A week ago my stystem started re-booting randomly. I tried a few things without luck but decided it was probably a PSU problem and since I was overdue an upgrade, ordered the parts for a new rig (see spec below). Built up the new rig a couple of days ago but the random re-boots are still with me. The only two components common to the original system and the new one are the SB Audigy 2 and the case - a Collermaster ATCS 210. The reboots don't seem to have any patern, they can be in a game, in a browser or when transfering files etc. When the system re-boots it looses all power instantly as if the power reset switch had been pushed and suspiciously it may reboot a couple of times before it will get past the BIOS post. I have tried swapping out the power cable, changing the 4 socket extension lead and even run the system off a different power socket. Temps of all the components are fine: CPU 35 C, GPU 70-75 C, and M/B 50 C all under load. I can only concliude that I have a problem (possible short?) in either the power or the reset switches. However, I have removed these from the case, looked them over and they seems to be working OK - at least mechanically as I have no way of testing for sure. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing the re-boots? I've run out of ideas. System: CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz CPU Cooler: Akasa AK-965 Mobo: Asus P5Q P45 Socket 775 Mem: Corsair 4GB Kit DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 XMS2 GPU: Sapphire ATI 4870 512mb PSU: Corsair 650W TX Series HD1: Samsung 750gb SATA II HD2: Maxtor 350gb SATA II Sound: SB Audigy 2 Case: Coolermaster ATCS 210 O/S: Win XP SP3
By the sounds of it it's a cooling issue... but the temps look fine (as you said) I'm sure someone else will come up with a better solution in about ten seconds
Well I've been Googling the hell out of this one and tried all sorts of things without any luck. The P45 northbridge is very hot to touch but apparently that is not unusual. However, I did read a few suggestions about bad memory as one of the primary causes of random rebooots. So I swapped out first one 2 gig stick - still crashed - then the other - system stable for a couple of hours of gaming. Fingers crossed - although if it is the memory I don't have any spare DDR2 and I suspect I will have to RMA both sticks as they are a matched pair.
Having run the system for 4 straight hours last night and another 3 this morning, I though I had isolated the problem - not so. Just 20 mins after booting this afternoon, the first re-boot appeared - followed by a whole host of others. At one stage the thing was rebooting continously every 10 seconds or so - not even allowing me to get into the Bios. Still open to ideas if anyone has any.
SB Audigy 2 with a little C4 then stand back. You pretty much narrowed it down in your first few lines; the SB Audigy 2 being the only original component, the case is a case, unless it's caked in dust. I can sympathise with you, my rig of 5 years ran for 3 years without crashing or any problems, and then I put in an SB Audigy 2 and worst mistake I made. As my rig is pretty ancient by today's standards I tried to get everything to run smoothly, and spent about a month solid fixing/making my rig more stable with the SB Audigy 2. Some people swear by Creative but I'm in the majority who have had nothing but problems with all of their products I have purchased over the years. Their support is non-existent and instead of fixing products, they just bring out new ones and never learn their lesson. Back to the main subject, I took out the SB Audigy 2 and replaced it with an ASUS Xonar and no problems or random reboots at all since. Tips I can give you are; check your event viewer in admin tools for red errors, disable any crap in your BIOS you don't use, get the most stable drivers (old ones were more stable than new for me), maybe a different PCI slot and lastly check your IRQ assignment in the OS to make sure it's not being shared with anything else. Once you hear the infamous Creative squeal of death, get rid of that card. That scarred me for life.
I tried the system without the Audigy 2 last night - was still resetting itself. At one stage it rebooted 3 times in a row whilst I was in the Bios. Because of the reboots I'm convinced it has to be a hardware issue - it could be heat related but I'm running without a side panel on the case and the reboots seem too random to be caused by overheating i.e. it will sometimes crash before POST on a cold start. However, because this is my first PCI-e build and my first Intel motherboard for a while, I don't have the spare components available to swap out and try and eliminate the fault. On the off chance that it is the new PSU, I have ordered a couple of PCI-e '3 to 6 pin' extensions - so I can try my old Akaska 460W PSU in the case. If that doesn't sort it out it, the only other components that I haven't already eliminated are the motherboard, GPU and memory (I've swapped out the sticks individually but maybe the board doesn't get on with this particular type of memory). The motherboard and GPU are going to be harder to isolate. Short of buying a cheap second hand PCI card on ebay, I can't see how I can confirm which of the two components is causing the problem.
Sorry to hear the problem is still occurring without the SB Audigy 2. Luckily I never had a reboot problem when in the BIOS, only when XP loaded. I'm far from a PC expert but it does sound a hardware problem, and I'm sure by this stage you have double checked all your heatsinks, temperatures and voltages. I'm doing my first PCI-E build soon with an Intel board, shifting on from dreadful nForce boards which have been a disaster for me. With regards to the PSU, if possible I would start at the beginning of the chain, your wall socket. If possible, try to get it tested to see whether the power coming from you wall is actually clean or dirty. Also I would assume you are using a surge protector, even those can wear out and have done with myself and caused problems. Moving on from that, buy a PSU tester, ANTEC do a cheap decent one that checks all the voltages and if you have a contact, try a proper PSU tester or like you said swap it out for an old one. However, be careful as you don't want the replacement to be overloaded and short out the rest of your components from a start up surge. You seem to be on the ball with the elimination process, it could just be that board doesn't like the RAM you are using or the slots being used. Go to the manufacturer website and double check their list of recommended RAM that they know works with that board. Failing that you will have to start as bare bones as possible and that may mean a cheap £20 PCI-E card to swap out and test, though always a backup for the future. Once you have done all the above and if you are still getting problems, just send the board back and either get a replacement board or a brand new board. It's a total minefield to narrow down, I'm like yourself in always getting problems with new builds.
Up until now I have I've been lucky with hardware and new builds. Had a few PSUs and GPUs die over the years with older systems but my new build headaches have been predominantly software related. I think I 've now narrowed it down to the motherboard and the fact that the system temps reported by Asus AI Suite seems out of line with the burn on my finger - the northbridge heatsink is almost glowing it's so hot. I've managed to improve the stability by jury rigging a 120mm fan to cool the northbridge but once I have finally eliminated a couple of other components, I think I will have to RMA the board and buy a replacement. [thread=160168]See separte thread![/thread]
My friend had a similar and very eerie problem with his rig randomly rebooting whenever he did anything graphics related at all - web videos, flash, java, games. But it wasn't the graphics card, or a power shortage, or a faulty power supply, or a bad connection in the power cable. I concluded his compy was simply haunted, but if you haven't checked for one or more of the above, do so. I think power supplies are the single most common cause of random reboots, though carefully cleaning your mobo of dust and such might help - the computer I'm using right now rebooted repeatedly for a while because an anomalous bit of debris had landed on the Clear CMOS pins and was repeatedly shorting them >.<
