PC restarting on its own.

Epicpriest

Hey,

My pc keeps just retarting instantly on its own, i've removed everything and replaced it all into a new case. No warning, it just shuts down (goes black) and restarts.

Any ideas? I've not changed anything in it.

Cuddlesworth

Are you downloading files when the pc re-boots?

Epicpriest

krazy_8s wrote:

Are you downloading files when the pc re-boots?

well at the moment i am yes (and for the past few times using bittorrent) why?

8T8

Are you using the nForce firewall ?

If yes the nForce firewall has some bugs in it that cause the system to crash or corrupt downloads when under load like using Bittorrent. Solution - install the nForce 6.70 drivers the component that causes the problem is fixed in those or stop using the NV firewall.

If not then it may be a dodgy PSU or bad RAM, check the system with Memtest+

There was also a bad driver from Marvell doing the rounds that was causing reboots and like so if your nic is Marvell based make sure you are using the latest driver which has the issue fixed or so I recall.

Of course could be none of the above & something else as well..

Epicpriest

8T8 wrote:

Are you using the nForce firewall ?

If yes the nForce firewall has some bugs in it that cause the system to crash or corrupt downloads when under load like using Bittorrent. Solution - install the nForce 6.70 drivers the component that causes the problem is fixed in those or stop using the NV firewall.

If not then it may be a dodgy PSU or bad RAM, check the system with Memtest+

There was also a bad driver from Marvell doing the rounds that was causing reboots and like so if your nic is Marvell based make sure you are using the latest driver which has the issue fixed or so I recall.

Of course could be none of the above & something else as well..

Ok i don't use NV Firewall. I have a 7800GT. Could it be the drivers for that? Or could it be a software problem? i left the PC on overnight though and it kept rebooting every few minutes at the log in screen

8T8

No the NVIDIA display drivers don't have any connection to the NVIDIA firewall bug.

Do the scan with Memtest+ to see if you can rule out that the system RAM is the cause as that is often a common cause of spontaneous system reboots.

Cuddlesworth

You dont have to use the Nv firewall, or even have it on. As long as its installed it cause's the pc to crash. You need to un-install it or the problem will remain.

Epicpriest

8T8 wrote:

Are you using the nForce firewall ?

If yes the nForce firewall has some bugs in it that cause the system to crash or corrupt downloads when under load like using Bittorrent. Solution - install the nForce 6.70 drivers the component that causes the problem is fixed in those or stop using the NV firewall.

If not then it may be a dodgy PSU or bad RAM, check the system with Memtest+

There was also a bad driver from Marvell doing the rounds that was causing reboots and like so if your nic is Marvell based make sure you are using the latest driver which has the issue fixed or so I recall.

Of course could be none of the above & something else as well..

er how the hell do you run memtest?? what the hell is ISO?

Kazu

iso is a file you burn to a cd using Nero


then boot from cd

Cuddlesworth

Befoer you use mem-test etc do this

Control Panel/Add-Remove........find NVidia drivers or NVidia Network Access Manager and get rid of it.......!...... you may need to click 'nVidia drivers' and select to only uninstall that particular element if it doesn't appear in the Add/Remove list.

LunaC

Disable auto restart, if yo get a blue screen rather then a restart, google the error message.

system properties>advanced>startup & recovery>startup & recovery>uncheck auto restart dialog box and apply your changes.

Cuddlesworth

Once aginn dont bother doing that till you un-install nvidia firewall, not turn it off un-install it.

Look what happens when you google "nvidia firewall bit-torrent" . This is a common problem and it has even happened to me.
http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&hs=4J0&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=nvidia+firewall+bittorrent&spell=1

KamiKazi

my last laptop died of the very same symptoms.

far as we could figure out there was something seriously damaged due to overheating:rolleyes:

Dooom

I despise NV's Firewall. It fupped about with all my LSP files and I couldn't view any webpages. It's long gone now though.

Epicpriest

OK,

It's not NV Firewall.

I bought new ram, i also bought a new PSU, and a new Hard Drive. I also got new cables.

So the only thing i didn't change was the Mainboard. After everything has been changed i'm still getting lock ups and blue screen of deaths.

Also, my hard drives have been getting corrupt. Do you think it could be the mainboard?

mr_disc

well before going to the expense of buying a mainboard to try.. have u another hard drive u can put in and eliminate the possibility of the build being the problem ( or the actual drive too )

Epicpriest

mr_disc wrote:

well before going to the expense of buying a mainboard to try.. have u another hard drive u can put in and eliminate the possibility of the build being the problem ( or the actual drive too )

Yes, 2 hard drives have been corrupted in tis system, i'm on my 3rd now.

Triangle

What's the make of the Hardware?
Some of it is not compatible with other bits.

Epicpriest

Triangle wrote:

What's the make of the Hardware?
Some of it is not compatible with other bits.

Ok, i had an IBM Deskstar. a Quantum Fireball (both got corrupted, now when i try to format them i can't it crashes etc). And now i have a Samsung 250gig.

