Unsure if CPU or mobo

My system just randomly restarted the other night. It was a usual problem I was having with WMP and IE6. See here http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=377269 Now it just consistently restarts at random points. Before post, during post, after post, while loading windows, and shortly after windows loads. It was fine for the first week, and since I paid for a mobo/cpu combo, I got an OEM cpu, that I am pretty sure is beyond the warranty. I hope its not the cpu since I really dont have the money to replace it. There was no oc done except for the vid with the utility that came with the card. Stock voltage, fsb, and multi. My temps seemed kinda high, but not really all that bad. I think about 55 C highest at load. Not sure what this problem would be caused by, but Asus wants me to RMA the board. I am using my crappy eMachine for the time being but I really want my 3000+ back. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

how are your voltage rails, what psu do you have?

Hercules 450W been running in the system I am using now fine. I think I have the problem narrowed down to the cpu or mobo. I am just kinda wondering if Asus is going to send the board back to me saying that nothing is wrong with it. I really don't want to have to RMA it. I hate this eMachines lol

EDIT: 12v rail is runnin about 12.28 according to mbm 5

is that under load, did anything happen or change? if you have a another board go ahead and rma the asus board at least you'll rule that out if it turns out not to be defective.

I do have another board in the eMachines system I am running now. I am kinda hoping it is something with the mobo instead of the cpu since the board is still under asus warranty. I guess if it's the cpu, brokeville here I come lol

You may want to disconnect every thing non-essential and trying that. Firewire, USB ports that are plugged directly into the motherboard, (not plugged into the back). You don't need your floppy or CD/DVD-Roms to boot up either so take them off as well. It probably won't give you any more information except that if you hooked up your firewire or USB ports wrong, maybe it will work right now. And if your PSU is going out, unplugging your floppy and optical drives may easy up your power consumption. It sounds like a PSU problem I had once, but when all else fails, go back to the basics and start over.


Oh and

Ty for the By usb ports plugged directly into the mobo do you mean like the front panel usb, and the such??? Also I know the psu and cd/dvd drives are good, as I am running them in this system I am using now with no problems. Its just very aggravating that I had just built this system less than a month ago, and it already seems to have crashed. It seems that it is resetting the cmos when it restarts sometimes because I get a "checksum error check cmos defaults" error everyonce in a while when it posts. I tried changing out the cmos battery as one site suggested, and still continued to have the same problem. I am also positive that all the dip switches and jumpers are set correctly. Not sure what else could be causing this but if I can get this system back up and running without having to RMA it I would be more than happy to try anything. I don't have the money to send it in for RMA til Friday, so I'm sure I have enough time to hopefully get this straightened out. Thanks in advance for any help.

What about the +5v rail? You didn't specify what mobo you have, no all boards run the CPU off of +12v rail...

Sorry bout that was kinda in a hurry. +5 is at 4.97 +3.3 is at 3.33 vcore is at 1.58 I finally got the system back up and running, after taking out my vid card, finally got back into windows. Started a cd and the system restarted about as fast as the fans started to kick up. I think it is a problem with the PSU now, going to go get it tested tomorrow. good thing the store i bought it from is owned by my best friends parents lol. I think I might just take the whole system in and see what they say. Once I put the vid back in the agp i started getting the random restarts. I was startin to think it was the card, but when I put that cd in it kinda changed my outlook on it. Although my dvd drive seems to be running flawlessly. Kinda strange. Thanks for the help.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the mobo is an ASUS a7v400-mx. I know its not really that great of a board but it seemed good for the price.

deadlysyn said:

Sorry bout that was kinda in a hurry. +5 is at 4.97 +3.3 is at 3.33 vcore is at 1.58 I finally got the system back up and running, after taking out my vid card, finally got back into windows. Started a cd and the system restarted about as fast as the fans started to kick up. I think it is a problem with the PSU now, going to go get it tested tomorrow. good thing the store i bought it from is owned by my best friends parents lol. I think I might just take the whole system in and see what they say. Once I put the vid back in the agp i started getting the random restarts. I was startin to think it was the card, but when I put that cd in it kinda changed my outlook on it. Although my dvd drive seems to be running flawlessly. Kinda strange. Thanks for the help.

EDIT: Forgot to mention the mobo is an ASUS a7v400-mx. I know its not really that great of a board but it seemed good for the price.

Click to expand...

That is why you were asked to unplug everything, because if it is a power problem then if you unplug evrything that is not vital to the system to boot and it stops the random reboots then it's probably the psu.

I am almost positive that it is the psu. I don't have another one to put in it's place, and haven't had a chance to take it in to get it tested, (I wish I had more of my tools lol ) since I got called in to work early this morning. Hopefully I can get this whole situation straightened out without having to RMA my mobo. I guess the psu was just a timebomb doa ticking until just one moment out of nowhere, but i could be wrong. Thanks to everyone who offered advice. You guys have helped me to solve the problem without even having to spend more than I really needed to.

UPDATE: Finally got the whole thing straightened out. Got the PSU warrantied out. Problem solved. I also want to add, I rearranged the window on my case so that the side fan is in the bottom front corner of the case, and got another 6 degrees cooler. I know that 48 under light load isnt all that great, but its good to find something that works better with my system.