Sudden reboot woes...

[Meshugger]

My new computer is behaving very strangely since since my hardware update, reboots mostly while gaming, but also sometimes when watching a moive. Even though i'm a computer engineer, i can't seem to locate the origin of this error

 

Specs:

 

- Intel Core 2 Duo e6300 (no O/C)

- 2 GB OEM DDR2 RAM (533mhz @ 1.8volts)

- MSI Geforce 7900GTO 512 MB RAM (driver version: 91.48)

- Abit Ab9 Pro (Bios version: 1.5) (Newest Intel chipset drivers)

- Onboard Realtek 882D HD audio (driver version: 1.47)

- Onboard LAN (1x for my internet connection, 1x for my local network connection with my girlfriend, newest driver from Realtek)

- Maxtor SATA 250GB (filedump)

- Maxtor ATA 80 GB (Windows, boot-device)

- A DVD-player

- A Floppy station

- Logitech cordless keyboard EX110 (the cordless mouse broke down)

- A PS2 optical mouse

- 425W PSU

 

OS:

 

- Windows XP SP2

 

Temps:

 

- CPU idle: 41 C, load: 48 C

- Case idel 33 C, load 36 C

 

Symptoms:

 

- Sudden reboot almost instantly when the game starts: Prey, Quake 4 and Doom III

- Complete random reboot(either none at all through a day, or several per hour): KotOR, KotOR II, NWN2, Bloodlines, Deus Ex + watching movies

 

 

What i've tried:

 

- Disabling audio completely, changing audio-drivers, updating bios for the motherboard, changing Lan-drivers, changing videocard-drivers, changing Intel chipset drivers and re-installing windows, twice.

 

Other wierd stuff:

 

- The problem seems to be at a very low level since windows doesn't manage to write anything down to its regular dump-file or registring anything at the event-viewer. Also, while rebooting after a forced crash, my bios says that both of my LAN Mac addresses are: "00-00-00-00-00-00" and it updates my DMI-pool and windows fails to start. This disappears after a manual reboot.

 

What i know:

 

- Since windows fail to log (or any game for that matter) any errors, it has to be some low-level software/hardware failure.

- It can be my LAN farking up.

- Onboard Audio should be out of the question, same symptoms even if i disable the darn thing in the BIOS.

- My PSU is dying.

- My whole motherboard is giving (I hope not!)

 

Anyone have a clue on what this might be?

[taks]

first guess would be power supply. PS failures would not be caught by winders, others sometimes are and a note appears during reboot. e.g., when my 8237 HDD controller chip died, i got a read failure notification on startup. i switched to the other on-board chip and it went away.

 

the LAN Mac addy and DMI issue on immediate reboot, however, is a puzzle. i wouldn't think a PS failure would do that. i say PS otherwise, because 425 W is cutting it close with the HW you have under load, particularly since many of those watts are dedicated to supply rails you probably are not stressing.

 

oh, what happens if you load a large file into something like adobe or office?

 

taks

[Pidesco]

I would try first switching to a different PSU, then to a different graphics card, and finally to a different motherboard.

 

I'm guessing one of these is your problem.

[Gorth]

Running any kind of anonymous internet/hide your identity type software?

 

Could be a mac address spoofing utility gone wrong.

[mkreku]

I had the exact same problem. Sometimes my computer would just throw me to the desktop from any application without explanation (this was rare) and most often it would just restart the entire system, like a hard reboot.

 

I solved it by buying a really expensive 600W PSU. It would definitely be my first guess for you too. Of course, I only had a 350W PSU before, but if your PSU is a bad quality one, it might not be able to supply enough amps on one of the rails (most probable for the GPU since it crashes during games and movies).

[Meshugger]

Running any kind of anonymous internet/hide your identity type software?

 

Could be a mac address spoofing utility gone wrong.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'm running Peerguardian in the background, but i don't see why that would make my onboard LAN go heywire

[LostStraw]

I've had experience with programs randomly crashing before, but that was caused by bad ram. I've only ever encountered the problem once before though, so it's probably a rather rare occurance.

 

http://www.memtest86.com/

or

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

 

If you feel like running it through its paces .

[Meshugger]

I've had experience with programs randomly crashing before, but that was caused by bad ram.  I've only ever encountered the problem once before though, so it's probably a rather rare occurance.

 

http://www.memtest86.com/

or

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

 

If you feel like running it through its paces .

