Computer restarts on it's own

Hi Guys,

I've got a windows xp professional computer, built and installed everything myself.

Recently my pc has been rebooting itself when I'm doing something. It used to be just when I was playing eve-online but only when I actually went into a mission with loads of other bad guys around.

I thought windows was corrupted anyway so I bought xp professional.

Unfortunately now it's rebooting itself whenever I try to install world of warcraft. I should note that I've installed it previously without any problems. It lets me get to disk 2 sometimes and then just turns off, it doesn't shut down, it's just like someone flicks the power switch off and then it turns itself on.

So we know it's not a problem with windows.

Could it be a harddrive problem? I'll try installing other games and giving them a whirl and see if it gives them problems as well. It's allowed me to install other programs though, I image it's because of wow's size. The harddrive is about 3 years old ish.

Or is it likely to be a faulty power supply? It's not even a year old.

It's a Corsair 520W HX Series Modular PSU - ATX12V v2.2 APFC $140 roughly

Or would I need to flash the motherboard with the latest update?

How can I test what the problem is? And what further information can I provide to get the best possible answer?

Thanks

regards

steve

ONLY WoW installing causes this? If so, I can't see it being HW, unless the HDD is being overly taxed somehow (which I doubt). Try installing it from the wow download client:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/download_wow.html

no it's not just wow that's causing this.

It also happens when I play eve online and go into a mission (Where there's loads fo bad guys).

It might have also happened when I was installing photoshop, but I was also installing wow for the nth time so it could have still been wow causing the problem.

I've installed wow previously without any problems, but now I've formatted my harddrive and installed windows xp (Because I thought that could be what was causing the crashes in the first place), it is giving me trouble during instal.

I've installed several games such as x3 reunion and oblivion and they didn't give me any problems during the instal phase.

I'm not really just concerned about the crashes during the install of wow, I'm concerned with the crashes in general, what the cause is and what needs replacing if anything.

I ran mem test 4 times and didn't get a single error.

Any other thoughts?

Could the cpu simple just be failing?

Before sending anything back I'd like to do as much testing as I can to save everyone some time.

What else can I test on the computer to find what's faulty. I really want to narrow it down to a single component.

I haven't got any spare parts lying around really so I can't really do any swapping out :(

I bought pretty much everything in the tower from the same company (Ebuyer.com), so maybe I could send some of the parts back to them so they can test it all.

How long would it take to get a replacement from you? And what about postage costs, would I be reimbursed?

Ebuyer is uk based, same as me, so in terms of it getting there and back it may be quicker.

is it possible that I might just need a psu with more wattage.

The 620w model for example?

I do have about 6 usb devices. But even if they're unplugged i still get the same problem, so that can't be it.

Event viewer doesn't provide any errors as the power simply cuts off.

How likely is it to be a motherboard problem (As that would be horrible considering I just bought and installed winxdows xp pro (That can only be installed to 1 montherboard).

I also did all of the tests for the harddrives and they seemed fine.

I also ran passmark's performance test which went without fail through everything including graphics, cpu and ram.

However when I ran a test from a different bench marking program the comp crashed after quite a while (Presumably it was drawing more power than usual by doing all the tests at once).

It's an oem edition, which from what I've heard, can be reinstalled to the same system as many times as you like, but if you change the motherboard you'll need to buy it again (Although I've heard of exceptions where if the mb need to be replaced they allow it but sometimes only if it's the same one that is being replaced).

So do you believe that it's a faulty power supply, that has just deteriorated over time? Or do you think something else might be going on?

I should add that I've now been able to install wow (Don't know if it will play yet as It needs 1gb of patches to download lol), I've installed supreme commander (Which I could also previously play without problem), but now I get the restarts on the main menu and can't even play the game lol, presumably due to the same reason I can't play any of the other games.

Worst case is they will make me wait an hour on a $5 a minute hotline and then tell me to get stuffed lol. I'm sure things will be fine in that regards though, although I REALLY hope it's the psu, as it's much easier to remove than unplugging everything from the mobo and packaging it up to send away.

Any other thoughts on what could be wrong?

In your opinion, how likely is it to be a mobo/psu or anything else problem?

Hi,

I ran performance test 6.1 through all the tests individually and it didn't crash.

But I used BurnInTest V5.3 and that crashed it.

However as it tests everything at the same time it's not possible for me to see which test was causing the problem (If it was indeed a single test, which I doubt as the other benchmarking software didn't cause problems with individual tests).

While I wait for a reply, I'll see if I can figure out a way to test them individually with this software.

Hi,

sorry about getting back to you late.

I managed to test everything individually which produced no problems, but when testing more than 3 or 4 different things, I got the reboot.

I haven't tried orthos or 3d mark yet, I'll try them later today and get back to you.

Hey,

just a thought, since it only seems to go wrong when it's doing something graphical such as games, youtube videos and runescape (Online game) do you think it could be the graphics card?

Or would the graphics card give some kind of error and not usually shut the computer down?

unfortunately I can't swap out the graphics card as I have no other computer to swap into or from and don't have an alternative graphics card.

I've got my old power supply but that will be of little useas it's only 350w, quite underpowered for my system I believe, so if I had the same problem, it would be debateable as to whether it is a problem with the power supply or not.

I've got a ati x1800 gto, customized it with some heat spreaders and a new fan to keep it cool (Anyone know how I can check the temps accurately?).

The retailer has been nice enough to pick up the power supply from me on monday and will presumably test it and maybe replace it with a 620W psu (By my request and offer to pay the difference).

How can I test for a failing graphics card anyway? I'm getting no artifacts, it's not overclocked, everything has been fine up until about a month or 2 ago.

What confuses me is youtube. Does watching videos on youtube do a whole lot to a graphics card, or the power supply, or anything for that matter, it seems pretty light weight.

Worst case is they will make me wait an hour on a $5 a minute hotline and then tell me to get stuffed lol. I'm sure things will be fine in that regards though, although I REALLY hope it's the psu, as it's much easier to remove than unplugging everything from the mobo and packaging it up to send away.

 

Any other thoughts on what could be wrong?

 

In your opinion, how likely is it to be a mobo/psu or anything else problem?

Just FYI, at least in the US, not sure about overseas. Microsoft supplies a toll-free number for over the phone activation. A few months back MS switched over to a completely automated system for activating XP over the phone. The only thing they ask (was the same when it went to a live person) is how many PC's is this copy of Windows currently installed on. As long as it is only on a single PC at any given time, you can install OEM XP on as many PC's as you want.

I own 2 copy's of OEM XP, and have switched motherboards quite a few times. The only versions of Windows tied to a certain motherboard are the OEM's that come pre-installed on pre-built PC's

I know this does not help your main problem, but maybe will make you feel a little better if you end up having to replace the motherboard.

Hey, just wanted to update you guys and ask further advice.

I've got a replacement power supply (They said the old one was faulty, didn't explain how).

I also got a new cpu cooler, that keeps idles temps at about 26C and load at about 30C.

A MASSIVE reduction in heat.

HOWEVER, I'm still getting crashes. when watching videos or playing games.

So what do I do?

Could it be anouther faulty power supply?

Or should I just try and replace the graphics card or could it be a motherboard issue?

I really need your help with this one :(

I've gone so far as to purchase a new graphics card. sapphire 4850, a pretty high end card.

I also removed the battery from the motherboard to reset everything, STILL the same problem.

Do you still believe that it's not the psu?

I think I just must be incredibly unlucky with psu's.

Still doesn't explain why it was bad for 1 game before reinstalling windows, but after it was bad for every game even videos on youtube.