Help - system unexpectedly restarts

DrHuss · Jul 8, 2008

Hi All - i need some help. Ive recently built my own system and one issue im having with Vusta 64 bit is that sometimes, out of no where and at no specific instance. the whole system just restarts for no reason. Ive noticed this happen more than once when running windows media center and when listening to music on windows media player but i can not with all certainty say that this is the only time it happens.
Belo are system specs
1. Vista home premium SP1 64 bit
2. Home built system: QX9650 quad core, DX48BT2 board
3. Corsair 750W PS
4. 4GB RAM (i think they are patriot 1333)
5. GTX9800 XFX VGA Card
6. Hauppague PVR 1600 (this only have a beta driver for 64 but +4 GB ram)
7. Wireless N linksys internal cars i think its NP-300 or something like that

I was trying to find out in the event log what the issue was and it doesnt seem to be recording it as a system faliure.... i do however notice alot of XTUService error (which is intel extreme utility).
I did have INtel Desktop control utility installed (though i never in any shape or form overclocked the system) but i removed it and problem still occurs.

A few other things i also noticed - not sure if they are related
1. if the power cord is unplugged and then replugged, when the system is restarted it turns on and then shuts off, turns on again on its own, shuts off again and on the third try and picks up and goes on...
2. when restarted the BIOS seems to hang for maybe 25 seconds and then i get the Intel screen and things go smoothly.

seems like a lot of problems... help is appreciated and let me know if you need more information... im a beginner so thanks alot for any feedback and sorry if i posted in the wrong section

Chappy · Jul 8, 2008

HI DrHuss, & Welcome to the forums!

First off, how often does this happen approx?
Will it happen say...3 times in an hour, or more like once every 3 days type thing? Is it easily reproducible I guess, since the troubleshooting steps I'm going to mention kinda requires that it happen fairly regularly and often. If it's more a rarity then we need to go different ways.
Let me know ASAP please.

I have a Hauppauge HVR 1600 and had to get a special Fix driver from Support for this with 64bit, but I believe they now have them available on the site. It's worked perfectly for me but I wonder if this may possibly be an issue with the Beta driver.
Let us know as much as you can about what you are doing when it happens and what's running, including all background programs if possible please.
Another way to get better info is to turn off the Auto-restart feature to force a BSOD.
Open Control Panel - System - click "Advanced System Settings" on the left - startup & recovery box, click "settings" button - take the check out of "Automatically Restart" and then OK out.

This forces a BSOD instead of a restart, copy all the info from the BSOD EXACTLY as is, including punctuation and post that here as well. It should have more info for us to research.

Thanx

oldsalt · Jul 8, 2008

It's possible that your motherboard is shorting out on the case.

Did you install all the risers correctly?

davehc · Jul 8, 2008

I would suspect an overheating problem , possibly due to a fan failure.

"A few other things i also noticed - not sure if they are related
1. if the power cord is unplugged and then replugged, when the system is restarted it turns on and then shuts off, turns on again on its own, shuts off again and on the third try and picks up and goes on...
2. when restarted the BIOS seems to hang for maybe 25 seconds and then i get the Intel screen and things go smoothly."

How quickly do you plug in again? Momentarily, when you switch off, the fan stops and there is s slight temperature surge. This would also relate to the Bios Hanging. Have a look in you bios cooling configuration and see what you have set as the cut outs. Perhaps, if possible, you could even diable it temporarily, for the test?
Check if whatever fans you have are actually running, and well.

