Computer randomly resets

[Deepfreeze]

System Specs:
Thermaltake Xaser V Damier V5000D Case
Thermaltake Purepower 500W PSU
Intel D915GAV motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz LGA 775 processor
Leadtek Winfast PX6800GT 256MB PCI-E video card
Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS
Maxtor 120 GB hard drive
Samsung DVD/CDRW combo drive
A generic network card
2 GB of Corsair Value Select DDR 400 PC3200 RAM

A little history... This box was built less than a month ago. Upon completion the computer ran perfect for 5 days and then *poof* power supply was dead.

Computer was then taken to the local computer repair center and diagnosed with have a short in the PCI-E slot. They believed that is what fried my original power supply and one they had used to test in my system.

Motherboard (Gigabyte Duo Pro), and Thermaltake Purepower 500W power supply both RMA'd. Newegg.com gave me a refund on the gigabyte board, and Thermaltake sent my a new PSU. I bough an Intel D915GAV motherboard to replace the gigabyte one.

So several weeks later, with replacement parts in hand, I rebuild the pc. Boot is fine, it resets once during Windows XP Professional install. No biggie.. things happen right? Install continues with no further problems.

Spend the next hour flashing the motherboard bios to the latest version, and updating the video card drivers.

Download Aquamark to bench the graphics.. this is how I typically test new box setups. Computer resets during the benchmark. Computer resets and again reboots during the benchmark.

I check for IRQ conflicts ..none Run DXDIAG.. no problems. So I try just a regular game (Silent Hunter III). Computer again resets.

I then check processor temps.. It's idling at 31 degrees celsius.. under load it's not going above 40 degrees celsius (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 CPU cooler).

I think "there's no way in hell I've got another bad PSU", so I get with Leadtek and RMA the card back to them. They test the card and say it's just fine.

I tried running Memtest-86 and it won't complete the test without resetting.

I tried one stick of memory at a time.. same thing, will reset under load.

So am I looking at a memory problem, or another PSU problem?

Thanks in advance,

Gregg

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Zip 5 or 6 minidumps together, and attach them here. I will try and determine the culprit.

You can find your minidumps in c:/windows/minidumps

Note. Techspot has a limit of 100kB per attachment, so you may need to attach several zip files.

Regards Howard

 

[Deepfreeze]

It doesn't write minidumps at all. Whatever is resetting the power isn't giving the OS time to do anything. I do have the minidumps enabled, btw.

When it resets, it acts like their was no problem at all, and boots normally.

Gregg

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Mmm I see your problem.

It does sound like a psu problem. I suppose it`s possible for you to have got a bad psu. Maybe when your last psu blew it has damaged your ram.

Can you try a different stick of ram?

Try setting your bios to the default settings.

Regards Howard

 

[lifeisfun0610]

Just a quick thought, though I'm not an expert or anything...

Could something, like a screw, or a brass standoff missing a screw be short-circuiting your board, causing a reset? I had something like this happen to me a long time ago and from what I remembered it was fixed when I found the metal culprit.

Good luck!

 

[Deepfreeze]

I did what I could with the memory. I thought what I already had was good. It's only two months old. I switched it with some good RAM out of my last computer and it's still doing the same thing.

I pulled the motherboard out and made sure all the standoffs were where they were supposed to be, and then screwed it back down.

It's still doing the same thing.

Monday I'll take the RAM and the PSU down to the local computer shop and have them check them for me. If it's not either of those two then the whole box will probably have to go in.

Gregg

 

[Deepfreeze]

An update on this situation:

Took the computer to the local computer repair center today. All memory tested fine. The power supply performed well within it's specifications.

The problems started when the Leadtek 6800GT was popped in the PCI-E slot. The resets began again, etc.

The tech said it's a combination of problems. He said it's software related and hardware related (the video card). He advised me to send the card back to Leadtek, as they obviously didn't do anything to it the last time I sent it in, and pull my hardware out (soundcard, etc.,) and reinstall it one component at a time, reinstalling drivers as I go. He said Windows doesn't get things right doing fresh installs with all the hardware in the machine. He said it's smart to install windows with the minimum hardware, then add devices one a time. I haven't heard that before.

I'm taking the computer in for a second opinion tomorrow. I can't buy that a video card is causing problems in the machine when it's not in the machine. I uninstalled the drivers, it doesn't show up in the devices list, so I don't see how Windows can recognize a card being there when it isn't showing up. I set BIOS to use onboard graphics.

Nor do I see how this can be a software issue. Software issues will normally let minidumps be written, right? Well I don't have one minidump with all the resets that have occurred.

I do agree that the Leadtek card is bad after watching him work with the computer today. Leadtek probably didn't do anything but put my card in another box and send it right back to me.. It was a two day turnaround. I've read a lot of other bad things about Leadtek on these forums. So we can add one more negative comment about Leadtek and their underhanded "repair or replacement" policy.

More when I get the second opinion tomorrow.

Gregg