Annoying Problem

Shedman · 25 Jan 2010 at 21:44

So lately my PC has been just restarting randomly, doesnt seem to be affected by cpu load or anything similiar, just random.

I have set all the settings in the BIOS to there defualt values - still randomly restarting.

I then lowered my ram to 1333MHz 9-9-9-30 settings - Stated value is 1600MHz 8-8-8-24.

So I thought it might be the motherboard acting up - I then updated to the latest BIOS (1102 I think)

I doubt its anything to do with the PSU as I have ran Prime95 Blend fore over 5 hours and it was rock solid. Even ran Prime95 Blend and Furmark at the same time, still rock solid.

Then I remembered all that confusion on how Foxconn made CPU sockets were faulty but only at crazy volts - 1.5+ So could it be anything to do with that?

Max volts I have ever put through my cpu was 1.4 and that was for about 5 minutes.

I'm seriously confused now and I'm thinking its time to RMA some parts.

fobose · 25 Jan 2010 at 22:34

How often does it happen (i.e, once an hour, once a day etc..)? What are the latest changes you have made to your PC since you have notice this happening?

JonJ678 · 25 Jan 2010 at 22:52

Last time mine was doing this it turned out to be a loose pin in the 24 pin atx connector, closed it up a bit using a paperclip and all is well again. If it's this, it's probably the pin connected to the single green wire.

It's nothing to do with the foxconn socket issue which affected people using phase.

Does the system pass memtest? Ram errors can lead to reboots and might not show in prime 95, though they probably would.

Shedman · 26 Jan 2010 at 05:22

It just happens randomly, yesterday it happened 3 times in a hour but never did it again for the rest of the day.

At the moment I can't check wires but I will first thing I get back.

Haven't tried memtest yet but now that I think of it the PC has been restarting less now that I have lowered the memory.

The weird thing is there is no blue screen.

Shedman · 29 Jan 2010 at 17:32

Still not fixed the problem.

What component does this problem point to the most? I'm thinking ram or motherboard.

JonJ678 · 31 Jan 2010 at 07:42

JonJ678 said:
Does the system pass memtest?

ejr22 · 31 Jan 2010 at 08:21

Shedman said:
What component does this problem point to the most? I'm thinking ram or motherboard.

I would say RAM seeing as you have already noticed a decrease in these random restarts since loosening your timings and decreasing the speed.

Do as Jon says and run Memtest to rule RAM out or in.

I assume you have scanned for viruses etc? Don't rule anything out at this stage. Did you check all of your connections - 24pin power, reset switch, mains adapter?