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Need troubleshooting help: PC Reboots randomly!

J

jasontb

n00b
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
6
So the other day my PC started to reboot randomly. Right in the middle of wherever it is the screen goes black and then a few seconds later I am back at the BIOS.

It is not hard drive related because it also happens when all hd's are removed and booting off a ubuntu cd.

I have removed all cards except video, and it still happens.

My motherboard bows a bit from the heavy heatsink, so I though maybe it was making contact with the case, so I took everything out of the case, and it still happens.

Sometimes it works for a while...maybe a half hour or and hour. So I tried a torture test of the CPU and it never got any hotter than normal, so I know it's not a CPU overheating issue either.

I think it's either the power supply (my most likely candidate - It's a 420W Antech Neo HE that came in my P150) or the mobo/CPU.

But how can I test which it is without wasting money on a new power supply?

Or do you have some thoughts on what else it might be?

Thanks for the help. This has been driving me nuts for a few days now.
 
Borrow a friend's PSU.

How long did you run SmallFFTs test?

Download, extract, and burn Memtest86+. Boot off of it and let it run overnight. If its running properly, it'll look like this:

Memtest86+ running without errors

Report results.
 
check the voltage on 12V and 5V lines (use a multimeter to do that, you can't trust software readings..). And yeah - do exactly what enginurd suggested - try running memtest.
 
Make sure you have the automatic restart turned off for windows errors to make sure your not getting a blue screen. To turn them off, right click my computer. Go to properties. Advanced, then go to the settings under startup and recovery. Uncheck automatically restart under system failure.
 
thanks guys. looks like it was the a bad motherboard. I realized that it would reboot whenever I touched the heatsink.
 
nothing. The motherboard is cracked or something. So it would randomly reboot. The problem must be in the region of the CPU because when I was troubleshooting I realized that even a gently brush of the heatsink would trigger a reboot.
 
you board's on crack?!?! oh, it itself is cracked... that sux. how'd you manage to do that? hehe.
 
Did they cover it under the warranty? I've had boards warp before, but never crack.
 
I just sent it in today for RMA. There is no visibly damage to the board, so I assume they will cover. I'm just guessing something cracked.
 
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