Why did my computer just restart for no reason?

[Muerto]

I was happily surfing the net and listening to mp3s when my computer restarted completely out of the blue. No warning. I've never had this happen before so I'm a little confused. Normaly my system is as solid as a rock.

I'm using a generic PSU (yeah I'd like an Enermax but no $$$) could that have caused it? Could one of the voltages have gone too far out of tolerance and caused it to restart? Any other ideas? Thanks.

 

[Muerto]

^

 

[BeauJangles]

My computer randomly reboots sometimes too. I have no other stability problems and it seems to happen at random. Sometimes I can be surfin the web and listening to music, other times it can be when i launch Counter-strike... but it only happens like once every 2 months or so.

Check your error log and see if anything went wrong.

 

[DamnDirtyApe]

Get a better PSU, or unplug some stuff. We had a P2 400 system that would reboot randomly with a CD burner installed, but when I took it out the problems stopped because the power requirements were now less.

 

[Jiggz]

Since buying a new PSU involves $$$, don't jump on the conclusion it's the culprit right of the back. Instead try reducing electrical load by disconnecting some peripherals and run the sam program you were doing when the system rebooted for unknown reason. If the system is stable after reducing load then it could be the PSU. If it rebooted still for unknown reason after reducing load it could be software related.

 

[XWolfsraider]

I had this happen so dont laugh !

i put the cords in the powerstrip and placed it behind cpu when i shut the cd drive door it would shut off computer lol ,it had a sloppy connection and drove me nuts for weeks.

 

[pillage2001]

Unstable power source?

Check your connections or try a diff PSU.

 

[FriedRiceBob]

Then again, sometimes this question should be along with "why did a tornado take down my house?" or "Why did that tree fall on MY car?" or "why did i have to be a sucker for those ginsu knives on ebay?"

 

[kmike75]

I had the same problem and ended up moving my PCI 56k modem to a different slot. This solved the problem.

kevin