Random restarts

spitz10

Member
May 3, 2006
196
0
0
hey guys, ive recently built a new rig, and everything works great, but occasionally it just locks up and restarts. 90% of the time it is in game. I thought it was because I was overclocking, but I took all overclocking off, and the same thing happens, just at a smaller rate, maybe after like 2 hours of gaming instead of like 15 min. when i was overclocking.

Any idea what would be causing this? I would think heat, but my case temp is about 29, and my CPU temp is in the low 30s, but gets up into the low 40s during load. I have a quality 400W power supply, and i have tried 2 different video cards, an X850XT, and my new X1900GT, and they both do the same thing.

Im pretty confused, everything seems to run great, and with good temps, just not sure what is causing the restarts....

Thanks ahead of time for any help
 

sisq0kidd

Lifer
Apr 27, 2004
17,043
1
81
Restarts are generally due to something overheating or not enough power being reached to that particular peripheral so we'll assume these things and start from there.

What brand is this quality 400w psu you have? Also, what are the 12v ratings? If the 12v doesn't have enough power, your system will restart.

You say that most of the time the computer restarts when you are in a game, which would put heavy load on your cpu and video card, so we'll also assume those two are the potential culprits that might also relate to drawing too much power for your psu to handle.

Usually when a video card is clocked too high, or overheating, you'll either get two effects. For one, it'll freeze if the core can't handle the clock. If it's the memory that's overheating on your card, it'll artifact, so I'm more inclined to say it's either your cpu that's the problem or your psu is not providing enough power.

I'd also run a prime95 test to isolate the cpu and test that.

Keep us updated on your situation and if you can, please give more information on the psu.
 

spitz10

Member
May 3, 2006
196
0
0
It is the Fortron source FS400-GLN model 400W

here is the link to the prodct website:

http://www.fsp-group.com.tw/english/1_p...2_detail.asp?mainid=1&fid=52&proid=131

I researched PSUs for about 2 weeks, and talked to a TON of people, and this model was recommended by those who knew the most about PSUs.

Here is my complete set-up also:

Asus A8R-MVP
3700+ SanDiego
2 OCZ platinum
1 36 gb raptor
1 extra hard drives
2 optical drives
2 120mm case fans
X1900GT

Thanks alot for the help sisqo, im looking forward to your response

P.S. running Prime95 at default settings gives no errors....
 

dclive

Elite Member
Oct 23, 2003
5,626
2
81
Originally posted by: spitz10
hey guys, ive recently built a new rig, and everything works great, but occasionally it just locks up and restarts. 90% of the time it is in game. I thought it was because I was overclocking, but I took all overclocking off, and the same thing happens, just at a smaller rate, maybe after like 2 hours of gaming instead of like 15 min. when i was overclocking.

Any idea what would be causing this? I would think heat, but my case temp is about 29, and my CPU temp is in the low 30s, but gets up into the low 40s during load. I have a quality 400W power supply, and i have tried 2 different video cards, an X850XT, and my new X1900GT, and they both do the same thing.

Im pretty confused, everything seems to run great, and with good temps, just not sure what is causing the restarts....

Thanks ahead of time for any help


Is there a c:\windows\minidump directory, with the dates and times of the files being related to the dates and times your machine crashed?
 

spitz10

Member
May 3, 2006
196
0
0
dclive - yes there is a directory, and there are 6 different items, but the dates dont seem to be matching up, they are all from 6/11/06

Chonchon - Yea i know thats a great PSU, but I talked to TONS of people know alot about PSUs, and they all told me that a high quality 400W PSU would be perfect for my system, and the one that I got was recommended by more than one person.

Im confused.....
 

spitz10

Member
May 3, 2006
196
0
0
ok, also, my computer randomly restarted overnight last night.....not sure if that changes anything.
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
240
106
And, sometimes random restarts are due an accumulation of dust and dirt on things like your memory chips. Give your system a good thorough cleaning. It just costs time - no $$$.