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I had it running (windiag) for 2 hours without a hitch, no lockups, errors or crashes during that period

[Meshugger]

first guess would be power supply.  PS failures would not be caught by winders, others sometimes are and a note appears during reboot.  e.g., when my 8237 HDD controller chip died, i got a read failure notification on startup.  i switched to the other on-board chip and it went away. 

 

the LAN Mac addy and DMI issue on immediate reboot, however, is a puzzle.  i wouldn't think a PS failure would do that.  i say PS otherwise, because 425 W is cutting it close with the HW you have under load, particularly since many of those watts are dedicated to supply rails you probably are not stressing.

 

oh, what happens if you load a large file into something like adobe or office?

 

taks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Just tried that aswell, working perfectly.

 

One thing that i discovered was that switching the 6V-pins to a single 12V-pin to my graphics-card made the whole "MAC: 00-00-00-00-00-00"-issue disappear. Now, it just reboots without any LAN-error

[kirottu]

I've had experience with programs randomly crashing before, but that was caused by bad ram.  I've only ever encountered the problem once before though, so it's probably a rather rare occurance.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I

[taks]

PSU or mobo is my ultimate guess. i'll lean more towards PSU simply because you have a rather stout system with a 425 W supply, and as i noted, many of those Ws are dedicated to things not normally used heavily. is it a tru-power supply from antec? they tend to be better in this regard.

 

i've had other PSUs go bad in the past, and this is how they manifested their failures. the antecs i've been using for the past 5 years or so have never failed on me. pushing the limit on any supply, however, will cause it to reset (as a computer engineer, you probably understand what a voltage regulator does when it overheats... think square wave).

 

taks

[Meshugger]

PSU or mobo is my ultimate guess.  i'll lean more towards PSU simply because you have a rather stout system with a 425 W supply, and as i noted, many of those Ws are dedicated to things not normally used heavily.  is it a tru-power supply from antec?  they tend to be better in this regard.

 

i've had other PSUs go bad in the past, and this is how they manifested their failures.  the antecs i've been using for the past 5 years or so have never failed on me.  pushing the limit on any supply, however, will cause it to reset (as a computer engineer, you probably understand what a voltage regulator does when it overheats... think square wave).

 

taks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I just checked my PSU again, and i was mistaken about the supply. It's a cheap Chieftec with a max load of 410W, so it has to be the culprit. I just ordered a LC-Power 550W super silent (19dB, 140mm fan), i hope that it will be enough.

[mkreku]

I would have recommended Tagan (if you have lots of cash), Cooltek or Antec myself.. But I've never used a LC-Power, it might be good.

[Walsingham]

I had this problem with Gothic 3. I thought it was just a bug, but it sounds like hard processing is overstressing my damn power supply! You guys suck! *begins crying*

[kalimeeri]

I've had the same thing happen with a flaky memory chip on one of the memory sticks (and brand new 'branded' and 'paired' ones at that). Had to test them separately to find it--I swear the bastages were covering for each other. After they tried to put the blame on everything else in the system, that is.

[taks]

I just checked my PSU again, and i was mistaken about the supply. It's a cheap Chieftec with a max load of 410W, so it has to be the culprit. I just ordered a LC-Power 550W super silent (19dB, 140mm fan), i hope that it will be enough.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

yeah, which translates to somewhere in the 300 W range realistically. hope that solves your issue. it was for this particular reason that i went to the tru-power supplies from antec. at least i knew what i _really_ had pumping juice to my system.

 

taks

[taks]

  I had this problem with Gothic 3. I thought it was just a bug, but it sounds like hard processing is overstressing my damn power supply! You guys suck! *begins crying*

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

fortunately, a good supply is probably only $100 or so online, and if you get a big one, you can use it for years.

 

taks

[Walsingham]

  I had this problem with Gothic 3. I thought it was just a bug, but it sounds like hard processing is overstressing my damn power supply! You guys suck! *begins crying*

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

fortunately, a good supply is probably only $100 or so online, and if you get a big one, you can use it for years.

 

taks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I love you, and want your babies. Provided they come pre-dressed and marinated.

[taks]

what the???

 

taks

[astr0creep]

I'm reading a lot of tech stuff here...

 

I've had this same problem once before a few years ago and it was Norton Antivirus that was acting up. After reinstalling it I never had that problem ever again.

 

Ever.

[metadigital]

I getting really annoyed with the memory manager errors that I'm warned by as applications are closed (strangely, only when my laptop is docked): I can't wait to go back to a hardware firewall and ditch this software one.