PC restarting/turning off randomly : Now with event logs!!!

[satman83]

My PC recently has been turning its self off or either restarting randomly. It happens either at start at up (while booting up it will turn off or restart) Or randomly after the PC as been on after a certain period of time.

Its a relativly new PC (3 months old), with Windows 7, 64x installed. Power connections work fine and during the last random reboot i saw the "blue screen of death" :scared: :scared:

I plan to reinstall Windows 7 again tonight as am sure its a software problem....would this solve the issue or am i f**ked?

[NuclearSilo]

check the heat of your computer, it will reset if it reaches more than 100. Apply some thermal grease if it's the case. There's high chance your problem is due to hardware, like ram

[Azilius]

Check what program caused the bluescreen when it shows up. Google the program with 'bluescreen' in the search query and look for information.

If it's a graphical driver file, it's likely you need to remove all video drivers and install a fresh file. It could also be your harddrive firmware crashing, among other things..

[satman83]

drivers are up todate and recently recently.

Plan to clean out inside of PC today and double check connections and set fans to max if possible

[[SD]Master_Wong]

make it habit to clean your computer insides least twice a year more if your room is dusty, as already said heat is a likely issue, when gaming more so as it adds a lot of demand to the system. if your stil running stock cpu cooler i recomend you invest in a 3rd party cooler, for the range of £40-70 you can find yourself a self contained water cooling loop off scan.co.uk. they are quite and very good at cooling, all you will need to install that is a screw driver and a tube of thermal grease.

As for your gpu and cpu for that matter down load some temperture checking programs if any go over say 50oc for amd and intel not sure it has a higher operating temp though you then know you have a problem, hope to god its not your gpu 3rd party coolers for them are a bitch to find anything good.

if on the other hand its a software problem, check all newly installed drivers, roll back to a point before each of them and stress test the system (i use prime95) if it crashs roll back again to the driver before that until its stable, its a trial and error method but the alternative is format nd restart which its a lot more destructive although i like doing it every once in a while just to clean my system.

[satman83]

Hey wong, thanks for the detailed info mate (and thanks to everyone else as well).

I bought some thermal grease today, a fan power controller (lets me set the speed of the fans) and a extra fan for my PC.

I think the problems started awhile back when i last updated Windows....since then been these problems (so a total wipe and reinstall of Windows 7 may be in order (no more updates i think)).

But going to re-seal my CPC thermal seal and hope this helps solve the problem (with added fan as well to help with cooling). If carries on then its time for a reformat i guess.

[jaksje]

maybe its this... http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/1892241 ... joris.html

[satman83]

maybe its this... http://www.dumpert.nl/mediabase/1892241 ... joris.html

[William-CL]

I had this problem!
What worked for my was unplugging to Power button from the motherboard as soon as I turned it on. Then it didn't shut back down. Just give it a try, but I warn you, It's a hassle to have to do everyday.

[satman83]

I had this problem!
What worked for my was unplugging to Power button from the motherboard as soon as I turned it on. Then it didn't shut back down. Just give it a try, but I warn you, It's a hassle to have to do everyday.

lol, sounds it

....but ill try the over heat solutions first of all

[[SD]Master_Wong]

Hey wong, thanks for the detailed info mate (and thanks to everyone else as well).

I bought some thermal grease today, a fan power controller (lets me set the speed of the fans) and a extra fan for my PC.

I think the problems started awhile back when i last updated Windows....since then been these problems (so a total wipe and reinstall of Windows 7 may be in order (no more updates i think)).

But going to re-seal my CPC thermal seal and hope this helps solve the problem (with added fan as well to help with cooling). If carries on then its time for a reformat i guess.

let us know how it goes, fan controllers are a novelty tbh your CPU fan is controlled via the bios already so will speed up and slow down depending on the temp, there are programs you can get to change it, iv changed my gpu fan presets i don't mind loud sound in place of better stability when on demanding games.

something over looked its the fan blades take a cotton swab to the blades clean both sides of dust it can slow your fan by quite a lot. also when adding fans work out your air flow, more fans don't necessarily mean more cooling, bad placement can cause hot spots due to bad circulation, generally you can bottom/front in, top/back out, side fan you want out wards as well to draw heat away from the CPU which usually sits almost directly above it. but that's not strictly true depending how you work it out the side fan can be either.

i got bucket loads of info to help cooling but if your comp is overheating a lot of the tips wont help vastly, having cables tidy helps keep it clear messy cables obstruct air flow sometimes but that's going back to the old ribbon cables which are like a wind breaker, aftermarket cooler is best option for better cooling.

buy a can of compressed air you can go nuts with that inside a comp it don't damage the hardware. never use water to clean any spirit will do, iv used vodka in the past. make sure your not statically charged, touch the side of the case before touching any hardware.

