Computer Randomly Restarts

Fonz-Valo

Fonz-Valo

Fonz-Valo

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Joined
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Hi all, i hope some can help me out here :(

For some unknown reason my computer has started to just reboot for now apparent reason.

System Spec:

ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe Motherboard
AMD X2 6000+ AM2 Processor
Artic Cooling Freezer 64 CPU Cooler
8gb OCZ Platinum PC6400 RAM
XFX 9800GT 512mb
Primary HDD - 500gb Samsung F1 HDD SATA
Secondary HDD (Media drive) - 500gb Samsung Spinpoint HDD SATA
OCZ Powerstream 600w PSU
Windows Vista Home Premium x64 (OEM)

I only upgraded to 8gb of RAM about 2 weeks ago and it worked great but i thought i'd still better check it so i removed it 4gb of it and tried it again and still getting restarts, i then put my old 4gb set (4 x 1gb OCZ Platinum) and it did the same again.

Since that didn't resolve it, i decided to check my CPU and GFX temps. The CPU idles at 32c and 45c under heavy load, and the CPU doesn't go above 60c under heavy load.


The system is completely upto date i.e. bios, drivers and OS are upto date and i'm now completely stuck for ideas of where to go next :(

I can't find any windows error logs related to the random restarts, are they stored in a different place in vista or something?

Also the system does not show a blue screen so i can't write down the error code from that.

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

Thank you :)
 
Tap f8 on boot, there is normally an option for "Disable automatic restart on system failure"

also, try running in safe mode for a bit, that will show if its hardware or software.
 
J.B said:
Tap f8 on boot, there is normally an option for "Disable automatic restart on system failure"

also, try running in safe mode for a bit, that will show if its hardware or software.
Click to expand...

I'll have a quick look for the "disable auto restart on system failure" option. Off the top of your head do you know where this is normally located?
 
It can also be easily set via windows. Go to control pannel > system > advanced tab > startup and recovery settings > deselect automatically restart after failure.

You should then start getting the infamous "blue screen of death" which will help you work out whats gone wrong instead of just restarting.

The other thing you might want to check is that the memory voltage in your bios is set to the correct value, as sometimes the default wont be the right level for your particular variety of RAM.

PK!
 
Right i've disabled "auto restart on failure" also i've had a play with my RAM settings, i've increased the Voltage to the suggested 2.1m i'm not sure what it automatically sets itself as by default though....

So far it has been a lot more stable. I've encoded a few videos with it and also done some various system heavy tasks e.g. Crysis (lol) and it is yet to crash or blue screen.

I'll keep you informed of how it goes.
 
OK i've gone to boot my computer today and it locked on the vista boot menu (the screen with the green moving bar) then when i restarted it the computer would start up as normal (i would hear the fans kick in and HDD spin up) but nothing would appear on screen also the HDD was not making any access noises so it clearly wasn't booting.

This has happened before on me and the problem just disappeared over night...

Could this be down to my RAM? The system ran great when i originally installed the extra 4gb of RAM with no lock ups at all then the problems just appeared from no where.

As stated above my ram is 8gb (4x2gb) OCZ Platinum PC6400 if that helps. I'm completely out of ideas again :(
 
Last edited:
memtest came back ok :(

I think i'm going to try swapping back in my old 4gb set as it could be one of the famous OCZ versus ASUS compatibility issues that a lot of people moan about :(

Other than memory can anyone think of what could be causing this?
 
I have had the odd restart due to a usbuhci.sys issue since sp3 :(

I may roll back the odd file and see if it fixes it.
 
deleted said:
How long did you run memtest for?
Click to expand...

I made a stupid mistake i was using a windows based memtest :(

I'm currently running memtest86 as i type this (i'm on my laptop now not my desktop obviously :P )

I'm currently testing one stick at a time the first stick is now 64% complete and no errors so far.

Once i've tested all the sticks separately i'll put them all in and then run a test.

Interestingly enough the memory settings that memtest86 detected were not the ones i had manually input, so i went back into the bios and changed them to the ocz recommended settings 5-4-4-15 @2.1v.
I must have forgotten to save them last time :(


I'll keep you informed of the results.
 
Right i've finally finished running memtestx86 on my ram....

1 module came back with over 40000 errors! needless to say i was shocked.
The other 3 came back fine.

I've reinstalled the 3 good modules and everything is running well so far :)

Looks like i'm going have to RMA the module to OCZ :(
 
Just a quick update...

I received my memory back from OCZ on monday (29/12/2008) very fast turn around no complaints from me regarding the OCZ RMA process :)

My restarting issues have completely gone and my memory does not report any errors in memtest :)

Thanks for all the help :)
 
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