The PSU is now a 450W Jeantec. GFX card is a XFX Geforce 7800GT. And Mainboard is an Abit Fatal1ty

I've replaced everything apart from the Audigy 2 soundcard and the mainboard.

Coupla sticks of generic ram. Tried a few...

zilog_jones

Might be the power supply is dodge - I wouldn't trust a fake company like Jeantec, ESPECIALLY with a graphics card like that running off it! Try going to the BIOS menu and leave it on that for a few minutes - see if it restarts randomly there.

Also check the temperature and fan readings - SpeedFan is good for this.

BSOD's in Windows 2k/XP are nearly always hardware issues in my experience.

Epicpriest

zilog_jones wrote:

Might be the power supply is dodge - I wouldn't trust a fake company like Jeantec. Try going to the BIOS menu and leave it on that for a few minutes - see if it restarts randomly there.

Also check the temperature and fan readings - SpeedFan is good for this.

BSOD's in Windows 2k/XP are nearly always hardware issues in my experience.

I just changed the PSU yesterday, and the ram and all cables. So it's not the PSU, it's still been happening since.

zilog_jones

Yes, but you've probably replaced a crap PSU with another crap PSU. Jeantech are junk, like a lot of the stuff sold in PC World. You'd want to pay at least €60-70 on a good PSU - if you paid that much for a Jeantech one you were seriously ripped off!

mr_disc

ya sure does seem like a power supply, i aint seen a board render 2 hard drives unuseable

Epicpriest

zilog_jones wrote:

Yes, but you've probably replaced a crap PSU with another crap PSU. Jeantech are junk, like a lot of the stuff sold in PC World. You'd want to pay at least €60-70 on a good PSU - if you paid that much for a Jeantech one you were seriously ripped off!

I refuse to beleive that i'd be that unlucky to get another bad one. This is a decent one, it was 80 quid. 450 watt. some kind of overpower protection etc, blue neon's and a near silent 120MM fan... Why would they sell them if they're all junk

zilog_jones

But Jeantech are not a respectable manufacturer. I don't even think they're a real company as I've only ever seen their stuff in PC World, which is not a good thing. You were definately ripped off, man. Return it if you can, and get something good like the more expensive ones on Komplett.

Epicpriest

zilog_jones wrote:

But Jeantech are not a respectable manufacturer. I don't even think they're a real company as I've only ever seen their stuff in PC World, which is not a good thing. You were definately ripped off, man. Return it if you can, and get something good like the more expensive ones on Komplett.

The PSU is not the issue. It can't be that. The machine isn't starved for power, it has overpower protection, the lights on the mainboard and the PSU are not going off when the PC gets blue screens. Could a bad IDE controller or damaged circuits cause this kinda stuff?

Heres what happens with the other HDD's. It won't boot up. When itry to go into replace the corrupt files and stuff it freezes up. When itry to format the HDD with the windows XP disk, it says it's loading the format part and then freezes up. Also, i can;t get into Safemode. When i hit safemode. loads of loading this and that things appear, and it freezes at loadin mup.sys.

zilog_jones

Epicpriest wrote:

The PSU is not the issue. It can't be that.

How do you know? Have you done any stress testing? Have you checked if the voltages are in spec? Have you tried it with lower power stuff, e.g. an old graphics card, or even an older ATX PC, or even just another similarly powered PC?

it has overpower protection

That kind of stuff doesn't always work as planned...

the lights on the mainboard and the PSU are not going off when the PC gets blue screens.

That doesn't make sense - if the lights went off on the motherboard, there'd be no power, i.e. no power to produce a blue screen! So of course they won't go off.

Could a bad IDE controller or damaged circuits cause this kinda stuff?

Have you checked the SMART readings of these disks? SpeedFan can also do that. Are the jumpers set right? That can cause serious screwyness, but I've never had a disk go bad from something like that.

And again, what about heat?

8T8

There have been reports and I've experience it myself of HD compatibility issues with I/O corruption as a result with certain nForce 4 motherboards and a variety of hardware. In fact some of the install issues you describe I had the exact same problems with Asus nForce 4 boards, switching to Epox resulted in no more headaches.

It is a tricky issue to nail down but it "could" be the motherboard however before doing anything like replacing it I would see if you can limit your SATA speed to 150 if your SATA HD's support the 300 speed as this has some positive effects in stabilizing some systems.

(If the option is not present in the bios you may have to install the NVIDIA IDE drivers to acquire the option to force a lower SATA mode)

Disabling NCQ support was another means of stopping the problems but that only seem to work for some.

Make sure you have the latest bios for the motherboard as well.

Don't use beta NVIDIA nForce drivers use the official ones from the site, also steer clear of setting up any RAID arrays either.

Epicpriest

8T8 wrote:

There have been reports and I've experience it myself of HD compatibility issues with I/O corruption as a result with certain nForce 4 motherboards and a variety of hardware. In fact some of the install issues you describe I had the exact same problems with Asus nForce 4 boards, switching to Epox resulted in no more headaches.