^^all them iv learned the hard way cooling, killing motherboards, using water and not allowing it to dry before turning on a system (ok that was just plain retarded i was a kid and didnt think when i did that thank **** it was only a windows 3.1 system not the win 98 we had)

[*BlackFox]

Well, you probably need a new power supply.

[William-CL]

I had this problem!
What worked for my was unplugging to Power button from the motherboard as soon as I turned it on. Then it didn't shut back down. Just give it a try, but I warn you, It's a hassle to have to do everyday.

lol, sounds it

....but ill try the over heat solutions first of all

In my case there was a short in the power button itself. When pressed it would just keep sending the signal to turn on, turn off, turn on, turn off etc. The unplugging stopped it from shutting back off. Replaced for $10, now it works fine. If the port on the motherboard for the button is easily accessible, this would take 5 minutes to check. Strange problem, but simple to fix. If you do check it, open your case and find the port, then as soon as you turn it on and see it power up, unplug it quickly. It doesn't hurt the computer at all in case your wondering.

[Razorhead]

Random reboots are mainly caused by BSOD, this could be software or hardware related.
The above suggested HEAT problem, could be an issue; but most likely not.
If the fan wasn't installed correctly at assembly, it should of happened from the start.
If it is actually a heat problem, the pc should go OUT instead of rebooting. (to protect cpu)
Download Realtemp (compatible with latest intel & amd cpu's & mobos) to check temps

First of all u need to stop the "rebooting".
(I translate this from dutch, so it could be named otherwise on ur computer)
start -> right-click my computer -> properties -> advanced systemsettings -> tab advanced should pop up -> now chose settings under boot-and repairsettings -> tick off "automatically reboot computer" under systemerrors.
Next time the BSOD occurs u will see 1 or 2 things:
1/ It is possible the BSOD will be named or show the file that causes the error.
eg.
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA (-> occurs a lot, is caused by faulty RAM)
or
ntfs.sys (driver error on ntfs or probs with hd)

2/ At the bottom u will see an error code (every BSOD has it)
eg.
0x00000050 (is the error code from PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA, so RAM issue)

When u get the BSOD, post the error or send me a message.
Some are easy to fix, others are a pain in the but.

Worst case scenario, u will have to send me the dump-file ><
And I will have to google a lot

[The Invisible]

Fear the power of dust!

Nah, but seriously the very basic thing to do at first is cleaning your Cpu from as much dust as possible, Most of the "Random shut downs" i had on my Pc were because of dust and thus over-heating.

So Try Cleaning your Cpu/Fans then check the heat, if your Cpu still gets Random shut downs, It could be a software issue.

[[SD]Master_Wong]

Random reboots are mainly caused by BSOD, this could be software or hardware related.
The above suggested HEAT problem, could be an issue; but most likely not.
If the fan wasn't installed correctly at assembly, it should of happened from the start.
If it is actually a heat problem, the pc should go OUT instead of rebooting. (to protect cpu)
Download Realtemp (compatible with latest intel & amd cpu's & mobos) to check temps

First of all u need to stop the "rebooting".
(I translate this from dutch, so it could be named otherwise on ur computer)
start -> right-click my computer -> properties -> advanced systemsettings -> tab advanced should pop up -> now chose settings under boot-and repairsettings -> tick off "automatically reboot computer" under systemerrors.
Next time the BSOD occurs u will see 1 or 2 things:
1/ It is possible the BSOD will be named or show the file that causes the error.
eg.
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA (-> occurs a lot, is caused by faulty RAM)
or
ntfs.sys (driver error on ntfs or probs with hd)

2/ At the bottom u will see an error code (every BSOD has it)
eg.
0x00000050 (is the error code from PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA, so RAM issue)

When u get the BSOD, post the error or send me a message.
Some are easy to fix, others are a pain in the but.

