Frequent, random reboots driving me CRAZY

I built my own computer, and it has a Biostar M7VIG-400 mobo, Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, 512 MB of RAM, and a Super-Flower PSU. When I am doing something resource intensive (Playing Halo, having several windows open at once) there is a click and the computer reboots. The lights and fans keep going, but the click is the same click i hear when i shut off the computer. I have replaced the original power supply that came with the case and have gotten a new fan and heatsink. Microsoft says that its a driver problem, but i have flashed the BIOS, upgraded to the latest motherboard drivers, and upgraded my ATI Catalyst drivers (in case it somehow helps). Nothing has worked so far. Is it the hard drive I am using (seagate 20 gb, 4-5 yrs old)?

 

Could be any number of things, have you tested your RAM with MemTest86+.

 

Check whether the video card and ram sticks have any dirt accumulated on them. That can also cause random reboots. Taking out the sticks and card and cleaning them thoroughly would definitely help you.

 

I have already checked the RAM on another computer, and the RAM is ok. As for the RAM or Video Card being dirty, I have yet to check that, but I put them in right after I bought them. I'll still check, though. Thanks for the advice.

also, what should I clean the RAM and Video card with? I have 91% alcohol. Are there any parts of the chips that I should not touch?

 

Putting the RAM in another system to test them is not the most reliable method of testing your RAM. The system RAM test at boot most often does not reveal problems with the RAM. That is what programs like MemTest86 and MemTest86+ are for.

 

Also...you might check in the bios and see if for some reason the temperature setting for reboot is an unusally low temperature!! When the system gets to hot it will automatically reboot to save anything from overheating!! And in the bios is the setting where you tell it what temperature is too hot!!

Being that it is happening when you are doing resource intensive stuff...that is a classic sign of it overheating!! But, being that it is a relatively new system, that is kind of unusual, unless you don't have adequate cooling going on in the case, or if the fan on the cpu is not up to standards for that particular cpu!! Another problem that could cause it to overheat...Make sure the tower is able to breath...in other words...don't stuff it down under the desk in a closed up cubby hole and close the door!!! There has to be plenty of air circulation going on around the outside of the case, otherwise it is just sucking the same old hot air back into the case and then it overheats!!

You might try downloading a monitoring tool that allows you to observe the temps and fan speeds, etc. in real time!! That way you can watch it while you are doing these so called resource intensive things, and see if it is indeed overheating!!

Roger

 

i'll check the bios for the temp. reboot settings. I don't think that it is caused by lack of fans, or quality. I got 3 fans for the case, 2 in back, and 1 on the side window. I also replaced the cpu fan with a thermaltake. I'll check the BIOS.

its out in open space with plenty of room, too, so that shouldnt be a problem either

 

Sounds like an overheat issue to me, especially if this only happens during CPU intensive times.

What kind of RAM are you using?

 

sometimes, the computer reboots at totally random times, but it is rare. I usually see it (like i said) during resource intensive times, and occasionally while windows is still loading (firewall and virus-scanners are booting up).

i doubt that this info changes anything.

 

like someone mentioned it could be a number of things, does your power supply have enough wattage? I had a PSU once that was new but was bogus and it would randomly flip out and my pc would reboot.. sometimes for shut off

 

sorry, guys, but I just blew all my chances for a while. I had already bought a new 80GB western digital hard drive, and decided to switch to that from the 5 year old seagate (20GB). Linux was on there (from an earlier experiment), and i took it off, hoping to install XP Pro on it. When i put the disc in the drive and turn on the computer, it shows that the disc boot failed. I have found no way to get the disck to boot. If u guys wanna help me outta this new hole i dug , i'll start a new thread titled "XP Pro disc will not boot". thanks, you guys, for being there for me

 

ok, sorry, forget EVERYTHING about the boot thing. human error, my friends. I feel like such a newb saying this but, I FORGOT to set the jumpers on the Hard Drive silly me!