Dzomlija · Jul 8, 2008

DrHuss said:
Hi All - i need some help. Ive recently built my own system and one issue im having with Vusta 64 bit is that sometimes, out of no where and at no specific instance. the whole system just restarts for no reason. Ive noticed this happen more than once when running windows media center and when listening to music on windows media player but i can not with all certainty say that this is the only time it happens.
Belo are system specs
1. Vista home premium SP1 64 bit
2. Home built system: QX9650 quad core, DX48BT2 board
3. Corsair 750W PS
4. 4GB RAM (i think they are patriot 1333)
5. GTX9800 XFX VGA Card
6. Hauppague PVR 1600 (this only have a beta driver for 64 but +4 GB ram)
7. Wireless N linksys internal cars i think its NP-300 or something like that

I was trying to find out in the event log what the issue was and it doesnt seem to be recording it as a system faliure.... i do however notice alot of XTUService error (which is intel extreme utility).
I did have INtel Desktop control utility installed (though i never in any shape or form overclocked the system) but i removed it and problem still occurs.

A few other things i also noticed - not sure if they are related
1. if the power cord is unplugged and then replugged, when the system is restarted it turns on and then shuts off, turns on again on its own, shuts off again and on the third try and picks up and goes on...
2. when restarted the BIOS seems to hang for maybe 25 seconds and then i get the Intel screen and things go smoothly.

seems like a lot of problems... help is appreciated and let me know if you need more information... im a beginner so thanks alot for any feedback and sorry if i posted in the wrong section

What you can also do to help determine what is causing the restart, is prevent restarts on system failure. Sometimes a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) doesn't show long enough for us to see it, and we percieve it as a simple restart. But to see a BSOD, do the following:

Press <WINDOWS_KEY>+<BREAK>
In the left pabe, click "Advanced System Settings" (you'll need to respond to a UAC prompt)
In the "System Properties" window, under the "Startup and Recovery" section, click the "Settings" button.
In the "Startup and Recovery" window, under "System Failure", remove the check from the "Automatically Restart" box.
Click "OK"
Click "OK" again
Close the System and Maintenance window

If, in fact, you are experiencing a BSOD, it will remain on-screen long enough for you to note down any pertinent information, such as:

STOP Code (for example, Stop 0x00000050) and name (For example, PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA)
Any driver filenames, if provided (for example, AUDIO.SYS, NTFS.SYS, etc). If it does provide a filename, then we need to determine to which driver it belongs, and that driver will have to be replaced with an updated version.

If you are having a BSOD, then provide the details that it gives. It will help us to determine WHAT is causing it, and allow us to take appropriate action.

DrHuss · Jul 8, 2008

thanks all for your help
to answer the first question - it happens more like once every 3 days
2. MY temperatures are 30-35 for CPU, 26 for HDD, and 54- 60 for GPU. all fans are set on high in Antec 900 case
3. this short issue for the case is interesting.... i didn install all the risers that came with the case
4. i will remove the restart feasture and see what happens.
5. usually when i unplug i would wait approx one min before replugging

thanks alot all and if you have more suggestions based on this new info let me know

acadamis2000 · Jul 8, 2008

One thing that I would definitely check is to make sure that the standoffs are all in the correct location and not shorting out the board. With Vista, you can always run the built in memory testing tool for ****s and giggles to make sure that the memory is not the issue, which with restarts can be a pest. Might not be due to the fact that your computer is not firing up properly. Check the standoffs, then put minimum parts back in to run a few test power ups. To me, kind of sounds like a motherboard issue but that might just be the years of service technician work talking

DrHuss · Jul 8, 2008

acadamis2000 said:
One thing that I would definitely check is to make sure that the standoffs are all in the correct location and not shorting out the board. With Vista, you can always run the built in memory testing tool for ****s and giggles to make sure that the memory is not the issue, which with restarts can be a pest. Might not be due to the fact that your computer is not firing up properly. Check the standoffs, then put minimum parts back in to run a few test power ups. To me, kind of sounds like a motherboard issue but that might just be the years of service technician work talking

thanks for your reply... can you help me - what do you mean by check if all the standoffs are in the right place? where should they be. i remember having less standoffs than the number of screw locations on the board and hence not all locations are screwed... i also know that in some locations i dont have this little plastic piece between the screw and the board - had only a few at hand

acadamis2000 · Jul 8, 2008

When you installed the motherboard, you install the standoffs that will sit between the board and the case. This will keep the motherboard from touching the metal part of the case and shorting out. Just make sure that they are lined up in the correct location and screwed in properly. If you did not install standoffs, definitely do so before turning on the computer again. This can fry the board very quickly.

