Random Reboots

[frechley]

Hi Everyone,

I am about to build a new system and had a question before I get started buying components.

My current system randomly freezes up. I am planning on keeping my current PSU, case, GPU and hard drives.

My question is, could the freezing up be due to an issue with my PSU, case or possibly even the power strip that I am using?

I am asking because I had similar issues with an older system build and the only common factors between my current build and my old one are the case, power strip and two HDDs. I know the power strip is not technically a part of the build, but I was thinking it could possibly still play a part.

Thanks for any help.

 

[scaarbelly]

PSU yes, but there are a lot of reasons a pc can freeze. power strip is very unlikely, a failing hdd is also possible but if this has been happening for a long time probably not. Make sure that you make a new thread and answer the sticky questions when you are ready to buy and build.

 

[engiNURD]

Pick up a good UPS and that should solve any power strip issues you think you're having.

As caniba said, there are a bunch of things that can cause random freezes. How often are the freezes? Can you provide more info?

 

[frechley]

Thanks for the input.

Here's some more info. My system seems to freeze at random times. Recently, the screen has also been going back, but the computer is still on. That has happened most often when using mk2vob. However, it also will randomly freeze or reboot at other times. Most often it seems the computer is under a heavier load (gaming, converting video files, etc.), but it does sometimes happen at random times too. One thing that seems to help it is when I clean the dust out of the cpu heatsink fins. I have one pci slot that is not covered in the rear and i think that brings in more dust than i should have in there.

I have looked in my event logs and never found anything that seemed to explain what was happening. The other weird thing is that checkdisk will start sometimes after reboot. However, the disk that it says needs to be checked is not consistent. For a while, I was having one HDD disappear in windows and the way I stopped that was by disconnecting my optical drive. The HDD that would disappear varied based on what SATA port it was connected to on the MB. Once I disconnected the optical drive, that problem stopped happening.

This is a lot of info, so I appreciate any input you guys might have!

 

[engiNURD]

System specs?
No red X's in event viewer?
How often does it restart vs hard lock/freeze?
Did you turn off auto-restart on bsod?

Black screen seems to be video related, so either software, driver, or vidcard issue (even possibly monitor, but seems unlikely). Did you test your vidcard? Run Furmark to do so. Update your vidcard drivers? Actually, did you update all drivers?

One open PCI slot shouldn't noticeably affect the amount of dust inside your case unless there's a fan blowing dust in through that open slot. How hot does your system get under full load? CPU temp? GPU temp? mobo temp? HDD temps?

Did you run a drive fitness or error test on the HDDs? If not, do so.

Check out the troubleshooting guide to get more info on all the tests/monitoring apps I mentioned, and to see what else you could do. Report back with results.

 

[frechley]

I started some of those tests last night and will keep running them through the weekend, post results and answer the other questions you mentioned.
Thanks for the help.

BTW, there are definitely red x's, just not any that seemed important to me. However, given my knowledge, I probably have no idea what would be important...