computer resets

[MERC.-Fargo]

ok here is the problem... my computer will reset randomly.... someitmes i can get an hour of gaming.. sometimes i get only 5 mins... and sometimes it resets during boot up... i have recently replaced the power supply to a 600W, switched out the ram,video card.. still will reset... the onlky 3 things i can think of is the mother board is really going, the power supply could be too much or not enough.. or it could be a something wrong with the OS (XP home)... anyone have any insight to this?? im holding off to having to buy more parts if its something i know where to fix it...

 

[Neo Omega]

ok here is the problem... my computer will reset randomly.... someitmes i can get an hour of gaming.. sometimes i get only 5 mins... and sometimes it resets during boot up... i have recently replaced the power supply to a 600W, switched out the ram,video card.. still will reset... the onlky 3 things i can think of is the mother board is really going, the power supply could be too much or not enough.. or it could be a something wrong with the OS (XP home)... anyone have any insight to this?? im holding off to having to buy more parts if its something i know where to fix it...

possible Heat issues?
ever clean out that case?

its a stab in the dark, but look at a program called speedfan. it may be able to tell you temps.

 

[Mr.President]

Hey!

This problem is most likely the ram! Try swapping slots, or use only one (if you use two, them all separately.)

If this doesn't work, report back and I'll try to give another reason

Btw, Is the screen pixelated before shutting down?

- Bole.

 

[Blue Stealth]

ok here is the problem... my computer will reset randomly.... someitmes i can get an hour of gaming.. sometimes i get only 5 mins... and sometimes it resets during boot up... i have recently replaced the power supply to a 600W, switched out the ram,video card.. still will reset... the onlky 3 things i can think of is the mother board is really going, the power supply could be too much or not enough.. or it could be a something wrong with the OS (XP home)... anyone have any insight to this?? im holding off to having to buy more parts if its something i know where to fix it...

just to narrow down your search having too much of a psu is not a problem. buying a commercial psu you cannot have "too much".

as for your guess about the OS being an issue, this problem is hardware related or your computer would not restart during boot-up.

I think the idea of checking your temperatures is a wise one. Your problem sounds memory-related in my opinion. You could try resetting your CMOS by taking the battery out and putting it back in. The battery, incase you dont know, is located on the motherboard itself and looks like an oversized watch battery. Be aware that this will reset all BIOS settings, but might rule out a motherboard problem.

-Blue

 

[Mr.President]

j
I think the idea of checking your temperatures is a wise one. Your problem sounds memory-related in my opinion. You could try resetting your CMOS by taking the battery out and putting it back in. The battery, incase you dont know, is located on the motherboard itself and looks like an oversized watch battery. Be aware that this will reset all BIOS settings, but might rule out a motherboard problem.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdHH9KrceR0[/ame]

 

[Ozone Depletion]

The first thing that popped into my head was heat issues. It may be as simple as putting a big fan on your case, or it could be a heatsink wasn't properly installed.

Other places you may want to look at:
Check to see if there's a newer version of your BIOS.
I assume you're not overclocking anything, if you are then put it back to default.
Memory... most memory issues I've seen will at least leave you a blue screen or not boot at all. But it's still possible.

 

[Blue Stealth]

The first thing that popped into my head was heat issues. It may be as simple as putting a big fan on your case, or it could be a heatsink wasn't properly installed.

Other places you may want to look at:
Check to see if there's a newer version of your BIOS.
I assume you're not overclocking anything, if you are then put it back to default.
Memory... most memory issues I've seen will at least leave you a blue screen. But it's still possible.

yes most memory issues result in a BSOD. but ask yourself, how could there be a heat problem if the computer restarts on boot-up? The only answer would be residual heat damage over time causing hardware to malfunction. But if thats the case, youre looking at buying new hardware regardless.

-Blue

 

[Ozone Depletion]

yes most memory issues result in a BSOD. but ask yourself, how could there be a heat problem if the computer restarts on boot-up? The only answer would be residual heat damage over time causing hardware to malfunction. But if thats the case, youre looking at buying new hardware regardless.

-Blue

I've seen/had computers that auto turnoff when they get too hot. Because the temperature at which this is triggered is below the threshold where damage occurs the machine can still reboot. That one second of downtime enough to allow the temp to dip below the threshold (especially since it shutoff right when it hit the threshold).
What will happen when the temp reaches a certain point can sometimes be controlled in the BIOS (beep/shutdown/nothing).

I'm just speaking from person experiences.

oh.. and I hate diagnosing memory problems. So I'll trust you on that one. The last time I had memory issues I blew out a memory channel cause I grabbed the wrong RAM stick, so I'm a little sour

 

[MERC.-Fargo]

we had reset the bios.... it still did it.. we took out the vid card from my brothers computer and ran it... it still reset.... as for cleaning out the dust.. i did clean it... it still didnt want to fix itself... the ram i put in was compatible.... we even tried turning off the shut down and beep alarms in bios... it still shut down... maybe my fan for the heatsync isnt workign properly.... maybe its time for a new barebone system... ..... tigerdirect.ca has got some good deals on right now but i gotta wait for my payday to hit..lol..

 

[Major_Payne]

we had reset the bios.... it still did it.. we took out the vid card from my brothers computer and ran it... it still reset.... as for cleaning out the dust.. i did clean it... it still didnt want to fix itself... the ram i put in was compatible.... we even tried turning off the shut down and beep alarms in bios... it still shut down... maybe my fan for the heatsync isnt workign properly.... maybe its time for a new barebone system... ..... tigerdirect.ca has got some good deals on right now but i gotta wait for my payday to hit..lol..

Try removing the fan and cleaning the heatsink. My friends computer started doing this a couple of weeks ago and he brought it by the house last weekend. He said he had blown out the dust using compressed air, but when I removed the fan from the heatsink on top of the CPU, the heatsink was caked with dust. Washed it in the sink, used a hair dryer to dry it out and then let it cool down before installing back in the computer. He hasn't had an issue with it since. Hope this helps.

 

[Mr.President]

It's not whether its compatble or not, just try it

I had the same problem following it with some bsods, chabged ram and tada

(posted frm phone)

 

[MERC.-Fargo]

ok illtry those out.. my compter is @ my brothers place... so ill head over in the next few days and we will try it out..... thx for all the input.... i hope something works... im going through Vid withdrawl... i need my vids... grrrrrrrr