Sudden reboot - help please

[scottyd]

I'm getting occasional reboots when playing games. It only happens when my 3D card is heavily loaded and the GPU temps go above 55ish. There's no warning, just a sudden reboot. Anyone have any ideas what it could be?

I have the following setup if it helps

Opty146
Asus A8N Sli SE
2Gb Ballistix
Nvidia 7800GT
Tagan 480W PSU

As far as I can see all the temps are fine, but the reboot problem definitely seems to happen when the GPU goes over 55 deg.

All help appreciated!

Cheers,
Scott

 

[smids]

Your graphics card can handle the temp, so it is very likely a PSU power issue. This will cause reboots when a sudden drop in power occurs. Does it happen in all games or just the one? If just one, it could be the game itself causing the crash/reboot.

 

[scottyd]

Thanks smids, I don't think it's the game (Rome: Total War). It never used to do this, although I'll run HL2 and see if it happens. I thought it might be the PSU, but Tagan have a good rep.

Any way I can test this? Other than getting a whole new PSU?

Another symptom, sometimes it doesn't reboot but just freezes - which I guess could make it more likely to be a software problem.

Cheers,
Scott

 

[smids]

If it freezes, get your RAM tested with memtest from www.memtest.org - create a bootbale floppy or CD and let that run for about 8 hours. If it passes this long without error, then the RAM is OK and it is either the graphics card at fault or the PSU.

Rome is a good game isn't it?! Pity I forgot to backup my save file before formatting and reinstalling windows (I had already completed the victory condition but was going for total domination ). Still, I've got RTW:BI now .

 

[acharris]

Maybe you should alter the setting in XP to turn off auto re-boot and show a blue screen when the fault occurs, then you may get an idea from the BSOD code as to where the fault lies.

Can't remember at the moment how to do it, but it has been mentioned in the forums and I am sure someone will post how to do it. Also maybe you want to look at getting some diagnostic software from the manufacture of the hard drive, as it couls be a HD fault causing a crash when the game is accessing a certain part of drive.

Hope this helps.
Anthony

 

[smids]

You don't have to disable auto-reboot as you can usually check the event viewer under the application tab to see what has caused the crash but to disable auto-reboot, right click my computer > properties > advanced > settings under startup and recovery > untick automatically restart .

 

[Street]

My PC was suddenly rebooting at random points when I put my new Enermax Liberty in it... RMAd it for a Seasonic PSU and it stopped all reboots. How old is your PSU? Might still be under warranty and you could RMA it.

 

[Scythe]

In Rome Total War my pc had problems with it too. It would just freeze and you would need to reset the pc to get anywhere.

 

[ajgoodfellow]

Download a program called Motherboard Monitor 5 (MBM 5) and use it to monitor your voltages

Check that they're all within +/-5% and that they don't drop under load

 

[scottyd]

Great, I'll download MBM5. I also use a program called Systool - seems to be the best integrated clock/temp/timing tool around.