Error Code 41 - Kernel Power Failure

Hello I was wondering if anyone could help me or if anyone has similar issues?

I've been plagued with random restarts from error code 41 - kernel power failure for weeks.

Please don't send me off to the microsoft knowledgebase, that doesn't tell me Jack! especially with the bug check code of "0"

I tried reinstalling windows no joy, so it had to be my PSU right? Even though my 2-3 year old Corsair HX850W with it's 7 year warranty (guess what, I can't find the receipt!) is supposed to be bullet proof. So, new PSU purchased. An Antec Earthwatts 650w. Still the same problem.

I checked the RAM, 4X 2GB sticks, one by one, they all failed on Test 7 of Memtest 86. As did two brand new sticks. A google revealed that that version of Memtest fails on Test 7 regardless. I tried the latest version of Memtest 86+ and all the sticks passed.

I checked all 3 hard drives with Seatools - all 3 were fine.

I've reinstalled windows 7 64 bit Professional yet again and decided not to install any updates.

I installed the latest graphics card driver for my ATI Radeon HD5700 card. That insisted on installing the .net4 framework as well. I restarted and within minutes the computer restarted. It has now randomly locked up.

Linux Mint seems to be working ok. I ran prime 95 on it which was going well but the computer did lock up when it went to the screen saver. I'll give it a try again later on. Otherwise, Mint was fine being left on over night, whereas Windows will shutdown and restart several times, even just sitting on the login screen!

Could it be the .net 4 framework?
Could it be my motherboard on the way out?
Could my processor be dieing? An Intel I5 760, not overclocked
Could it be the Graphics card?

I am very short of money so if it turns out to be software, I do not want to be buying more hardware after wasting money already on a PSU.

Any advice or suggestions would be most welcome

Windows 7 64 bit professional
Intel Core I5 760
Motherboard: ASROCK P55 Pro USB3
Graphics: ATI Radeon HD5700
Soundcard: Creative Audigy Platinum (I know this isn't supported by win 7 but no drivers for it are installed since my last windows reinstall last night)

Does your computer turn its self off? or just freeze? Causing the Kernal Power Error?.

It usually just shuts down and restarts. The freezing has only just occured since the latest reinstall, which has happened twice and it has rebooted once, just after installing the correct graphics card driver.

It's been rebooting several times a day for weeks, well just over a month. I did a clean install about a month ago, brought the new PSU, that came the start of last week which didn't fix the problem so I've decided it's software and did a clean install last night. Haven't installed any updates and the only driver I've added is the Graphics one which prompted a reboot with error 41 shortly after the initial reboot for the installation.

I was aware the driver also installed the .net framework 4

Try:

Ininstalling Driver, And .net4

Then try installing an OLDER driver for your card.

A slight development here.

I was running prime 95 in linux mint, it had been going for at least an hour, processor tempretures had gone up quickly to between 70-75oC and had been sat there for a while.

I came back to the computer and found it had restarted and booted into windows. So maybe there is a hardware issue after all

Will try an older driver on the graphics card anyway. See how that goes.

Keep an eye on your Processor and motherboard temp aswell.

Perhaps install a Temp reader.

A few more things have happened. Using Windows XP, that seemed to be running ok for about an hour then shut itself down when I was away from the computer, rebooting into Windows 7. On the desktop, the machine was locked up again. I say locked up - neither mouse or keyboard was working, although they had power going to them (both USB) so I turned it off with the power button.

When I restarted, I had the motherboards splash screen come up, something I turned off a while ago, followed by a "CMOS Checksum Bad" error.

So, could my motherboard be the culprit?
CPU?
Has this error just come up because of an improper shut down?
Or will a new CMOS battery fix things?!?

Update the motherboards firmware, see the manufacturs website for details,

I'm out at the moment, using my mobile phone. So I can't send trough full instructions,

I had both of these errors but my computer wouldn't shut off by itself. It would wake from sleep mode but the displays would never turn on, so I had to do a hard restart causing the kernel power error.

The Kernel power error was fixed by changing ACPI S3 (STR) to ACPI S1 (POS) in the BIOS.
CMOS Checksum bad error was fixed with a new CMOS battery.

"ACPI S3 (STR) to ACPI S1 (POS)" I'm not sure what that is - Is that power saving features?

I'll put a new better in just to be sure but the time appears to be correct in XP (I think the XP reboot was down to an update being installed - there doesn't seem to have been an error generated)

Motherboard firmware - do you mean the BIOS? The BIOS is fully up to date on my motherboard. They've only ever released one update and it's a couple of years old.

The Windows 7 lookups are a fairly new occurrence since reinstalling a few days ago. Before then it was random reboots with the error code 41 several times a day.

The ACPI is a power saving feature in the BIOS.