Random restarts during playing

Ogalik · 04-19-2009, 01:19 PM

Lately I've been having random restarts while playing games (tested with WoW and COD4). At first I assumed this was due to overheating, but after watching my GPU temp closely, setting fan speeds to full, opening the case and even getting an extra fan to blow some cool air into my opened case, I concluded that the crashes were not temp related. GPU temperature never went above 56C, which should be more than fine for a 8800GT. Something to note here is that the card seems to crash when I pass the mid 60s, but I can generally avoid that.

Problems started on the 8th. After checking if it was an overheat, I upgraded all my drivers just in case, but no difference. Messed around a bit in BIOS but no change either.

The comp is a bit more than a year old, it has a NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT vid card, 2 x 1gig of ram, Fortron Blue Storm II 500W PSU, 320gb 7200rpm harddrive, Inter Core 2 Duo and a GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L P35+ICH9 mobo, running XP S3.

I'm running out of ideas about these crashes. It shouldn't be temp or power related, so I can only assume the card is dead, but I thought I'd check here before I send it to warranty (which I'd hate to do, so this is really my last resort). Any ideas, anyone?

**emosun** · 04-19-2009, 01:22 PM

Well the power supply doesn't meet the ACTUAL requirement for a 8800 which is 600w or higher with 26 amps on the 12v rail.

Check the voltages in the bios or use speedfan to make sure it's putting out solid currents. It is infact 80+ efficient and has enough amps if the 12v rails were combined , but it could be the weak point.

Ogalik · 04-19-2009, 02:27 PM

Checked it with Speedfan and it showed 1,22V at the +12V. This seemed wierd so I checked in BIOS, it was ok, and in Everest it also showed 12,19V, so was ok. I assume Speedfan is just showing wrong numbers. My PSU should be fine, but thanks for the help, any other ideas?

**emosun** · 04-19-2009, 04:12 PM

When the computer restarts is it a hard restart? Or does it blue screen? Or does windows restart it?

Ogalik · 04-20-2009, 05:41 AM

It's pretty much the same as if I would have manually pressed the restart button, which, iirc, is a hard restart. I disabled automatically restart from Startup and Recovery -> System Failure, hoping it would show me a blue screen with an error message, but it crashes just like it did still.

**emosun** · 04-20-2009, 02:05 PM

How is the cpu temp under load?

Ogalik · 04-21-2009, 06:15 AM

CPU temp is somewhere around 45 during playing, 22-28 on desktop.

However, I ran some tests, memtest and LinX. Memtest checked out fine, but 10-20 minutes of LinX crashes my system without temps exceeding 45 anywhere (around 43-45 in CPU, Core1 and Core2). So I assume the issue is in my dual core instead of my vid card which I assumed the problem was, but I have no clue what exactly the issue is, any ideas?

**emosun** · 04-21-2009, 07:23 PM

I would try an os reinstall and start fresh , to eliminate it as a possible software and not hardware issue. You could install it on a spare hdd or flash drive if you don't want to loose your current installation.

After that I'm gonna go back to saying it's the power supply.

04-19-2009, 01:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
Ogalik Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 13 OS: XP S3	Random restarts during playing Lately I've been having random restarts while playing games (tested with WoW and COD4). At first I assumed this was due to overheating, but after watching my GPU temp closely, setting fan speeds to full, opening the case and even getting an extra fan to blow some cool air into my opened case, I concluded that the crashes were not temp related. GPU temperature never went above 56C, which should be more than fine for a 8800GT. Something to note here is that the card seems to crash when I pass the mid 60s, but I can generally avoid that. Problems started on the 8th. After checking if it was an overheat, I upgraded all my drivers just in case, but no difference. Messed around a bit in BIOS but no change either. The comp is a bit more than a year old, it has a NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT vid card, 2 x 1gig of ram, Fortron Blue Storm II 500W PSU, 320gb 7200rpm harddrive, Inter Core 2 Duo and a GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L P35+ICH9 mobo, running XP S3. I'm running out of ideas about these crashes. It shouldn't be temp or power related, so I can only assume the card is dead, but I thought I'd check here before I send it to warranty (which I'd hate to do, so this is really my last resort). Any ideas, anyone?

04-19-2009, 01:22 PM	#2 (permalink)
emosun Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: usa Posts: 6,988 OS: xp pro sp2 My System	Re: Random restarts during playing Well the power supply doesn't meet the ACTUAL requirement for a 8800 which is 600w or higher with 26 amps on the 12v rail. Check the voltages in the bios or use speedfan to make sure it's putting out solid currents. It is infact 80+ efficient and has enough amps if the 12v rails were combined , but it could be the weak point. __________________ Gpu Benchmarks Cpu-Z Power supply information and selection Gpu-Z Video card quick list

04-19-2009, 02:27 PM	#3 (permalink)
Ogalik Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 13 OS: XP S3	Re: Random restarts during playing Checked it with Speedfan and it showed 1,22V at the +12V. This seemed wierd so I checked in BIOS, it was ok, and in Everest it also showed 12,19V, so was ok. I assume Speedfan is just showing wrong numbers. My PSU should be fine, but thanks for the help, any other ideas?

04-19-2009, 04:12 PM	#4 (permalink)
emosun Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: usa Posts: 6,988 OS: xp pro sp2 My System	Re: Random restarts during playing When the computer restarts is it a hard restart? Or does it blue screen? Or does windows restart it? __________________ Gpu Benchmarks Cpu-Z Power supply information and selection Gpu-Z Video card quick list

04-20-2009, 05:41 AM	#5 (permalink)
Ogalik Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 13 OS: XP S3	Re: Random restarts during playing It's pretty much the same as if I would have manually pressed the restart button, which, iirc, is a hard restart. I disabled automatically restart from Startup and Recovery -> System Failure, hoping it would show me a blue screen with an error message, but it crashes just like it did still.

04-20-2009, 02:05 PM	#6 (permalink)
emosun Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: usa Posts: 6,988 OS: xp pro sp2 My System	Re: Random restarts during playing How is the cpu temp under load? __________________ Gpu Benchmarks Cpu-Z Power supply information and selection Gpu-Z Video card quick list

04-21-2009, 06:15 AM	#7 (permalink)
Ogalik Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 13 OS: XP S3	Re: Random restarts during playing CPU temp is somewhere around 45 during playing, 22-28 on desktop. However, I ran some tests, memtest and LinX. Memtest checked out fine, but 10-20 minutes of LinX crashes my system without temps exceeding 45 anywhere (around 43-45 in CPU, Core1 and Core2). So I assume the issue is in my dual core instead of my vid card which I assumed the problem was, but I have no clue what exactly the issue is, any ideas? Last edited by Ogalik; 04-21-2009 at 06:17 AM.

04-21-2009, 07:23 PM	#8 (permalink)
emosun Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: usa Posts: 6,988 OS: xp pro sp2 My System	Re: Random restarts during playing I would try an os reinstall and start fresh , to eliminate it as a possible software and not hardware issue. You could install it on a spare hdd or flash drive if you don't want to loose your current installation. After that I'm gonna go back to saying it's the power supply. __________________ Gpu Benchmarks Cpu-Z Power supply information and selection Gpu-Z Video card quick list