Geekiator Quiz

[Ahlerich]

ok guys here is the 1.000.000$ question

My PC keeps on restarting. it started 2 month ago with a random restart, most times when i was playing. in the last weeks it seemed to get a little more frequently (i random restartt in 2 days roughly) yesterday i played a few hours without restart and then each time i tried to load EB my pc restarted. then no matter what i would load the pc restarted. i was copying stuff to back up to my other pc and during that it restarted as well. this morning windows would not even load it would run the POST stuff memory test etc and b4 windows loads restart itself again..all the time in circles.
from testing i know it has nothing to do with the following components:

-video card
-ram
-pc virus free

now i disconnected the networkcard and at least it would load windows. im currently using PQmagic to make another partition to move my data there and then reinstall windows just to make sure it has nothing to do with the OS

i could not test a lot without nic but im almost sure that the nic was not the problem. will test though when PQmagic is done and edit that here. so does anybody has suggestions what i should try or even a suspection what the problem causes?
pls post any ideas here coz im running out of ideas. too bad i cand check if its a motherboard or cpu problem

[Drunken]

Im pretty sure overheating could cause restarting. But that would explain why it restarts after a while of being on, not why windows wouldnt load.

[Lee1026]

I once had the same problem, it was the power cord leading from the wall to the computer (I kid you not). But I am willing to bet that is a extremely unlikely reason.

[Ahlerich]

it is not overheating, that is what i thought but i checkt the temperature and its around 50C which is a good temperature.
ya powercord, i know usually if your powersupply is to weak eg it restarts. im living in an old building lee so the wall to computer could even be, i tried another jack though and it still restarts all the time. right now im thinking the last possible resons left are:

powersupply
mainboard
cpu

but the only powersupply problems i ever had were when the powersupply was completely dead.
hm i guess i get an extention cord and get the voltage from a different room now. ah i hate that. im even network technician and the only problem i cant find a solution for in years must be on my own computer on an saturday with my girlfriend not here - a perfect gaming weekend aaaaaargh

(EDIT): not the wall jack to computer

[Lee1026]

It could even be software. A corrupted windows could do all kinds of weird things.

[Ahlerich]

ya what im doing now is installing windows again after formatting.
while is did pqmagic it restarted again anyways ad messed up my hd structure, so all my porn is lost anyways ,P

if that doesnt help i ll go and buy a motherboard and cpu later..i hated my celeron scumbag anyways

(EDIT): no its not OS either..went through installation and when it almost finished it started restarting again..so definately some kind of hardware thing.

HDD
CPU
MAINBOARD aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgh

[Incinerate_IV]

If you idle temperture is around 50C, then your load temperture must be around 70+ C, in that case its a temperture problem.

[Lee1026]

It could be stability problems. Run superpi or Prime 95.

[Angarah]

I have the same problem with my DVD burner... but I can just shut it off

[Ahlerich]

well wasnt powersupply, temp is allright as well
got a new mainboard now and the probs continue.

i start the pc it gets to the boot screen, i can get into bios and then it freezes which is alright because the image that is currently on the hdd is not fitting but now it comes:

when i restart it doesnt even get to the bios anymore...monitor doesnt turn on even and the mainbord led turns on for a moment and then turns off.

if i set the jumper to reset the cmos then it works again but only one time. when i restart after that it wont go anywhere again and monitor does not turn on and led of mainboard turns of after a few seconds. thats weird. ideas?
if i dont connect all the hdd led etc cables but only power on and reset that should work right?

and how do i find out what is + and what is - on an blue/white cable?

[Aristocrat]

Are you definite the power supply is alright (you've tested it properly?).
A new motherboard means it probaly is your ram or cpu (possibly video card but I doubt it), plug in your motherboards speaker cord (it's in the same bundle as the power and reset cords, and the led cords, and see if it makes a series of beeps, if so go to your motherboard manual and find out what they mean.

Personally I think your ram may be bad.

[Spiff]

I suspect the powersupply is on its last legs, if you have a spare one you can get hold of (from a friend or whatever) then try that. Alternatively try unplugging non essential devices from the PSU such as cd-drives and secondary harddrives, just temporarily to see if the reduction in power requirement makes any difference.

I dont think it would be video card related, so thats fine.

How many sticks of RAM do you have? If more than one, try taking each one out in turn to see if the problem persists. If you have one, try getting hold of an old one and installing that instead. I do not believe a faulty processor can only half work, from my experience they either work reliably or they wont boot at all.

[Lee1026]

Reseat everything.

[Incinerate_IV]

Ahlerich please check your load temperture, if you can start the computer to download/run Prime95 that is.

Also do what lee1026 says and reseat everything, the heatsink might be lose. Another thing you can try is to get a can of compressed air and spray your computer and the CPU heatsink.

[Lee1026]

Or better yet, pull off the heat sink and drop into a bucket of water.

[Pent uP Rage]

Take the side panel off, put a normal fan pointing at the heatsink and run some stuff.

If it still happens, run checkdisk.

Start->Run->type "chkdsk"->Ok

report back

[Lee1026]

I seriously doubt that would do anything at all. It would reduce the case temp down a bit, but then my case temp is only 3 C higher then my room temp, and I am running just the PSU fan. And I doubt that kind of stability can come from a 3C diffference.

[Pent uP Rage]

All depends on what case you have. Personally, I get upwards of a 10C drop if I lose my side panel. If I'm benching or OCing hardcore, I ALWAYS take the side panel off. BUT, my case was built for looks and not performance. Not to mention I have painted the inside of my case which helps insulate it even more.

Also steel or aluminum makes a difference, as well as size. A mid tower gets a lot hotter than a full tower does. Steel cases hold more heat than aluminum cases.

And you'd be quite surprised what a +/-3C difference will do. Especially if the component in question is nearing it's thermal threshold. Personally, a 2C difference meant the difference between 4.2 and 4.3Ghz....go figure.

[Ahlerich]

ok well its definately not the temperature, and i cant get to install windows or software anyways. (ihave replaced the board anyways)
to the powersupply, i had it tested at a store and they said the can guarantee that its alright
i did all the other tips(only one bar of ram, no hdd/cdrom, only onboard videocard..)
well the probs i have with the board is that the red led on the board most times just blinks when i turn the pc on, or it even stays off and the monitor does not get a signal.
last night, doing nothing different, it worked though, the led stayed on the post would run and i could enter the bios, reset swich and power switch worked to but no the pcspeaker wouldnt work for some reason.
anyways this morning i was going to install windows and when it asked me to press a key to bbot from cd(what i was going to do) i forgot to press any key, so i restarted the computer. since then i dont get the light on the motherboard anymore and the monitor does not get a signal anymore (on the onboard videocard that worked fine last night)
so if the led on the mainboard doesnt stay on or doesnt go on at all that means the mainbord is shortening out,right? or does it mean something else too?
im sure i installed the mb right and it touches the case nowhere. can it be that the led does not go on because i dont have all the cables from the case leds and usb connected to the board? i only have the power button cable connected

[Ahlerich]

thanks for everybody who supported me with some ideas...well it turned out to be the power supply.

i was mand at the guy in the store coz he said after checkinng it that he can guarantee its not the ps...well it was
evrybody who guessed it was the ps wins the geekiator quiz and wins a virtual cookie, so make sure to enable cookies in ie