Random Restarts

[ericcbrown1]

I keep getting Random Restarts while playing video games:
this is off of a fresh mobo/cpu build..using an old HDD but its been reformatted..
new psu, 480 W .. umm..64 bit AMD .. sufficient memory..1024..
any ideas why it would restart while playing games like counter-strike or world of warcraft?

Specs:

Computer
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
Internet Explorer 6.0.2900.2180

Motherboard
CPU Type Unknown, 2200 MHz (11 x 200)
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset Unknown
System Memory 1024 MB
BIOS Type Award (09/20/05)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display
Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 6600 (256 MB)
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (LCD0000000001)

Multimedia
Audio Adapter Realtek AC'97 Audio [NoDB]

Storage
Disk Drive ST340014A (40 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)
Optical Drive ATAPI CD-ROM 52XMax (52x CD-ROM)
Optical Drive HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8160B (16x/10x/40x CD-RW)

Partitions
C: (NTFS) 38154 MB (25325 MB free)

Input
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse PS/2 Compatible Mouse

[jflan]

Could be a heat issue or a power supply problem.

Please clarify your system components such PS brand, CPU, HSF (heat sink/fan) etc.

JF

[naptownman]

It could also be because of an old/incompatible driver. Make sure you have the latest drivers or the latest WHQL drivers (if they're available).

[missiveusa]

Something like this makes me suspect drivers first. D/l and run a driver cleaner utility, then install an earlier WHQL driver set from http://www.guru3d.com

If new, clean drivers don't solve the problem, remove the case side panel and see if games run any longer before crashing. In that case, you have a cooling problem. Clean out the case of dust bunnies and reinstall CPU and heatsink using a good quality thermal paste, like Arctic Silver. Good luck.

[lptech]

ericcbrown1-

Is your system modded-out? Lighting and extra fans could draw more than its share of power from the power supply. Also, the fact that you haven't really elaborated on the 480-watt PSU which more than likely is the culprit since running those games you mentioned would could it to max-out the PSU! What brand PSU do you have installed? Not all PSUs are created equal and therefore if it is not a name brand, it is more suspect as the cause of your problem.

LPTECH

[BipolarBill]

Just stop - everyone!

The first thing to do is this - Go to Control Panel > System > Advanced > Startup and Recovery. Untick "Automatically restart" and set memory dump to None.

Hopefully, you'll get a blue-screen error with a message next time. We need to know if you get one and what it is.

The rest of you guys are jumping past the basics and assuming it's hardware because of your previous experience. We need to rule out a driver issue before we tell this guy that he has to spend hard-earned cash.

[G]

The main culprit that results in 70% of Stop errors is related to drivers causing pool corruption. Pool corruption usually occurs when a driver suffers from a buffer overrun or buffer underrun bug that causes it to overwrite data past either the end or start of a buffer it is allocated from paged and non-paged pool. These crashes caused by pool corruption are almost are so intractable to debug because the system crashes when corrupted data is referenced, not when the corruption occurs. Not all crashes with result in a crash dump for troubleshooting purposes. The reason being is that the disk subsystem for the system disk is not able to process disk write requests (a condition that may have triggered the system failure itself). Microsoft’s web site has a full listing of stop errors and their meaning that can be consulted.

[A-slave]

Hi!
Try to change the cooler of CPU

[jflan]

Please report your trouble-shoot findings before you start changing-out hardware.

There might be an easier fix, as stated in the previous posts.

JF

[ericcbrown1]

Since I did what BipolarBill said, Whenever I "freeze" i do not get a bluescreen, instead the program itself, whichever that specific program is at the time, freezes, and I am able to CTRL ALT DELETE and end task it.

I checked administrative event viewer errors: Here are the two errors that occured most recently..

Hanging application hl.exe, version 1.1.1.1, hang module hungapp, version 0.0.0.0, hang address 0x00000000.

AND:
Fault bucket 34650443.

[BipolarBill]

http://www.liutilities.com/products/...esslibrary/hl/

[ericcbrown1]

this problem has nothing to do with half-life, as it just happened extremely randomly and did not record an error.

It restarted randomly even when it is set to not do so.

I do not see why ANYTHING in this computer would be bad, that is not probable.

[BipolarBill]

I'm just going by your error message. It clearly says "HL.EXE" and that is Half Life. Chill.

If the PC locks up, Event Viewer can't record anything. You are going to have to work with what you see. Do what I did - use Google to search for the things you see on the screen.

Assuming that nothing could be "bad" on your PC is plain naive. Files get corrupted all of the time - as we work. One hard reboot can screw up dozens of files at once. How many times has your PC hard-booted now?

If I were you, I would uninstall all video and audio drivers and load the latest ones I could find.

[naptownman]

Eric, you came to us asking for help with a problem - we didn't ask you if everything was all right. With all the best of intentions we offered our opinions. and now you choose to argue them. If nothing could be wrong with your pc, then I suggest you uninstall the random restart program using start > control panel > add/remove programs.

[ericcbrown1]

did not mean to come across as uppidty on that last post, ..i guess as i re-read it i seemed mad, im definitely not mad haha.. i apologize, i appreciate your opinions and advice greatly, i was just trying to get a point across..

but i was just trying to tell you that the error logs were because of half life, but as you said bipolarbill, those arn't relavant since it still restarted, and that was turned off. I would think that the drivers and such could be a problem if there are even further updates then what i have installed currently, however, i bought a new : everything but a hard driver, which i reformatted, and this would be the first reformat that it has had. umm.. the mobo drivers installed are directly off the cd, no updates, the graphic card drivers are also directly off the cd, but look at the website for where i find new drivers, im confused as to which one to update to? because i have a 64-bit processor..the list is as follows:::

Drivers
Display Properties 11/21/2005 11:32:09 AM v60
NView Users Guide 11/21/2005 11:32:16 AM v60
Release Notes 11/21/2005 11:32:21 AM v60
Windows XP / 2000 11/21/2005 11:30:50 AM v66.93
Windows XP / 2000 Eng 1/4/2006 4:11:46 PM v77.77
Windows XP / 2000 Intl 1/4/2006 4:12:32 PM v77.77
Windows 2003 SP1 / XP 64-bit English 12/12/2005 3:04:30 PM v77.72
Windows 2003 SP1 / XP 64-bit International 11/21/2005 11:31:12 AM v7184
Windows 98SE / ME 11/21/2005 11:32:02 AM v66.94
Windows NT4 (SP6) 12/21/2005 6:17:34 PM v77.72


and I currently have
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.7772 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 7/26/2005 02:33:44, 3896320 bytes

is it possible that there could be a bad jumper connection somewhere? or wouldnt that just make something either work or not work?
Umm..this isn't an overheating concern, im fairly sure of that because of a new heatsink i bought yesterday and put on the cpu and it still does the same thing. PSU isnt the issue either, as i borrowed a friends' straight out of his computer and used it, still the same exact problem.

I have every windows update that i can get im pretty sure, ran spyware checkers and virus checkers.

Could it be at all possible that the graphics card is malfunctioning?
I guess i could find that out after i update it, (if it needs it?)?