Random Restart Error

[RCman]

Ok here's my problem:
My computer has been running fine and great.. never had a problem at all, but in the last week all I started getting random shutdown and restarts. I will be in the middle of anything (Gaming, Internet, Word, ect... the list goes on... ) and the computer will shutdown and restart. Other times it just locks up and I have to restart. I'm not sure if this is a Windows problem or a hardware problem, but I havn't installed anything new in the last month or so and I run Ad-aware, Spybot, and Norton regularly.

Here's what I'm running and what I've tried:

Running:
- Windows XP SP1
- Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
- AMD 3200+ CPU (Using a Thermaltake SilentBoost Heatsink)
- 1GB (2x 512mb) Cosair PC3200 RAM
- ATI Radeon 9600XT 256MB Video Card
- Maxtor 6Y080P0 80gb 8mb buffer
- Lite-on 16x DVD-rom
- Lite-on 52x32x52x burner
- 3 80mm case fans plus a 120mm
- 550Watt PSU
- About 48C-52C Normal use and 56-59 Gaming

What I've tried:
- I tried increasing the VCore from 1.650 Volts to first 1.675 Volts then 1.700 Volts, but other than running hotter doesn't help.
- Tried running CPUIDLE to see if it was the CPU temp but still no help and yes it happens when CPUIDLE is not running.


Any Ideas anyone?


Thanks,
Bill

 

[Rick]

These are very difficult problems to troubleshoot, but some routine checks I might make include (in order of likelyhood according to my experiences):

1.) Power Supply (Plenty of watts, but could be going bad)
2.) Temperature (CPU in particular)
3.) Memory (www.memtest86.org)

This is almost undoubtedly a hardware issue. Keep an open mind, make sure you test everything as empirically as possible.

The best way to troubleshoot is to swap out the parts in question. Find how to reproduce the problem (perhaps it happens every half hour to an hour) then change one thing at a time. If it does not do it within what you would consider usual time, then you have probably solved it.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Also, reseat all AGP/PCI cards and memory chips, check all the cabling to and from drives/mobo/PSU.
Make sure your Radeon's fan is working properly. It (and other fans) may need a bit of dusting. (Do NOT use a vacuum cleaner for that!)

 

[RCman]

realblackstuff Well the computer is less than two months old, so not to much dust yet. Also Everything is seated fine, i just double checked.

Rick The Power supply is most likely good.. because I also failed to mention I unplugged everything not nessassary to run in order to test that theory of not enough watts, but it is supposed to be a 550watt, I'll throw in another just to check later today. CPU temps decent I think.. mabye I could be wrong... I'm at about 48C-52C Normal use and 56-59C Gaming. I'll run memory test right now... but I've never done it before...I'll let you know what happens.

Thanks,
Bill