PC Constently crashing/rebooting

Onehate

Member
Mar 25, 2011
79
2
71
I have a windows 7 pc and it crashes every 30 minutes or so, reboots fine and everything looks good, then crashes again. This has been going on for a month or so.

I have looked in the event log and see alot of idle port issues, I put new SATA cables in and this has had no affect. I have also updated my graphics card ATI 6870 to no avail.

Aside from this I really am not sure the proper steps to properly troubleshoot this issue. Properly seeing up Windows event logs?
Was hoping someone could give me a hand to isolate what is causing the crashes.
 

westom

Senior member
Apr 25, 2009
517
0
71
I have looked in the event log and see alot of idle port issues,
If a CPU was not seeing an error, reporting it, and shutting down, then the list of potential defects is elsewhere. For example, a power controller could be shutting down the CPU without warning. That defect can be identified only by using a multimeter (a tool that often sells in stores that sell hammers - for less than a hammer).

Should you want to exonerate or identify that likely suspect, then get a meter and ask for details.

If the system was provided by a fewer and more responsible manufacturers, then it comes with hardware diagnostics (for free) to identify problems such as yours immediately. All computer manufacturers have these diagnostics. But only a few provide them.

Otherwise your alternative is to keep replacing good parts until something works. Nothing in your current list of replaced parts would have explained that suddenly symptom.
 

Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
11,897
2,716
136
Could be corrupted system files on the hard drive, possibly due to bad sectors.
 

bradly1101

Diamond Member
May 5, 2013
4,689
294
126
www.bradlygsmith.org
I accidently reset my BIOS recently, so I setup the RAM to run at its XMP setting of 1600/1T. I forgot that that 1T never worked on this board.

If it's the RAM, loosening timings may help.
 

Onehate

Member
Mar 25, 2011
79
2
71
Sometimes it will freeze when i try to go into the hard drive.. the mouse will move but i cannot access anything, after sitting like this for afew minutes it will do one of two things, blue screen, or the screen will go crazy right before a reboot. It reboots fine 95% some the times but sometimes it will drop an error about a read right error after BIOS..

I guess i need to save the BSOD message next time it is generated and put it on this thread...
 

bradly1101

Diamond Member
May 5, 2013
4,689
294
126
www.bradlygsmith.org
It sounds like hardware to me. If the hard drive passes a disk check, temps are fine, the memory passes Memtest and virus scans and everything is correct in the BIOS and device manager then as someone said there's no choice but swapping parts.
 

Onehate

Member
Mar 25, 2011
79
2
71
Well now it has gotten to the point that after I log into windows and click an icon it will hang, sit there for about 5 minutes the reboot... I think I might just try a clean install of Windows and see where that leaves me....
 

westom

Senior member
Apr 25, 2009
517
0
71
Well now it has gotten to the point that after I log into windows and click an icon it will hang, sit there for about 5 minutes the reboot...
Your symptoms are classic of a likely suspect only identified by a meter. Or by hardware diagnostics. Or third party diagnostics (ie from the disk drive manufacturer). Only speculation can be posted if you do not provide hard facts and numbers from those sources.

Any BSOD numbers? Just another of many stange failures that may share a common suspect - and only detectable by a meter.
 

bryanl

Golden Member
Oct 15, 2006
1,157
8
81
Checking the power supply with a meter (or trying another power supply) and running a hard disk diagnostic are good ideas. Try some memory diagnostics overnight, but they often miss errors, so it may be easier to simply test with Samsung or Crucial memory. To rule out software problems, boot with a live Linux CD.
 

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
5
71
www.mfenn.com
Well now it has gotten to the point that after I log into windows and click an icon it will hang, sit there for about 5 minutes the reboot... I think I might just try a clean install of Windows and see where that leaves me....

Sounds like a hard drive dying to me.
 

Torn Mind

Lifer
Nov 25, 2012
11,897
2,716
136
I concur with mfenn. I just checked a dying hard drive a week or two ago and it had similar symptoms. It gets to the Windows splash background and just gets STUCK there. Took the HDD out of its owner's rig and put it in my known good rig. Ran badblocks from the Linux OS and boom, it found bad blocks on the HDD.
 

westom

Senior member
Apr 25, 2009
517
0
71
Sounds like a hard drive dying to me.
Which would be reported by diagnostics from the drive manufacturer or from other diagnostic software that uses SMART. Even drives that did not yet have bad blocks - that would be failing in the future - can be identified with diagnostic software. IOW hard facts known without speculation.
 

Puffnstuff

Lifer
Mar 9, 2005
16,147
4,847
136
Anytime I've seen this behavior appear out of the blue it was power related. As was already stated time to put a meter on the rails and see if they sag under load.
 

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
5
71
www.mfenn.com
Which would be reported by diagnostics from the drive manufacturer or from other diagnostic software that uses SMART. Even drives that did not yet have bad blocks - that would be failing in the future - can be identified with diagnostic software. IOW hard facts known without speculation.

Which is why we are suggesting that the OP run those tools. Torn Mind and I are making a suggestion for further exploration based on the symptoms, not a hard "you should replace this part" recommendation.