Computer just reboots...for no reason.

[mokkema]

Hey, I'm sure this topic has come up before, and I searched around and learned some answers, but I thought maybe I'd ask again, to see if someone else has another issue they could bring to my attencion. Heres my setup:

AMD Athlon XP 3100+ 2.2ghz "Barton" CPU (cooled with Thermaltake Volcano 7+)
ABIT NF7-M NForce2
ATi Radeon 9600XT
Antec TRUEBLUE 480W PSU
2x IBM Deskstar 80GB HDD
Soundblaster Audigy Platinum

I think that's all you would need to know to assess this problem...anyways, Like the title of this thread says, My computer just recently started shutting down, for no reason, out of no where...especially when I'm trying to install the drivers for my audigy. I dunno what the hell is going on. The only thing I can notice is that there is an " ! " on one of my motherboard resources in the device manager. So right now im installing the new FORCEWARE drivers for my mobo, maybe that can solve something. But when the computer shuts down, I'm not able to turn it back on til i flip the switch in back, and make sure the computer/mobo has no power nemore, then when I flip it back, I'm able to turn it back on. This is really frusterating. I'm not sure what It could be, I just bought my new Radeon...but I don't think that's it.

The only other problem I'm having related to that, is when I'm playing my most beloved game (now after I bought my new Radeon) counterstrike, My computer will just freeze up, and some weird sounds come out of the speakers...anyways. I dont wanna make this real long, but heres my situation. Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

 

[newbiepcuser]

Does your Abit motherboard come with some kind of motherboard monitor? Check the voltages, temperature etc. You might want to reseed your heatsink on your cpu. It could be heating problem. Also, if you have spare powersupply, test it with that one instead.

 

[Looney]

Are you using Windows XP? If so, by default XP has your computer reboot on fatal errors. So disable that option first, then see what error msg you get. More than likely it's a hardware compatability/driver issue.

 

[scrawl]

In my experience, random shutdowns tend to be caused by power supply or overheating issues. I would do as newbiepcuser suggested and see if you can get a hold of another power supply and try it out in your machine.

Also, incase you need to know how to disable the "restart on fatal errors" as Moralpanic suggested, go to My Computer -> Properties -> Advanced ->Startup and Recovery Settings -> Uncheck "Automatically restart" in the System Failure frame.

 

[pyrojunkie]

In my experience, random reboots can be caused by too aggressive memory timings and/or overclocks.