My computer is randomly restarting on me, can anybody make any suggestions?

Question

Today my computer has started to randomly restart on me. I will be working and my computer will suddenly freeze and then reset as if someone had hit the reset button. I had this problem a few months ago and ended up replacing nearly every component in the computer: power supply, motherboard, CPU, memory, hard drives, memory stick reader, etc. It seemed to go away but it has been reoccurring again.

A stress test of the system doesn't seem to produce any results and nothing seems to be logged in DR Watson, System or Application logs. Can anybody recommend anything I can do to resolve this problem? I'm about ready to replace the motherboard once again because it seems so much like a hardware problem, not a software problem.

My first thought was a heat problem too, so I opened up the computer and cleaned out all the dust and heat sinks, however the computer restarted several times after doing that. I just finished running a stress test on the system again for over 45 minutes and it didn't reproduce the reset. I'm going to continue to work the problem and I think I will replace the motherboard tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. I had an computer years ago that had a similar problem and after replacing the motherboard it became stable.

Answer 1

You need to post more info about your computer on here so we know what were dealing with. ie such as the wattage of the p.s, type of motherboard, graphics card and such.

Also, did you install something new recently, i.e. device driver?

This can be a difficult problem to fix because it can be caused by just about anything in the computer, as well as software issues. So the approach is to go after the most common problems first. However, in your case you have reinstalled Windows and the problem happens randomly rather than with specific programs, so it is probably not a software issue.

I am assuming that you have already checked for viruses and adware, as they often cause this type of problem.

The most likely cause of this, by far, is bad memory. The way to test memory is to download a self-booting memory test program, and the most respected programs are Memtest and Memtest86 (two now-different programs that evolved from a common root). You can find these at http://www.memtest86.com and http://www.memtest.org . They are free, and you can use either/both. Microsoft also actually has a very similar memory diagnostic that can be downloaded from the Microsoft web site.

To use these, note that the program that you download is not the actual test, but rather is a program that will make a self-booting test floppy diskette. After using the downloaded program to make this diskette, you reboot the system from the floppy. The program is self contained and does not run under any operating system, neither Windows nor even DOS. For systems without a floppy drive, a “dot-ISO” file is also available to make a bootable CD. Once you have the CD, you can use it to run the test on a system without a floppy drive. The test needs to run for a number of passes (will probably take several hours or overnight) with zero errors. If you get any errors at all, even just one, you have bad memory in your system, which you need to replace. This is very common, and is the most common cause of such crashes.

[One additional thought here, I think I’d remove and reinstall (reseat) the memory modules before running the test. They may simply have worked lose or be making bad contact with the memory sockets.]

The next most common problem is the power supply. In a “generic” system, I’d just suggest replacing the power supply. If a generic ATX standard power supply will fit, try one. However the cheap power supplies that come with cheap cases (and almost any power supply selling for less than about $30) are often pretty junky. Go for a quality replacement power supply, 350 watts or more, by Enermax, Acer, Antec, Thermatake, CoolerMaster or other good brands. A quality 350 watt supply will easily be more stable and reliable than a cheap 400 or 500 watt supply. You can almost judge the quality of a power supply by it’s weight and by looking at the size of the capacitors, transformers and heat sinks, visible through the fan openings.

Now I’m going to get “edgy”, and this isn’t for everyone, but power supply problems and random lockups are often caused by dust and dirt that have accumulated over the years. If you want to be aggressive, remove the power supply and let it sit for a day or two so that the capacitors have discharged. Open the power supply carefully, and use a can of compressed air and a ½” paint brush to carefully clean (dust) the interior components. Reassemble. Don’t do any more disassembly than necessary, and don’t touch anything inside the supply except with compressed air and, if necessary, the brush bristles (usually compressed air alone is enough). This is not for everyone, but in a supply that is several years old the amount of dust can be staggering and can cause the type of problems that you are experiencing. With a proprietary unit where a replacement is either expensive or unavailable, sometimes you have to resort to disassembly / cleaning / repair rather than replacement.

If the computer has a power supply fan that is running slow; this may either be normal, or it may be the problem: some power supplies have thermally controlled fans that are supposed to run slowly [=quiet] until and unless a thermal sensor becomes warm. But the sensor may not be sensing a part of the power supply that is overheating. Regardless, however, replacing just the fan inside a power supply, while possible, involves more issues than I can reasonably discuss here.

There is a similar dust/dirt issue in the area of the CPU heatsink and CPU fan (if there is a separate CPU fan), and the solution there is basically the same type of cleaning with compressed air and possibly a brush. It’s also possible that remounting the CPU with new thermal compound would help, however, most inexperienced users will cause more problems than they will solve if they attempt this. Cleaning the CPU heatsink and fan is usually all that is required. Not all systems have a dedicated CPU fan, but fans do fail, as well as get hopelessly clogged with dust, so investigate that. A can of compressed air will usually work wonders.

While you are at it with the compressed air, blow out dust from the rest of the system, paying particular attention to the CPU chipset on the motherboard and, if there is one, it’s heatsink.

If these suggestions don’t fix the problem, you are into a situation that becomes far more difficult to fix and that may not be economically repairable. The next most common problem is the motherboard, but there is no good way for an end-user to diagnose this other than by substitution. Plug-in cards (video, sound card, modem, LAN) can cause crashes, and even IDE drives on occasion. And, finally, although it’s rare (very rare, really) it could be a bad CPU. But memory is about 70% of these problems that are caused by hardware, and the power supply and cooling issues are most of the rest, so start there. One final comment, if the system is “overclocked” in any way, revert all of the settings and jumpers to their default positions. Overclocking usually isn’t possible with many OEM systems, as it is with a home-built system and a retail motherboard.

Good luck, this should get you started in the right direction.

Answer 2

Hi Jason,

Random rebooting is usually a temperature problem.

Unplug the computer. Open your case and make sure the vents are all clean and the board isn't covered with dust. Clean as necessary. Make sure the fans are clean. You can buy cans of compressed air designed to blow out the dust.

Now leave a side off the computer and boot it up. Make sure all the fans are running. Let it run and see if it restarts. If it does look for a problem with your memory. If it doesn't close it up and see what happens. That may do it for you.

If everything else looks good I would try new memory before I went much further. If you have two sticks take out one & try. It might slow your computer down but you can learn a lot. If it reboots swap the memory sticks.

Good luck,

Norm

Answer 3

I just got rid of a computer that was doing that to me. Turned out to be a bad system bus (chip on the motherboard). A system diagnostic program called QTech55 found the issue.

I am so glad to be rid of that bad motherboard

Answer 4

If uninstalling the force and letting the gadget redetect it would not remedy the concern, attempt a CD force air purifier. Does it respond to any CDs -- commercially pressed, audio, application? in case you click on the force in My pc does it say to insert a disc despite if one is interior? verify that the cables are not unfastened. Is there yet another pc you are able to substitute it into to work out if it works there?

Answer 5

I'm pretty sure you have a virus.