Help diagnosing PC restarting on its own.

[Petroklos]

So, I have a PC that restarts its self. A LOT. But I don't know why! It has been working ok-ish for ~4 years and this started 1 week ago.

It presents me with a black screen, no warning, error or anything similar. Then it reboots.

It did it when launching Skyrim, Portal2 and Hearthstone and did it while running TF2, Portal 2 (if it launches), Avast's scan, Defraggler and even Chrome!


I've cleaned it and its temperatures, even under full load, staying bellow 80 (overastimated) 60 celcius, but for the GPU hitting a 68-69 on FurMark.

I've uninstalled unwanted crap, ccleaned (+registry), defraglered (both run in safe mode) and scanned for viruses on startup (as it crashes with Windows on, even in safe mode).

I've run MemTest (twice) and it showed 0 problems.

I've used Intel's testing utility and it showed no problems.

I've run FurMark and the gpu runs cool (at 68-69 celcius, even though FM is running at <1fps) and stable.

I connected my HDD on the pc and it rebooted its self again, so it's not an OS or HDD issue.

Tomorrow morning I'll try my PSU on it as well.


So, if it restarts with my PSU as well, is there a way to make sure that the problem is the MoBo? (I don't have one to check it)

And is there anything about the other parts I can/should check?


OS: WinXP 32bit
CPU: Core2Duo E7500
RAM: 2x1Gb @800MHz
MoBo: ASUS P5KPL-AM SE
GPU: ATI Radeon HD5570 (latest Driver, had problem even before updating)
HDD: A 300Gb Western Digital
PSU:Lattice LC-8450BTX 450W, no specified power efficiency. Also its fan died and it has been switched with a new one, connected on the old one's cables with black tape.

[Pansysk75]

Have you noticed any patterns?

Does it shut down after a particular amount of time?

Or is it only when launching certain programs?

[Petroklos]

Have you noticed any patterns?

Does it shut down after a particular amount of time?

Or is it only when launching certain programs?

"It did it when launching Skyrim, Portal2 and Hearthstone and did it while running TF2, Portal 2 (if it launches), Avast's scan, Defraggler and even Chrome!"

 

It does so when stuff opens, or when it has been running for some time. The most I've got it running is Portal for ~15-20 minutes.

 

It had no problem with Defraggler and Ccleaner on SafeMode, no problem with Avast's ScanOnStartup and no problem with MemTest, FurMark or Intel's Diagnostic Tool.

[Kreese]

This may seem overkill but have you considered reinstalling Windows? (since you seem to have tested all the hardware).

Btw ~80C is actually on the high side.

[Petroklos]

This may seem overkill but have you considered reinstalling Windows? (since you seem to have tested all the hardware).

Btw ~80C is actually on the high side.

 

Actually nothing run at even close to 60, but for the GPU, which reached a max of 69 on FurMark ~1hour in.

 

And as I said, I tried my own HDD on the system, with my own installation of Windows, which runs perfectly and yet again the PC rebooted, so it's not an OS issue.

[Akin]

I would guess PSU, GPU, MoBo/bios.

Try resetting your bios to defaults and maybe get a new cmos battery.

 

I would suggest its Power related, might be power to GPU when you launch your games.

OS tends to blue screen not just drop power. Also check the power point your PSU is plugged into. Might be wiring issue in the house.

[Petroklos]

It was the PSU after all. I placed mine in the problematic PC and now it runs like a charm!