Random restarts

DavePa

DavePa

DavePa

Associate
Joined
19 Feb 2017
Posts
23
Location
UK
I built a new PC in January of this year and until recently everything was fine with no problems. About 3 weeks ago it suddenly randomly restarted on me and since then has done the same thing quite a few times to the point it's no longer usable. Sometime the restart is just that and I can log back in again immediately but sometimes power does off and it doesn't actually restart for a few minutes - this has been up to about 20 minutes. Turning the power off/on at the wall makes no difference to this, it restarts when it wants to. It generally restarts within the 1st 20 minutes of use but it has happened before I have even managed to log in and also after more than 3rs of running without a problem. This morning we reached a new low when I turned the power socket on and pressed the power button on the PC and nothing happened. No power to the PC (but power through it - my backlit keyboard lit up). About 20 minutes later I was having breakfast when it decided to start so the issue is hardware but not related to heat - it's ambient temperature at 6am, probably no more that 17/18 degrees where the PC is.

I had thought a couple days back that it could be RAM and each time I run the Windows Memory Diagnostic I get a restart before it gets to 5% completion so I purchased another 64gb and swapped it over yesterday but the fact it wouldn't start this morning and then restarted both times I tried to use it once it did start means it is not RAM related.

I have tried watching the temperatures, nothing is hot - CPU and RAM are between 30-35c, voltages from the PSU look as you would expect, nothing gets logged to the eventlog other than the fact it restarts. The PC is on a shelf between my desk and a wall - it is impossible to knock into it and nobody goes anywhere near it - there is only me and the wife here and she has as much interest in PCs/gaming as I do in crochet patterns! I did ensure all connnections are good when I swapped the RAM over yesterday

PC spec is:

Noctua NF-A15 PWM Chromax Premium Grade Fan - 140mm x 3
Samsung 990 PRO 2TB PCIe 4.0 (up to 7450 MB/s) NVMe M.2 (2280) Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-V9P2T0BW)
Noctua NH-D15 Chromax Pure Black CPU Cooler with Dual 140m Fans
Intel Core i7-13700K (Raptor Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail
Corsair VENGEANCE® 64GB (2x32GB) DDR5 DRAM 6000MT/s C40 EXPO Memory Kit XMP ready
Samsung 990 PRO 1TB PCIe 4.0 (up to 7450 MB/s) NVMe M.2 (2280) Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (MZ-V9P1T0BW)
Gigabyte Z790 Aorus Elite AX (LGA 1700) DDR5 ATX Motherboard
Gigabyte GeForce RTX 4090 Gaming OC 24GB GDDR6X PCI-Express Graphics Card
Corsair PCIe 5.0 12VHPWR Type-4 PSU Power Cable
Corsair HXi Series HX1500i Fully Modular Ultra-Low Noise ATX Power Supply
Fractal Design Meshify 2 Midi Tower Case - Black Solid

The components were purchased from a number of different suppliers including Overclockers. I still have the PC I built in 2017 - that has a GTX1080ti and an 860w PSU, both of which are a right pain to swap out and I'm not sure the PSU would have enough power or the right connectors for the 4090?

I've not tried safe mode because it's not Windows related but if anybody has seen similar issues before or can recommend a good (cheap!) hardware diagnostic tool I would appreciate knowing please.
 
Thanks @Wing-Man, already reset BIOS and removed XMP profile which didn't help at all. I know running the Windows Memory Diagnostic will give me a reboot and not sure how to stress test anything else!
 
Just had a thought, do I need a reason to return parts purchased online from a global company that cannot be named here? For example, could I purchase a new PSU and return it if it doesn't resolve the issue? System is less than a year old so all parts are under warranty, it's just a case of working out where the prolem is.
 
Thanks @tamzzy, maybe I'll try that. I'm just writing a memtest USB so will also try that although the problem didn't go away when I replaced the memory so I'm not expecting any different but it all helps narrow it down.
 
Memtest has resulted in a couple of reboots although 3rd time around it is on pass 2/4 having finished pass 1 with 0 errors. Thing is this is brand new memory, I already swapped it out as Windows Memory Diagnostic was causing reboots with the original memory and the fact I am still getting reboots makes me think the problem is elsewhere - either that or I've got dud memory for the 2nd time which I think is unlikely!

Just ordered a PSU online for same day delivery so that will be something else eliminated. Also ordered some thermal paste in case I need to remove the cooler when swapping the PSU although as I have ordered the same model PSU I am hoping to be able to leave the cable connected to the MB and disconnect/reconnect them at the PSU, that would be a lot easier!
 
You need to try one stick at a time and try all the memory slots. You could have a bad slot on the board. A bad channel on the controller or it could also be the cpu.
 
DavePa said:
Thanks @Wing-Man, already reset BIOS and removed XMP profile which didn't help at all. I know running the Windows Memory Diagnostic will give me a reboot and not sure how to stress test anything else!
Click to expand...

if the system is crashing on a memory test and it's stock settings it's time to RMA your memory, one of the sticks is probably a dud
 
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Despite having worked in IT for 30+ years - I hate computers. Memtest (no XMP) caused restarts the 1st couple of times I ran it but the 3rd time it probably completed (when I last checked it was on pass 4/4 after 4hrs+ but when I went back later it was at login prompt having rebooted - log does not say that the tests completed though). I logged in and used the PC for 20 minutes - I've not been able to do that for a couple of weeks - so I've re-enabled XMP and am now running Windows Memory Diagnostic which has ALWAYS caused a restart within the 1st 10% and is currently at 26% with no reboot...
 
i wonder if it's not the ram but the cpu imc
if it was the ram, memtest would tell you which blocks are causing the issue, not a total reset
and no, it would not have rebooted once completed, it would've just stayed at the test completed screen (i run these tests overnight so can say with absolute certainty)
 
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So it must have rebooted right at the end then, perhaps the Windows one will do the same (currently 45%). I'll change the PSU later but will download some stress testing software before that - any recommendations?
 
realbench
or aida64 system stability test if you wanted a more abnormal load
or the ultimate stress test: prime95/intel burn test + furmark simultaneously (use at your own risk)
 
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Now running with new PSU - can't beat same day delivery - going to leave it on overnight unless it reboots before I go to bed.
 
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