Computer restarts randomly.

[morell]

I have been unable to find a situation like this on Google, so I thought I'd post here to ask for help from you lovely people.

About 4 days ago my computer started having trouble booting cold. I turned on my desktop and it booted all the way to the "starting windows" screen and then rebooted without ever turning off. Then the mobo screen come up again and it would reboot again, then it would run until somewhere between the two and reboot again. After about 10 minutes of rebooting in random places it finally stayed on and started windows and I used it the whole day.

Also, I should mention I boot from a solid state drive. I don't know the model, but I know it is not the problem because I unplugged it and the boot took longer, but it still reset eventually (not long after the Gigabyte screen). But the best way that I can describe it, is that as soon as you turn on that button, its like the computer picks a random number from 1-30 and reboots in that many seconds.

Now, this screamed hardware problem to me, personally, since it doesn't get a chance to load any software most of the time.

The problem has gotten progressively worse over the past few days. It has taken anywhere between 30-90 minutes of reboots to finally stay on. This morning, however, the desktop also started turning off randomly, So now it will either turn off or reboot. Again, eventually it will stay on for the whole day, if I let it.

A bit of personal history experience. I'm not exactly a tech junkie. I did build the system myself, and it's predecessor but the last one I built didn't have any problems (luckily). So everything I know is self-taught and very limited, so bear with me. I do know more than your average guy, though.

My hardware:

CPU:
AMD FX 4100 4-Core Processor, 3.6 4 Socket AM3+ FD4100WMGUSBX

Video:
EVGA GeForce GTX 550 Ti FPB 1024 MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 2DVI/Mini-HDMI SLI Ready Graphics Card, 01G-P3-1556-KR

RAM
Crucial Ballistix Tactical 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 8 Dual Channel Kit 1866 (PC3 15000) BLT2CP4G3D1869DT1TX0

MOBO
GIGABYTE GA-880GM-D2H AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Power:
I don't recall the make and model but its a 500w

Software:
Win 7 Professional 64 bit

Now, the system is overclocked. Although not knowing much about overclocking, myself, I took it down to the local computer store and they overclocked it for me. I told them to do as much as they thought it could handle. When I was looking around in BIOS though, I did notice the video card was overclocked 18x, if that helps.

[KeyboardDemon]

I think it could be one of two issues, either RAM or the PSU. I'd start by taking out one of the sticks of RAM and then try starting up the PC, if you get the same problem swap that stick with another and try again.

If the single stick of RAM works then try booting with that single stick in a different RAM slot until you have tested all slots, repeat with the other stick, that would help determine wether it's the ram or the ram slot that's at fault. Alternatively you could download memtest86 and use this to either test the ram stick one at a time or both together. Memtest96 works either from a boot CD or boots from a USB memory stick so it doesn't use Windows at all and also can be run without you having to open up your PC.

[TT1990]

Hey

i agree with KeynoardDemon sounds like a RAM or PSU issue or MoBo. i would hedge my bets and say it is the RAM, i recommend you download a program called Memtest86 and burn it to a disk, remove all but one RAM DIMM and boot into the Memtest86 disk and let it run for at leats 4 hours, if the DIMM passes switch the RAM DIMM and rinse and repeat. if you don't get any errors then its down to your PSU or MoBO but it will be difficult to determine which without a second PSU to test.

[morell]

Okay so I did the ram switching as suggested and the problem persisted. So I spend all evening scratching my head over it. (Today it was doing it in the evening, instead of only the morning).

Somewhere along the lines I noticed that when I barely touched my computer it would restart as described. I did this several more times until I was convinced it was happening.

I opened it up and discovered one of the mobo mounting screws missing, so I put one in. The problem still happened. Then, I took off the cpu heatsink, cleaned it and the cpu thouroughly, and reapplied thermal paste and the problem was still happening.

Then, I noticed the 24-pin connector was improperly seated. I pushed it in hard and heard a click. Restarted, and so far, so good. Even when I touch/lightly shake it, it doesn't restart.

Now, I want to keep this unresolved for the time being until I can get a cold boot in the morning. But do you think an improperly seated 24pin connector could do the things described above?

[KeyboardDemon]

I've not come across that before, the last time I had an improperly seated 24 pin connector I had no power at all, but I think it might be possible that the PC was getting enough power to start and then minor vibrations were breaking the power connection for just long enough to lose power but then re-connecting to then make the PC restart from scratch.

Having had that many restarts I think it would be a good idea to run a registry cleaner and maybe a program that sweeps Windows for common errors so you optimise your PC. I use AdvancedSystemCare which is a free program that you can get from IOBit who describe the software like this:

Advanced SystemCare Free (formerly Advanced WindowsCare Personal) has a one-click approach to help protect, repair, clean, and optimize your PC. With over 100 MILLION downloads since 2006, this fantastic, award-winning, free PC repair software is a "must-have" tool for your computer. 100% safe with no adware, spyware, or viruses; a PC maintenance program that's incredibly easy to use.

But I would also run memtest86 to check that your ram hasn't been damaged as a result of this power connector issue.

[morell]

Okay, I will do that. Than you both for taking time to help me out. This morning it started with no problem so that must have been it. I guess it was making contact with all the pins, but any movement would break the circuit. It also did do a very short bit of text under the windows logo about the registry. And then rebooted and installed the updates I started last night when I turned it off. So yeah, I'll definitely do that program after work today.

Thank you again for your help!

Edit: This thread is now solved. I don't see an option to edit that myself. Do mods do this?

[KeyboardDemon]

I don't see an option to edit that myself. Do mods do this?

In the first post for this thread click on the edit button and then hit the advanced button where you will find the option to edit the prefix on the title.