Computer randomly rebooting.

[Steinwulf]

Help I'm desperate. I'm at a total loss here due to my computer randomly rebooting. You folks are my last hope!

System Specs:

Pentium D Processor
Windows XP Home
P5ND2-SLI Asus MB
2 gig (1xgig stick) Corsair XMS2 Ram
2 - DVD/CD/RW combo (1 each)
450W PSU
CPU Liquid Cooling
2 - 7800GT 256mb Geforce Vid cards (normally ran in SLI)
1 - Wireless LAN Card
1 - Sound Blaster Audigy 4

This computer set up has ran great for over a year. Recently I've been getting some random reboots and now it's getting worse and worse. Sometimes I can get into Windows XP Home, others I can't get past the opening splash screen (advertising my Motherboard) before it just reboots and then just loops.

It does not show any system errors in the log file.

Here are the steps I have taken thus far. Sorry for the long thread:

1. First thing I did was try swapping memory from my 1 gig sticks to my two 512mb XMS2 sticks (1gig total). THinking it could be a memory problem. But it still rebooted.

2. Then I just put in one stick at a time in the first slot (A-1) and it still rebooted after trying all 4 sticks. Then I followed these same steps with the other 3 DIMM slots. Still rebooting.

3. I uninstalled my Nforce MB driver (something I recently updated) and let XP pick the drivers. Ran fine for a short stint (30 minutes) then rebooted.

4. Next I uninstalled my Graphics drivers (which I recently updated) and put in the former drivers I had in it orginally) but same thing and rebooted.

5. Next I unhooked one of the Graphics cards thinking maybe it's a hardware issue. Tried them both out in each slot, but still got the reboots.

6. So next I stayed at one video card and removed the other periphials. I started with the Wireless card first (rebooted randomly), then left it out and unhooked the soundcard (rebooted randomly again).

7. At this point I thought maybe it was a driver issue or corrupt file in windows. Let me add I'm pretty frustrated at this point. So I take the Rescue disk I got with my computer (Which I bought through cyberpowerpc and it asked me if I wanted to overwrite current XP or repair the installation. I did a repair the first time.

8. Now the computer ran for about 60 minutes this time but rebooted randomly again.

9. So this time I decided to just replace my Windows XP and try that. Now apparently this doesn't reformatt the Harddrive, but did replace everything but the extra folders in my C: drive. (I have a downloads folder in there and everything was still there, but all my software installed, drivers, things stored in My Documents and registry was overwritten with the fresh install.

10. I've also disabled the reboot when error occurs in WIndows and I don't even get a BSOD, it just reboots. That throws me off too.

Now the computer ran great the whole install process and didn't reboot for 2 hours or so. So I decide to update the drivers again starting with teh Nforce drivers. POOF reboots. So I do another reformat using the rescue disk.

So right now I"m running with one video card, onboard sound, and the DVD and CD roms hooked up. At this point I'm thinking it's a PSU issue. So I call Cyberpowerpc and they sent me a replacement.

Same thing random reboots. This is where I'm at right now.

Now what confuses me is it runs great after a fresh install of Windows a lot longer, but still reboots. Then as I use it more the more frequent the reboots get.

The only thing I haven't tried is Flashing the BIOS. Do you think that could fix the problem. My temperatures on the motherboard and CPU are fine and well within perameters. I'm nervous about trying this with the random reboots.

I'm thinking the motherboard is dying, but heck I just don't know. I'll replace it if I have too, but I want to make sure I'm not missing something. I hate to fork out that kind of cash and find out my current MB is fine. (I will be upgraded the PSU to a 600W one, but I want to make sure I don't need a new motherboard too.

Sorry for the long post but I wanted to be descriptive. If you guys can help me solve this I will be forever in your debt!!!!

Thanks

 

[Steinwulf]

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Steinwulf]

Hey all it looks like I fixed the problem. Thank you to the folks at Corsair and there troubleshooting portion of the website. Talk about user friendly.

Anyway, in case anyone else is having this problem this could be your fix.

My Latency in the BIOS said 5-5-5-15 and it should have been 4-4-4-12.

So I adjusted that. I also noticed my Vcore voltage was at 1.23 and I changed it too 1.90V.

This fixed my problem and so far no more reboots with large loads.

Great website everyone. I'll be back just to learn good stuff!!

 

[Steinwulf]

Ok I guess I spoke too soon.

After adjusting the latency it ran great for about 2 hours but then started rebooting again. This morning it won't boot at all.

So after scanning your forums I ran Memtest86+ thinking it could be a ram problem. I ran 5 passes and not a single error. So that alleviated the memory problem.

Here is what I did notice. I didn't have a Flopping Drive on my computer for memtest, so I grabbed one off my scrap computer here. When I had that hooked up with my CD Rom I booted the system and righte after the POST screen there is a black screen and it sort of flickers on bootup (From a black to a lighter black), just prior to the Opening XP splash screen.

I failed to mention before that this HAS been happening since the random rebooting problem began.

So I unplugged the CD Rom and the computer rebooted fine and didn't loop.

Now here is my question. Do you think this is a Power Supply Question or do you think it is a BIOS problem?

Incidently here is what I changed my Voltage settings on my motherboard too? THis could be wrong too.

DRAM - 1.90V (this I changed to a higher setting)
Chipset - 1.4V
CPU - 1.25V
Vcore - 1.425 (was originally at 1.26V)
BIOS Version: 0304

Now like I said earlier after I changed these settings it ran great. What I don't understand is I don't get reboots when I'm in the CMOS or running any programs prior to Windows Running (like Memtest86+).

Sorry for another long post but I can't find anything on the internet expect it "could" be my PSU. I just want to rule out it's my motherboard.

 

[nickc]

the only way to rule things out would be replacing and if nothing changes then that is not it. how hot does PSU get when it starts rebooting? the PSU should only get warm to the touch. also Memtest86+ should run a min. of 7 passes and is not a perfect test at best. there is no way to rule out the MB that i know of. but PSU are pretty cheap at this time, so would not be a bad idea to get another to test.

 

[Steinwulf]

I have a 650 Watt PSU (Antec) on order and should be here in a couple days.