Random restarts

almoststew1990 · 17 Sep 2012 at 23:24

Hi, recently built a computer on the cheap from parts off ebay. It randomly restarts when I am playing games.

It isn't the RAM, as I have tried different RAM, same problem.
It isn't the GPU as I have swapped in a different one for the time being.

Could it be the processor? Phenom II x2 545. It stays pretty cool and doesnt come up with errors when Prime 95. Should I up the voltage?

(oddly, when I look at hwmonitor, it says things like 90c for the max. when the 'value' temp increases, so does the max. After 20 mins of Prime 95, the CPU 'value' is at 50, the core's at 45, but CPU max is 100 or so, as if it is randomly spiking to those temperatures for a 100th of a second or something- I guessed it to be a sensor error.)

Could it be the motherboard? Any common bios setting errors? Should I reset the bios?

Mei · 17 Sep 2012 at 23:27

could be power too, psu/power cable, sounds like you are doing right eliminating things it could be

almoststew1990 · 17 Sep 2012 at 23:35

it can't be the PSU as it has previously powered a i7 860 OC'd, 2x 4890 and lots of fans, HDDs etc, and shown no problems. Now it is powering a Phenom II x2 and a 7870.

The HDD is a laptop one I salvaged from an overheating laptop. I have cheekily mounted it hanging from one of the screw holes on the outside of the 5.25" bay, so it hangs down, out of the way. Could this be causing problems?

Mei · 17 Sep 2012 at 23:45

i doubt it unless it has a loose powercable or something
tho you just got to try rule out one thing at a time, guess doesnt always work^^

P0tenc · 18 Sep 2012 at 01:13

Your doing good eliminating possible causes so far. I don't think its the CPU but possibly the mainboard since there are not many other untested items left. I have diagnosed many systems before and it almost always ends up being anything else except the cpu. As long as the chip is cooled properly it should be fine.

Run the system with the bare minimum of components and try eliminating possibilities further.

Gogl · 18 Sep 2012 at 06:26

I suppose if the mobo was one of the parts you got, it could have some dodgy settings still entered into it. I know you said you've tried two types of RAM, but did the mobo properly recognize them and give the correct settings? If that had been the issue, changing it out wouldn't be a guarantee of fixing it. I'm pretty sure I had that issue in the past. Have you run memtest on the RAM?

The PSU, was it your i7 it was powering and you know for sure it wasn't having issues prior to this? And I guess if the HDD is on it's way out having been a bit too cooked it could be be causing you grief. A friend of mine is always plagued by HDD failures from dodgy old HDDs that manifest in all kinds of weirdness. I'm not sure of the best way to check the health of a HDD though.

Not a great deal of help I'm afraid, just some food for thought.

almoststew1990 · 18 Sep 2012 at 13:39

The memory did not automatically have the correct settings, I had to change the voltage and speed.

I have tried the setup with an Athlon II processor and it was stable. I tried portal (which crashed in the main menu with the Phenom) and it was stable. I took the CMOS battery thing out and put the phenom back in with new paste.

In the bios it defaulted to 2700MHz, even though the clocks/multiplier are the same as normal (~3Ghz). It seems stable so not sure what is going on!

stuie · 18 Sep 2012 at 13:44

What is the full spec including psu
Is it fully powering off and turning on again or rebooting? there is a difference
Have you tried turning off the auto reboot on system error in windows?

almoststew1990 · 18 Sep 2012 at 13:54

Phenom II x2 545
ASROCK 760GM-GS3
Integrated Graphics/ 3870x2 / 7870 (did it on all 3)
120GB SATA HDD in IDE mode for Win XP
Some IDE DVD drive
2x 1GB 1.5v DDR3 1333MHz RAM
Hi Power 800watt PSU. not best brand but has lasted me 3 years with no problems, inc running i7 OC + 2x 4890s.

The screen turns black and sometimes restarts by itself after about 1 second of buzzing (the sound freezing, if you know what I mean). It restarts, as opposed to powering off and then turning on again (it powered off and turns on again when I was fiddling with core unlocking, so I know how it sounds/behaves when powering off turning on) Sometimes it goes black and does not restart by itself. No warning, no loud fans, no bios beeps, no overheating.

I have not tried turning off auto reboot, can you tell me where abouts it is in XP?

almoststew1990 · 18 Sep 2012 at 13:56

Found it, that wasn't very hidden!