Comp randomly reboots

[HackSore]

OK, i upgraded my machine recently with an asus m2n4-sli mobo, an amd athlon x2 4200 cpu and 2gigs of OCZ 800mhz ram.

It was fine for a day or two, then all of a sudden it began to randomly reboot, usually when idle.
It gives me no blue screen, so i dont have an error message to give me a clue as to why it is doing it.
My first thought was overheating, my temps dont seem to be too bad though

i havent seen the CPU temp go above 45 degrees (apart from one time i noticed core 2 shoot up to something like 214 degrees for about a second, then back to its normal temps), the mobo is usually around 35-40 degrees, the video card (bfg factory overclocked geforce 7600gt) is usually around 60 - 65 degrees.

Anyway, i removed the side panel and set up a desk fan, which brought the cpu temps down quite a bit, and the vid card temps down a few degrees, but even then it rebooted.

Im thinking it could be the ram, but im not too sure, and the clip for the second module broke, so its gonna be a pain to get out.

So if anyone can suggest what the cause might be, or some tests to run, i would be very appreciative.

Cheers!

[slytherock]

Look like the PSU to me (I know I say it often :D) You add many parts, but didn't changed your PSU... Sound like it.

You can also run mem test to make sure it's not the RAM. If it still crash during the test, run 1 stick at a time

[Crazy Buddhist]

Look like the PSU to me (I know I say it often :D) You add many parts, but didn't changed your PSU... Sound like it.

You can also run mem test to make sure it's not the RAM. If it still crash during the test, run 1 stick at a time

It's always the PSU ... except when it isn't :D lol

Sly's on the spot I'd say PSU or memory. However, on this one my money is against the PSU and for the memory so I would start by downloading the Microsoft Memory Diagnostics from here (http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp). You have to burn that on a bootable floppy or CD to run and it will tell you if there is a memory fault and the nature of that fault.

The broken tab on your second memory stick may have let it work lose as you worked on your machine.

CrazyB

[Eclecticos]

My Margarita's says: "Fill it with gunpowder . .and blow it UP! :D

[HackSore]

Well, i did check the memory when i first put the machine together, with eurosoft pc check i think, and it came back with no errors.

As for the PSU, i'll admit i did skimp on it a bit when i brought it, but i used a psu calc, and its more then powerful enough, however, i dont really know much about amperage and whatnot, so could it be something like that?

This is the psu im running:

http://www.sansun.de/sansun/englisch/netzteil2.htm

And as for the broken tab, the ram module certainly isnt loose!! i was planning using one stick at a time, to see if it made any difference, but couldnt get the second stick out!
Its locked in there firmly, its just the thumb tab thats used to unclip it that has snapped off.

And it does only seem to reboot when its idle, i have been gaming for about 2 hours now, and everything seems fine.

[xRyokenx]

Hmm... reboots when idle... I'm thinking it has something to do with the HDD. Doesn't the RAM unload into the page file or something when it idles? I don't know much about the way a computer acts when idle (the processes and such), but I'm quite sure it has something to do with that.

[Crazy Buddhist]

That power supply is good for purpose but may still have developed an intermitent fault.

Ok techreplic thread "computer reboots randomly while idle" (http://techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=48&threadID=202053&tag=rbxccnbd1) very helpfull here. Their suggestions:

PSU :D:D:D
motherboard driver corruption
dead battery on the motherboard (see below)

and very useful:

"Turn off the 'reboot on system error' option and see if you get a blue screen error message. then you can post the error code and descriptive text for us to lookup for you at support.microsoft.com ..."

"if you suspect a heating or hardware problem you can boot in Safe mode or better yet to a boot cd like your windows xp setup cd and just leave it running there. to see if it reboots. if it does you know you have a heat or other type hardware problem."

"if it works fine in safe mode you might have a program draining system resources. older un-patched cd burner programs, device drivers and hard disk utilities might be a good starting point."

"since you reinstalled windows maybe you might start with updating windows with all critical updates then all drivers, video, motherboard, network card camera scanner etc etc.

to disable automatic reboot on system error: Control Panel /System /Advanced /startup and recovery. clear the restart on error box.

"how is your antivirus and spyware protection? if you have nortons and haven't run multiple updates this could easily be the culprit. just do live update repeatedly until you get the message 'no more updates available'"

"i have never heard of a bad battery on the system board causing reboot..."

I agree re the battery. Thats nonsense. And from another thread:

"Usually, sudden reboots are caused by 1 of 3 sources:

CPU

Motherboard

Power Supply :D:D:D"

I'd try booting in safe mode and leaving it running like that. If it doesn't reboot then try reinstalling all your drivers and see if that fixes it.

CrazyB

[HackSore]

I disabled the reboot on system error function, but still get no blue screen error message.

windows is pretty up to date, as are my antivirus and spyware programs.

I'll try booting into safe mode and seeing if there is any change.

Thanks for all the input guys!

[HackSore]

Well, i think i may have worked out what was causing the problem.

I booted into safe mode and left it running for a while and everything seemed fine.
now whilst i was trying to work out why it was rebooting, i had a sneaking suspicion that it all started happening after i installed amd's dual core optimizer and Nvidia's latest drivers.

So, i used system restore to go back to before i installed them both, and the damn thing seems to be fine now! been running for a few hours with no reboots.

Im gonna leave it running for a few more hours just to be sure the problem is sorted, then install both the optimzer and the drivers again, one by one, to see if i can find out which was causing the problem.
If it happens to be Nvidia's drivers, it wouldnt be the first time i have had problems with them.

Anyways, i shall post here when i find out for sure what the problem was.

Thanks again for all the input, it is much appreciated.

[Crazy Buddhist]

Well, i think i may have worked out what was causing the problem.

I booted into safe mode and left it running for a while and everything seemed fine.
now whilst i was trying to work out why it was rebooting, i had a sneaking suspicion that it all started happening after i installed amd's dual core optimizer and Nvidia's latest drivers.


Weird coincidence I am having problems with Nvidia's latest drivers. Glad that seems to have solved it.

Matthew

[HackSore]

Just a quick update for anyone that is interested:

I ran my machine idle for around 15 hours without either the optimizer or Nvidia's latest drivers installed without it rebooting.

Today i installed the dual core optimizer, as i was suspecting Nvidia's drivers, having problems with them in the past and all, but after about an hour of having the DC Optimizer installed, i suffered a reboot.

So, restored again, and will try just the nvidia drivers soon, and see what happens.

[HackSore]

To be honest, that doesnt surprise me.

I have always tried to avoid using a nvidia card on a ati chipset board and vice versa.

[Spawn-Inc]

i'm not sure about the random rebot but as for you stuck ram if you can still see some of the clip, you should if it won't come out, then you might try either melting a peper clip or drill a hole for a screw. (minty get your mind out of the gutter, though mine is there alot of the time) if its done right you should be able to use it normally, just make sure the metal is either covered or not touching anything.

[HackSore]

Thanks for the tip spawn, although i think i will leave trying that untill i really need to get the module out, as everything is running smoothly at the moment, and knowing my luck i would drill right into the ram or something! lol