Worst case scenario, u will have to send me the dump-file ><
And I will have to google a lot

thing with that is if he does reformat it will solve the problem, or alternativly roll back to a date before the problems.

for a novice problem solving like that is a tad more tricky

[Razorhead]

thing with that is if he does reformat it will solve the problem, or alternativly roll back to a date before the problems.

for a novice problem solving like that is a tad more tricky

Format is not necesarely a fix.
If it's a hardware issue (eg bad ram), u can format & reinstall 10 times & still have the same issue.
Just turn off the auto-reboot & tell us the error on the BSOD. Once we know that, we'll know a lot more.
Random BSOD, most often RAM issue (that's why I used it as example)

Test hd: HD Tune
Use error scan, DO NOT take quick scan!

Test RAMS: memtest 86+
download, burn on cd, boot from cd, let it test.
To be safe, get at least 10 passes

[satman83]

Hey everyone....well i gave my PC a damn good clean as suggested and installed a new fan which sits at the bottom of the PC and drawns in the air from the PC and blows it out...so far its working well.

But to be safe ill disable reboot option and if it happens again i will post here to let you all know...thanks again

[BuDo]

I had PCs that did the same thing...but they were HP so I understood....Don't like HP one bit.... each one of the 3 I had consecutively produced hardware (and sometimes software) problems...Not saying all HP does this but this has been my experience...Thus I don't care for anything HP makes.

[Razorhead]

I had PCs that did the same thing...but they were HP so I understood....Don't like HP one bit.... each one of the 3 I had consecutively produced hardware (and sometimes software) problems...Not saying all HP does this but this has been my experience...Thus I don't care for anything HP makes.

HP ProBook & HP EliteBook are really good. (I once set up an Elitebook for a customer: 17" , 8GB RAM, 120SSD (we put in an intel ssd instead of the 500gb black WD), i7 cpu and 5 seconds after pressing the powerbutton the laptop was completely booted! - atm fastest laptop I ever worked with - Price: 1800€ )
And haven't seen many pro & elitebooks with hardware issues. A few faulty RAMs maybe & the occasional crashing HD, but that is cuz the customer "throws" with the laptop. Rough handling of laptops causes hardware failure, but they don't believe us.

HP Pavilion sucks. (cheap, slow & shitty hardware)

Crappy thing about HP is they only offer 1 year warranty & when it is nececasary to send your laptop to HP, u won't get your laptop back within a month.
But this slow RMA also happens at Dell, Acer, MSI, ...
But they offer 2 year warranty.

[The Invisible]

I had PCs that did the same thing...but they were HP so I understood....Don't like HP one bit.... each one of the 3 I had consecutively produced hardware (and sometimes software) problems...Not saying all HP does this but this has been my experience...Thus I don't care for anything HP makes.

I have HP laptop for almost 2 years and it didn't really cause me any problems yet.

[satman83]

Just to post an update, the PC recently (5 mins ago) just restarted randomly again. I had it set so that it would give me a report (as suggested above). Where would i find this report so i can post the results on here?

[satman83]

Sorry for the double post, here are the last 3 events in the log. If anyone can tell me the problem i would be very grateful @D

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=BTNYNXPI

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FFOCJVIH

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XD1DAN21

[Azilius]

First:

Did you reinstall drivers/other software? Did it restart before you did? Start up in safe mode (minimal drivers used) and wait for a reboot to happen.

If after a fresh install of windows and no driver issues you are still restarting..
----

HDTune

MemTest 86+

Both pass without fail -> prime95 benchmark
If it restarts under great strain, it could be your PSU.

Some random things:
If you're playing music/sound when it restarts, does the sound loop very quickly making an annoying noise? That indicates harddrive issues.
Take a picture of the bluescreen, that could help greatly.
If you have onboard graphics, try without a graphics card.
If you have an extra harddrive, try that.
Take out all unneeded peripherals (cd drive, floppy drive, soundcard, etc)
Check your bios settings and make sure voltages and timings are set appropriately. It COULD be your bios setting something incorrectly causing a restart. You'll have to google appropriate values for your parts.
You have to narrow the problem down or risk replacing the wrong part and having the same issue.

