Bad motherboard?

[Karlof]

Hi guys,


I've been having this problem on and off for more than a year now. My PC will power cycle (reboot) at random times. It started in December 2011 very randomly; stopped without me doing anything in particular and came back about three weeks ago, and it has gotten to the point where the PC will reboot after 1-2 minutes of powering on, rending the computer nearly unusable. I have already performed the following steps to troubleshoot the issue:


1) Thoroughly cleaned my case.
2) Checked all connections on MB, PSU and on/off-reset buttons at the top of the case.
3) Checked the temperatures while computer is idle, multi-tasking in Windows and gaming; all temps come out fairly cool, CPU never exceeding 40C and GPU 70C. (This was before my computer would reset every 2 minutes)
4) Re-seated my RAM.



As I don't have any spare parts available to swap with my existing hardware, what are my options here? Re-seat the CPU and GPU?


Here are my specs:

CM|RC-692-KKN2 ADVANCED RT
MB MSI|P67A-G45 (B3) P67 LGA1155 R
PSU SEASONIC| X650 GOLD SS-650KM R
CPU INTEL|CORE I5 2500K 3.3G 6M R
MNTR ASUS|LCD 24" 2MS VW246H HDMI R
DVD BRN ASUS | DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS%
MS WIN 7 HOME SP1 64BIT 1PK - OEM
CPU COOLER CM| RR-B10-212P-G1 RT
VGA XFX|HD-687A-ZNFC HD6870 R
SSD 128G|CRUCIAL CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1
MEM 4Gx2|GSKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL
HD 2T|HITACHI HDS5C3020ALA632 %
FAN COOLERMASTER|R4-L2S-122B-GP R



Are there any other things I can do to diagnose the problem? Would purchasing a multimeter to test the PSU help?


Thank you in advance,


-Karlof

 

[XenIneX]

And...here's another one that sounds like the PSU is going. Weird. Is it just me, or does this seem to be cropping up more lately?

Skip the multimeter; you'd have to watch for voltage sags under load lasting fractions of a second, and most multimeters just don't react that fast. Just grab another PSU and chuck it in there to test -- judging by the painstaking parts list, this isn't your first rodeo, and you've likely got a previous system to cannibalize.

 

[pstang]

is the cpu overclocked?

 

[Karlof]

And...here's another one that sounds like the PSU is going. Weird. Is it just me, or does this seem to be cropping up more lately?

Skip the multimeter; you'd have to watch for voltage sags under load lasting fractions of a second, and most multimeters just don't react that fast. Just grab another PSU and chuck it in there to test -- judging by the painstaking parts list, this isn't your first rodeo, and you've likely got a previous system to cannibalize.

Unfortunately I don't have another PSU to test my hardware with. I'm strongly considering buying another PSU just to do some testing, I'm pretty sure that would ultimately be a more cost-friendly solution than shipping my computer off to a shop that charges 60$/per hour to swap components.

is the cpu overclocked?

Nope, although I purchased an after-market cooler wanting to overclock, it's actually always been running very cool at standard clock speeds.




I've actually posted about this problem about a year back, and someone suggested that frequent reboots like I've been experiencing could maybe be a consequence of a bad motherboard... Anyone's got some thoughts on that? Would a faulty PSU just crash my computer without rebooting it automatically after?


Thank you.

 

[jojo69]

lots of possibilities and hard to say without some substutive deduction

buy a new PSU, If it turns out not to be the problem you have the cornerstone of your next system

 

[XenIneX]

I've actually posted about this problem about a year back, and someone suggested that frequent reboots like I've been experiencing could maybe be a consequence of a bad motherboard... Anyone's got some thoughts on that? Would a faulty PSU just crash my computer without rebooting it automatically after?

Entirely possible. My second choice for what's gone wrong would be that the voltage regulation on the motherboard is bad.

And whether or not it would reboot comes down to how the motherboard's designers set it up. Some reset cleanly; some have trouble initializing devices and crap out.

 

[Karlof]

Entirely possible. My second choice for what's gone wrong would be that the voltage regulation on the motherboard is bad.

And whether or not it would reboot comes down to how the motherboard's designers set it up. Some reset cleanly; some have trouble initializing devices and crap out.

Thank you for that reply. Would it increase the probability of a faulty PSU if I were to tell you that electricity in my apartment seems to be pretty unstable; light intensity will usually lower for a second when I start up the micro wave oven, or when the fridge's motor starts up, etc. I'm worried that a bad power environment may have reduced the life of my PSU. I have already learned my lesson and purchased a UPS, hah.

 

[jojo69]

Would it increase the probability of a faulty PSU if I were to tell you that electricity in my apartment seems to be pretty unstable

If the PFC is having to ride through brownouts all the time it sure can't help