there appear to be any correlation between your restarts and CPU or GPU temperatures?

yep ram has been reseated, heatsink is fine, there is no correlation between temperature and restarts. I ran prime95 to bring temps up and nothing happened, ive also ran FurMark to get the gfx card temps up and was still fine.

Admiral Huddy said:
Did you get it to Bluescreen rather than restart as i suggested?

This is what happened when it blue screened