 

I tried a new hard drive, and as I was installing windows XP, the computer pulled one of its power-off stunts again. The only thing i can think of is the video card or the motherboard. After i turned off the computer once. my hand bumped against the heatsink for the graphics card, and it felt pretty hot. Hotter than i think its supposed to be. It is a Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Advantage.
i think that advantage is the lower end card.

 

I was wandering around the web and came across this post. I recently built a new computer, and I have the exact same problem with mine. I've been trying everything to fix it, but it just keeps rebooting randomly, usually when the cpu has a big load on it. It also reboots sometimes when windows is starting up, just like musserplayer.

Here's some of my specs:
3.6 ghz p4
radeon x850 256mb
sound blaster live 24bit
2 gig RAM

its not my video card because I took it completely out and tried to do lots of stuff at once and it still rebooted, I removed each ram chip one by one, each one still rebooting... it runs great, like right now, but when i play a game, such as Everquest 2, it runs beautifully for about 2 minutes then reboots. every game I try it reboots... Doom 3, eq2, warcraft 3, even Space Quest 3!!(the old DOS game). any other suggestions?

 

i recently had exactly the same trouble and tried everything i could think of eventually i got round to removing my sound blaster audigy and everything stopped crashing.

i hope this helps as i knopw how frustrating it can be.

 

You need to test the memory with MEMTEST 86+!! Just putting it in another system and it working does not tell you anything!! If you have a high performance AMD processor...generic ram will not function properly with it!!!!

Also...strip down the hardware to nothing but one piece of memory...video card...mobo...and the cpu, and try that!! If it works then...then that means one of the add-on peripherals (Sound card, Ethernet card, etc.) is what is causing the problem!! Then start putting things back in one at a time, and check the system in between each addition until it fumbles again, and that will tell you the last addition you made to the system is what is causing all the problems!!

Another thing...Disable ANYTHING that is not needed in the Startup list in MSConfig!! You might have a piece of software conflicting with the OS!! Just like the I explained with the stripping down of the hardware...if you disable all but the neccessary startup programs, and it fixes the problem, then reenable them one at a time until the problem reoccures and that will tell you what software is causing the problem!!

Did you clear the CMOS when you built the new system?? If not...you have to do that!! And then...with XP/2000...you have to do a new or repair install, also when you build a new system!!!! If you have not cleared the CMOS, then do it with the Battery removed and the power unplugged for a good 2 to 3 minutes!! Do not trust the CMOS jumper!!

Roger

 

A little add on here....

I don't know how much you do know about building computers from scratch,but...If the option is there...make sure you have the auxilliary power plugged into the board!! Amongst the connectors on the psu...there should be a square connector with 4 pins on it...it looks like you cut off four pins off the motherboard connector...and that goes into the matching connector on the board!! That is the auxilliary 12v rails that are required for the new power hungry systems of this modern day world!!

If the Motherboard has the connector, but the psu does not...then you need to get a new psu that has the auxilliary power connector (or it might say...Auxilliary 12v rails), and if the power suplly that you do have, has the connector, but the motherboard does not, then there is no need to worry about it, just leave the extra connector be!!

Roger

 

Experience differ but to my knowledge memory issues causes nothing but diffused graphics. Also causes comp to hang usually. Or not to start at all at times. But of course I could be wrong.

I'd check for heat issues though, see if there's a non-connected fan or something that you might have missed when putting it all together. And as rogvalcox says, bios setting for heat reboot. Also the system you have is quite demanding - what watts is your PSU at? But then again - if it's your PSU that fails it'll show by you having to pull the power cord for at least 10 seconds to be able to boot again. It's a sort of auto-fuse that needs to be reset.

It could just be some software that's failing as well, so just to be sure go to system properties > advanced > startup and recovery properties > untick 'reboot automatically'. That way you'll get an error message if a program crashes, but the comp won't reboot, it'll just be slow for a minute.