DrHuss · Jul 8, 2008

acadamis2000 said:
When you installed the motherboard, you install the standoffs that will sit between the board and the case. This will keep the motherboard from touching the metal part of the case and shorting out. Just make sure that they are lined up in the correct location and screwed in properly. If you did not install standoffs, definitely do so before turning on the computer again. This can fry the board very quickly.

i know i installed the standoffs- i will double check tonight after im done with all my stupid meetings.... meaning by 9 pm

DrHuss · Jul 9, 2008

yup checked the standoff... not it
by the way i should probbly mention that the first time i built the susyetm with a BT2 board it had the same "start - shut down - start cycle when first plugged in" then i fried that board (still looking for root cause), went with Nvidia board problemn went away but had another one were the system would just freeze unexpectedly... returned that and went back with Intel BT2 and got back the same problem...
someone help me with this restart issue

acadamis2000 · Jul 9, 2008

Did you run the built in memory tester in Vista to check the RAM. That would be the next step to try also. Possible even testing the power supply wouldnt hurt either.

DrHuss · Jul 9, 2008

how do you run the mem test in vista and how do you check the PS?

Dzomlija · Jul 9, 2008

DrHuss said:
yup checked the standoff... not it
by the way i should probbly mention that the first time i built the susyetm with a BT2 board it had the same "start - shut down - start cycle when first plugged in" then i fried that board (still looking for root cause), went with Nvidia board problemn went away but had another one were the system would just freeze unexpectedly... returned that and went back with Intel BT2 and got back the same problem...
someone help me with this restart issue

If you've had this problem before with an entirely different board, then have you considered looking at the power supply?

DrHuss · Jul 9, 2008

even the PS was changed from first board to 2nd board had a 500 W and moved to a 750W when i got the new board - still restart problem on this board was not observed on the other one (probably because it didnt live that long)

acadamis2000 · Jul 9, 2008

Memory test is in the Administrative Tools. If its not installed on your start menu, goto the control panel then administrative tools, then run test.

Dzomlija · Jul 9, 2008

DrHuss said:
even the PS was changed from first board to 2nd board had a 500 W and moved to a 750W when i got the new board - still restart problem on this board was not observed on the other one (probably because it didnt live that long)

Now this is where it gets interesting. Try disconnecting any "optional" hardware items that the computer can work without (scanners, printers, webcams and such) and get the system going with only the basics.

I mention this because I had a similar problem with a customer computer several years ago. When I built the computer, it worked without any glitches in the workshop. But when the customer took the computer home, it was a matter of minutes and it blue-screened. But there where no problems at all in the workshop when the customer brought it back to me. I eventually tracked it down to his scanner (which he didn't get from me) that he connected to the printer, which was connected to the computer (he got the printer and the computer from me). The scanner was causing a conflict with the printer driver. When we removed the scanner from the whole setup, the problems went away.

This might be a similar case of a hardware conflict of some sort?

acadamis2000 · Jul 9, 2008

Good call, start with just the basics and see if that makes any differences.

DrHuss · Jul 9, 2008

Ran Memtest no issues.. there is nothing connected to the PC as in external useless hardware... again the problem is not continuous.... it happens once in a while... today the PC ran fine

DrHuss · Jul 10, 2008

OKAY! AFTER UNCHECKING RESTART ON SYSTEM FALIURE, THE SYSTEM JUST HUNG UP NOW- was running windows media center (TV on) and internet explorer. system simply hung and sound started making wierd noises like there is static... had to shut the PC off and restart
no error code or anything
no record of system problem in log
HELP

Help - system unexpectedly restarts

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