It is a tricky issue to nail down but it "could" be the motherboard however before doing anything like replacing it I would see if you can limit your SATA speed to 150 if your SATA HD's support the 300 speed as this has some positive effects in stabilizing some systems.

(If the option is not present in the bios you may have to install the NVIDIA IDE drivers to acquire the option to force a lower SATA mode)

Disabling NCQ support was another means of stopping the problems but that only seem to work for some.

Make sure you have the latest bios for the motherboard as well.

Don't use beta NVIDIA nForce drivers use the official ones from the site, also steer clear of setting up any RAID arrays either.

OK, so how do i stress test a machine that won't stay on long enough to stress.

What would be the problem with not being able to get into Safemode on any of the hard drives?

zilog_jones

Are you using SATA or PATA hard disks? And would it be possible to try the other type to what you're using?

And try something that isn't Windows and see if they keep restarting, e.g. something that runs off a CD like memtest86, a Linux live CD (Knoppix, Ubuntu, DSL, etc.), or as I said before even the BIOS menu.

8T8

Epicpriest wrote:

OK, so how do i stress test a machine that won't stay on long enough to stress.

What would be the problem with not being able to get into Safemode on any of the hard drives?

Well clearly there is some degree of I/O corruption taking place as your HD's are constantly messed with.

Check the make of your HD's are they Maxtor Diamond Max 10 as their is a compatibility issue with those models and nForce 4 boards that require a firmware update for the Maxtor HD's.

If not Maxtor check your HD's for any jumpers that will force SATA150 mode or check the motherboard bios for such an option.

If none is available in the bios or under Windows install (assuming you have the AMD nForce 4) the nForce 6.70 drivers (when prompted say no to the NAM/NV Firewall) with the Storage drivers ticked to install. That should give you the option to force SATA 150 on all HD's under the NV SATA controller properties and untick NCQ support.

Also disable RAID support on the NVIDIA SATA controllers in the bios so they are running in compatibility mode.

If you are unable to boot into windows then is not much else I can say but attempt another clean install but at least this time you know what "may" stabilize the system.

Epicpriest

8T8 wrote:

Well clearly there is some degree of I/O corruption taking place as your HD's are constantly messed with.

Check the make of your HD's are they Maxtor Diamond Max 10 as their is a compatibility issue with those models and nForce 4 boards that require a firmware update for the Maxtor HD's.

If not Maxtor check your HD's for any jumpers that will force SATA150 mode or check the motherboard bios for such an option.

If none is available in the bios or under Windows install (assuming you have the AMD nForce 4) the nForce 6.70 drivers (when prompted say no to the NAM/NV Firewall) with the Storage drivers ticked to install. That should give you the option to force SATA 150 on all HD's under the NV SATA controller properties and untick NCQ support.

Also disable RAID support on the NVIDIA SATA controllers in the bios so they are running in compatibility mode.

If you are unable to boot into windows then is not much else I can say but attempt another clean install but at least this time you know what "may" stabilize the system.

Ok, i'm using a standard (PATA) 100 or 133 HDD. It'd a Samsung. You think updated software for the mainboard my work then? Come down to my house in waterford and fix it!

Could it be a hardware issue on the board?

8T8

Well if your not using SATA HD's the the I/O corruption bug with certain nForce 4 motherboards may not be the cause as I've never heard it affecting those PATA hard drives that's not to say that it doesn't either.

Still try installing the NVIDIA storage driver anyway and see if NCQ support is present on your PATA HD's and if so turn if it off.

It could very well be the motherboard itself (I had a dodgy Asus nForce 4 with similar problems & the motherboard was the cause) like I said its a tricky thing to nail down, by the way check the event viewer log in the control panel/administrative tools and under system see if there are any yellow exclamations marks with something like "delayed write error" in the message text.

As for house calls sorry mate don't do them

Edit: You might want to on the off chance replace all your IDE cables in case one of them is damaged and the cause of the I/O corruption.

Epicpriest

8T8 wrote:

Well if your not using SATA HD's the the I/O corruption bug with certain nForce 4 motherboards may not be the cause as I've never heard it affecting those PATA hard drives that's not to say that it doesn't either.

Still try installing the NVIDIA storage driver anyway and see if NCQ support is present on your PATA HD's and if so turn if it off.

It could very well be the motherboard itself (I had a dodgy Asus nForce 4 with similar problems & the motherboard was the cause) like I said its a tricky thing to nail down, by the way check the event viewer log in the control panel/administrative tools and under system see if there are any yellow exclamations marks with something like "delayed write error" in the message text.

As for house calls sorry mate don't do them

Edit: You might want to on the off chance replace all your IDE cables in case one of them is damaged and the cause of the I/O corruption.

Did that yesterday. I'll check tha t stuff later, cheers

astrofool

PATA doesn't support NCQ anyway.