Good luck

 

I tried removing all the ram chips except one and it still rebooted, so I took that one out and tried another, rebooted still, so its not the ram.

And, another thing, I keep getting people telling me to uncheck the reboot automatically but its already unchecked. It doesnt give me a blue screen or anything, it just goes black and reboots.

Sometimes it runs games for 10 minutes to 30 minutes, and sometimes it runs them (usually the bigger games, like everquest 2 or doom 3) for a minute or less.

I doubt its my video card because I disabled it and it still reboots. I've tried everything I can... how hot do CPU's usually sit at comfortably?... mine runs about 110 degrees or so. I have a p4 3.6 ghz with HT. maybe that's the prob?????

 

By the way, I have a 550 watt psu so I dont think power is the problem...

 

I just completely gutted the bastage, took out 3 ram chips, sound card, unplugged floppy and cd rom, disabled the video card so I can atleast have the monitor working, unplugged the USB cables. I tested it and it still rebooted, perhaps it could be my motherboard? its an offbrand (I think?) it is called a PF21 Extreme. it was cheap so I was thinking that it's the problem...

 

Well you are down to the MoBo or the CPU. One or the other is bad. Unless you have a system laying around to put the CPU in and test it, no way of knowing for sure which is bad.

 

Oh, well, they both came together so I will just see if I can get new ones... thanks for the help though

 

hey guys! sorry i haven't posted in a while. When my computer first had these problems, i noticed that the cpu fan was not working. It could barely spin. The cpu burned out eventually, right before i put the new fan, heatsink, and arctic silver. I replaced the cpu and used the Thermaltake fan, heatsink, and some arctic silver to give the cpu adequate cooling. Much to my dismay, the problem persisted. I tried another hard drive. The problem sprang up before i could install windows on it. I then removed the Radeon 9800 Pro. Still rebooting. I also removed the PNY 512 MB RAM and put in a Kingston 256mb RAM. Still the same problem. The only parts i haven't swapped out were the motherboard and the CPU. I just bought the CPU, so it souldn't be the problem. It was narrowed down to the mobo, or so I thought. I replaced the Biostar M7VIG-400 with an MSI K7N2 Delta2. I haven't got the computer back up and running, but I think i solved my problem. The new mobo is very nice. it has a temperatured sensor right beneath the CPU and has an Nvidia Nforce 2 chipset. I did use some memory test on another computer with the PNY 512MB RAM chip and it checked out fine.

 

I just got a new mobo it should be in monday, I will repost my status when I replace my old mobo.

 

There are a couple of these threads where there are frequent reboots. I am also having this problem and I've noticed there is one thing we all have in common. We are all using a Radeon 9800 Pro, or a Radeon card of the sorts. This could be the problem.

 

i learned that the computer automatically reboots after its done installing windows, but still, it can't load the OS, i already have another thread on that. Im gonna use the old hard drive and install the new mobo drivers and see if the problem is solved

I just replaced hard drives to try and fix the problem, but since im not sure the old hard drive is bad, i'll try that one, which already has all my games and stuff on it.

 

My dad's computer had a bit of the same troubles. He has an Emachines (ugh) with a 250 Watt PSU. He installed a Radeon 9550, and his computer had the same problem as the people with the 9600 Pros. The different factor is the PSU. His is 250 Watts and can't handle the 9550. the 9600 Pro is a lot more power hungry, but i think that my 420 Watt Super-Flower PSU should satiate its "appetite" (pardon the pun). Also, like other people's 9600 Pros, the driver error pops up. So I think that the PSU is out of the question, because I have seen the PSU problem in action, and it doesn't show a driver issue.

 

I sure hope its not my video card... that sucker was $600!!

 

sorry, but i had a typo. my card is a Radeon 9800 Pro, not a 9600 Pro.

it may not be the actual card, but mebbe a software issue

 

Well, my new motherboard came in, I replaced it, and my problem has been solved...
no more reboots for me

hurray!