[satman83]

First:

Did you reinstall drivers/other software? Did it restart before you did? Start up in safe mode (minimal drivers used) and wait for a reboot to happen.

If after a fresh install of windows and no driver issues you are still restarting..
----

HDTune

MemTest 86+

Both pass without fail -> prime95 benchmark
If it restarts under great strain, it could be your PSU.

Some random things:
If you're playing music/sound when it restarts, does the sound loop very quickly making an annoying noise? That indicates harddrive issues.
Take a picture of the bluescreen, that could help greatly.
If you have onboard graphics, try without a graphics card.
If you have an extra harddrive, try that.
Take out all unneeded peripherals (cd drive, floppy drive, soundcard, etc)
Check your bios settings and make sure voltages and timings are set appropriately. It COULD be your bios setting something incorrectly causing a restart. You'll have to google appropriate values for your parts.
You have to narrow the problem down or risk replacing the wrong part and having the same issue.

Okay ill give it a go.

Also problems only started since the last time i installed windows updates, thats when the trouble started.
So i may wipe everything and do a fresh install of Windows 7 again and this time just not update it.

[Toshiharu]

From what I see in this thread you never said you actually checked your temps

http://www.piriform.com/speccy

Install this and tell me the temps for mb, gfx, cpu, and harddrive. Just take a screenshot of it

Wanna hear a funny story? Intel chips will throttle itself down to prevent overheating damage. Anyhow apparently my heatsink came lose or something. It's was the cheap stock fan they give you. Since my tower is on the floor (inb4 bad place put on desk blah blah) I usually use it at a foot rest. I accidently dropped my tower the heat sink partially came off causing me to get temps of 90c. Since I'm retarded I left it like for that for a week before even realizing. Whenever playing a game that would heat up really high would shut down. Decided to see what was wrong. Saw the heatsink hovering above the cpu basically. Reapply fixed and back to normal.

[Azilius]

blah blah

Okay ill give it a go.

Also problems only started since the last time i installed windows updates, thats when the trouble started.
So i may wipe everything and do a fresh install of Windows 7 again and this time just not update it.

The only problem is some windows updates include drivers (there are generic VGA drivers and also some NVIDIA/ATI drivers straight through windows update).

[satman83]

blah blah

Okay ill give it a go.

Also problems only started since the last time i installed windows updates, thats when the trouble started.
So i may wipe everything and do a fresh install of Windows 7 again and this time just not update it.

The only problem is some windows updates include drivers (there are generic VGA drivers and also some NVIDIA/ATI drivers straight through windows update).

While this is true the last update before everything started going wrong was an generic windows update (no drivers of any kind). Only files for Windows 7 and such

From what I see in this thread you never said you actually checked your temps

http://www.piriform.com/speccy

Install this and tell me the temps for mb, gfx, cpu, and harddrive. Just take a screenshot of it

Wanna hear a funny story? Intel chips will throttle itself down to prevent overheating damage. Anyhow apparently my heatsink came lose or something. It's was the cheap stock fan they give you. Since my tower is on the floor (inb4 bad place put on desk blah blah) I usually use it at a foot rest. I accidently dropped my tower the heat sink partially came off causing me to get temps of 90c. Since I'm retarded I left it like for that for a week before even realizing. Whenever playing a game that would heat up really high would shut down. Decided to see what was wrong. Saw the heatsink hovering above the cpu basically. Reapply fixed and back to normal.

Here is a screen shot from Speed fan. Now if i play any game it (GPU temp) does go up but its fine. AC: Revelations works like a charm.

Yet if i play Football Manager 2012 which has zero graphic requirements (glorified excel sheet to be honest) the GPU goes mental and my PC restarts.



speccy screenshot

I think i may just re-install windows as for the life of me i cant see what the hardware issue could be....unless there is one and i am being blind

[Krevidy]

This issue might also be related to the power supply. I do not know at how much your power peaks, but the power supply might not be able to deliver the amount of power needed at times, hence the system shutting down randomly.

Have you recently installed a new piece of hardware into your system? If so post specs and your power supply.

[satman83]

Well it got to the point where i would turn it on and it would turn off 1 second later...i got so mad i smashed up my PC ¬_¬

Using a new one as we speak..lol