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Reboots on its own

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JetEngineMech

Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2002
Location
Connecticut
For whatever reason, my computer will reboot on its own. I <think> it's a heat-related issue only because the reboots come close together unless I let it sit idle for a while. But if I use processor-intensive apps or video, it happens quickly. Also, I get a primary master drive falure upon first reboot sometimes, but then when I reboot it myself after that warning, it loads fine. I'm not overclocking at all. And my CPU temp stays under 48c under load. I'm running an Ahanix water cooler for the CPU and a Thermaltake fan for the memory. Could it be a video-card related problem since it happens during video or graphics games (StarCraft)? I have an NVidia GeForce 3 Ti200 card with my AMD Athlon XP 2800 Thoroughbred, 1024 Mb PC2700 DDR, Asus A7V8X-X. Thanks.
 
Very carefully check your heatsink. . sounds like it might be not quiote seated correctly. If this an unit you have run for a while you might wanna check to be sure the fan is running and the fins are clear of dust. I dont think its a major issue but one small thing can be a big mess. Oh, just one more thing. make sure yer case vents are clear too. Im a smoker and regularly clean the vents and use coffee filters to help curb dust build up. . .

good luck

Z
 
I've only had this up for a few weeks now so I don't think it's dirty yet. That's what caused me to buy this board and cpu, actually. My last one was fan cooled and it died, taking the cpu and mb with it. How would I know if the heatsink is mounted correctly or not? I'm assuming it is only because the temps are about 20c cooler than when I had a fan cooled 2100Xp.
 
It sounds like either a heat or power issue. What brand and wattage power supply do you have?
 
I don't recall the brand, but it's 400W. Something else interesting. It only reboots when I set the processor to its full 2.25 GHz. If I set it to the max in the bios which is 2.0 something, the computer runs fine. To get to 2.25, I have to raise both the multiplier, and the bus speed. I have the latest Asus bios already.
 
i had a video driver problem with my ati 9500 that rebooted after it was idle for a long time. Maybe you can run prime 95 while in safe mode, to test if its a bad video driver.
 
I run SETI constantly and have tried several releases of drivers with no luck. Infact, I can even overclock my graphics card now that the CPU is backed off.
 
JetEngineMech said:
I don't recall the brand, but it's 400W.
LOOK!!! PSU quality varies greatly by brand. Under load, and on a poor quality PSU, you can under/overvolt your components causing them to turn off. Your voltage rails should be within ~7.5% (at the worst!) of their targets (ie. 5v shouldn't be lower than 4.5 or higher than 5.5). You can get this info using numerous utilities like Motherboard Monitor 5 or (my favorite) SpeedFan. Here is a list of good and not bad brands:
c627627 said:
All Antecs (Channel Well) are good (Antec True Power is better), Fortron (Sparkle), Sirtec (Enlight, Vantec, Thermaltake), or more expensive Herolchi (Heroichi), PC Power and Cooling, or not as good but not dangerous HEC, TTGI, Zalman (Aopen).
The worst of the worst has consistantly been Allied, avoid them like the plauge. Also, good power supplies generally weight more than bad ones.
 
I can't even find a name on the thing. At least not on the exposed sides. Next time I go inside, I'll look for it.
The exact speed I am running without any problems is 2.083 GHz with the bus at normal 166/33 and the CPU multiplier at 12.5 instead of 13.5 like it should be.
 
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