Newly built PC - Randomly restarts

[MuddyG]

I just built my first PC with my 13 year old son and everything seemed to go great, everything running smoothly from the first power-up. Unfortunately, it seems that it somewhat frequently and randomly will restart. It's running Windows XP Pro Corporate, and there is no error message; no nothing. It will simply, in the middle of anything, start Windows as if you just turned the power on from the off position. No BSD or anything. Also, and I have no idea if the two things are related, it has locked up while installing software a couple of times. By locking up I mean the screen is frozen, the cursor is stuck, no progress, CTRL-ALT-DEL doesn't work, no HD activity (well, not 100% on the no HD activity, as the HD activity LED wire seems to have become disconnected). This only has happened when the PC is unattended. It seems that if you sit there and use another program or wiggle the mouse around, it doesn't freeze. Obviously it has only happened twice, so wiggling the mouse and actively using the PC may have nothing to do with it.

Here are the components:

• Intel Pentium D 805 Smithfield 2.66GHz LGA 775 Dual Core Processor

• ASUS P5ND2-SLI Socket T NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition ATX Intel Motherboard

• PNY Optima 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) Dual Channel

• eVGA 256-P2-N541-TX GeForce 7600GS 256MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card

• 15 Gb IDE HD with Windows XP Pro Corp Installed

• 40 Gb IDE HD with some games & software installed

• SAMSUNG 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write and LightScribe

• Aspire X-Cruiser Mid-Tower Gaming Case

• Ultra / X2 / 550-Watt PowerSupply

The HD's are spare parts and the 40 Gb drive is of questionable integrity. The PC has not been connected to the internet at all, and nothing has been updated. Also, the memory is DDR2 533, and the motherboard says DDR2 667, but that should be fine, right?

Just hoping someone somewhere has experienced something similiar so I don't have to go through an extremely tedious troubleshooting process.

Thanks in advance!

 

[dfuze]

Look at the motherboard manual. As long as it says it can handle the slower memory, that aspect of it shouldn't matter (i.e. - many motherboards could handle pc2700 or 3200). After that, my main suspect would be the ram anyway. Try it with removing one stick at a time and see if it gets stable.

Even though there is no BSOD, I think Windows might still put something into the Event Viewer (right click MyComputer, ->Manage->Event Viewer).

 

[Apathetic]

I agree that the memory is the most likely culprit.

First, check the BIOS to make sure it is recognizing the memory correctly (both size and speed). If they are, test the box with one stick at a time like dph1077 suggested.

Dave

 

[amdskip]

Please tell me that you are going to upgrade that 15gb hard drive because that will be a serious limiting factor of your computer. Also, I would most definately get a better power supply. If it is not your memory, it most likely is the power supply.

 

[MuddyG]

The slower memory should be fine. Thanks for pointing me at the Event Viewer, I will check it out.

 

[MuddyG]

BIOS is detecting the memory fine. I will play with the memory. Thanks.

 

[MuddyG]

Originally posted by: amdskip
Please tell me that you are going to upgrade that 15gb hard drive because that will be a serious limiting factor of your computer. Also, I would most definately get a better power supply. If it is not your memory, it most likely is the power supply.

Yes, of course. The 15gb hard drive AND the 40gb were just some spare parts to get the thing running, as our budget is limited. We plan on getting a high capacity SATA drive. What's wrong with the power supply?

 

[oynaz]

You have a defective hardware part.

In order of probability the culprit is(my estimate):

Memory

Graphics card

PSU

Motherboard

CPU