PC restarts randomly!

[ElessaR]

:wave: Hello all u guyz, i'm noobie in this forum (I hope it's the proper place to post this thread...)

Well, I built up a new pc days before. Pieces:

Athlon64 3000+ 754socket
GIGABYTE GA-K8NSNXP 754
Ram KINGSTON KVR400X64C3 512MB PC3200 400MHz (1 stick)
Trust qtec power supplier 500W
Seagate 200GB Barracuda sata

the prob?Ok here it goes.
I firstly tried to install winxp in the just-formatted HDD. I managed to do so, yet windows kept restarting all the time, esp. when i tried to run an application or a game. I firstly reformatted and tried to re-install winXp. But I couldn't, ethier because of the reboots my pc kept doing (in the middle of wins' setup!) or because receiving a blue screen saying there should a be a hardware or software prob, after which it needed to reboot....
I tried many times to install XP, I couldnt, so I tried to Install win2K. Not believing it, I managed to install them normally, but my pc keeps restarting in a way I can't do or play anything.....Any suggestions? I haven't run the memtest86 yet. If it is not a mem prob what could it be? Is there any possibility my power supplier cause this mess?

 

[Anarchi]

Usually this can be caused by a low power PSU but you have a 500w so that should be sufficient.

I suspect its a memory problem - you said you have not ran memtest86 (http://www.memtest.org) yet, so try that. Its quite amazing what kinds of problems bad memory can cause...

 

[Photo601]

I was under the impression PC3200 memory needed to be installed in parity? (pairs) Did I miss something?

 

[Anarchi]

No, DDR memory doesnt need to be installed in pairs - it will work with only one simm.

You only need to install DDR in pairs if you want your memory to run in Dual Channel, but there is not much performance increase. (This is for Intel CPU's only I think)

 

[ElessaR]

I ran the memtest but it didn't fount any error (I left memtest do 34 passes, which means 7:00 hours running!....Then I exited cause I couln't w8 anymore!...)
Now what does this mean? 500W psu seems pretty enough (as Anarchi also mentioned....)
Any suggestons?

A!, and somthing I noticed: In windows event log, there were many probs concerning the IDE device and others reporting problemas with my cd rom....does this help? should I try to install my plextor's drivers? 'Cause now I use windows default drivers for cdrom....
I have my kid dead all these days...Damn it! :hotbounce
Please, help my poor little pc

 

[Kevin16]

The most common problem for random reboots is a faulty power supply.

 

[ElessaR]

Thnx 4 tryin to help, but finally i managed to get rid of the prob.

Well, I just moved the memoryRam stick from the slot I had it, and put it in another slot!!! I couldn't believe this could have any meaning, yet after this change, no more "pc restarting" actions take place!...It seams to me really crazy, but it's truth!
(note, I have only one stick of RAM and not a dual channel RAM
Also, Gigabyte's manuals mentioned nothing about which slot I should have preferred...)