Windows 7: Windows 7 Random Restarts

Hey, I been having this issue with my computer over the last 4/5 days.
My computer is set up exactly the same way it has been for the last 16months and there has never been an issue with it. I have recently cleaned out my whole PC and replaced the thermal compound on the CPU chip and now I am seeming to have issues with my computer randomly restarting and crashing with no BSOD. In my event viewer I am getting alot of critical messages with 'Kernel-Power' (The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.)

Ive looking into all of my hardware being a techie and I can not see any issue with it, all components seem to be running fine. I can't see it being a heat issue either as my CPUs peak point is 77c - CoreTemp and my graphics card peak is 69c - Rivatuner. I dont see it being a heat build up in the case either as I have an thermal reader inside the case that only picks up 25c.

I have checked to see if all my drivers are up to date and they are and I have looked for software issues but I can not find anything.

I have seen in a few other forums about changing the voltages for RAM, FSB etc and it has fixed the issue. But I dont think this will be the case for me as it has run OC for the last 16 months with no need to touch those settings.

Would anyone be able to help me put an end to this issue.



Thanks

Try differents reading temperatures software such as Everest, Core temp of even Speedfan. See the result.

For your Q6600 your average temp at idle should be between 35-50 celcius. If it goes over that, then you have an overheating issue.

That is a stock speed for sure. I strongly suggest you try leaving your CPU a stock speed over 1 week and see if the problem persist.

Even for an overclocked q6600, 77 celcius is high or a cpu, but you have not reach the temp junction. Do you have anything activated that could shut up down your cpu automaticly beyond a fixed temperature ?

The temps for your GPU seems fine, no issue there.


I think we would need more information to provide more help.

Your PSU might be the problem. Best bet would be to try another CPU for 1 week and see the result. Just to avoid the possibility that the PSU might be in cause.

Hello, thanks for the reply. I've used differant temp readins and they all read the same. My CPU temp is no issue, it is running at 35c idle now and at 70c under full load now my thermal paste has settled in.
For the 77c part, that was under full load with old thermal paste. The temps are all good in the computer now, nothing is where it should be, I don't use any software either for automatic shutdown.

Any information you need let me know and I will post it asap.

I would be crosschecking all bits of my computer, but as I have no other hardware equipment to hand this is difficult and finances being tight make it harder.

Thanks

Well I think trying to test the PSU in another system or trying another PSU is a needed step in your case. I understand it is oftenly difficult to get electronics parts specially key components like a PSU or ram, if you dont buy them.

But considering the problem you are describing, and considering the temps seems not to be an issue since you've not reached anything near a dangerous temperature (maybe for the 77 celcius, but still)

it is likely related to power voltage, specially if you see no BSOD and the cpu simply reboot like this. Had you seen BSOD it would be another story.


You must ensure your PSU is still in good working conditions.


I think we may have to wait for more advanced users in this forum to give theirs opinions.



Also, I would try to eleminate the possibility of a faulty video card. Did you tried differents drivers ? Wich drivers are you using ? Is your Video card OC ?

I'm not sure it will even be a psu issue, all voltages read normall, and power consumption looks fine. But if I can get hold of another PSU I will test it. The only thing that might push it towards the PSU is the error i get in Event Viewer where it says the issue was caused by 'Kernal Power' Which I have yet to find out exactly what means.

To be fair m8, 77c is not a dangerous tempreture anyway. 77c is a reading from coretemp which mesaures the TJunction which can handle up to 100c on this core. If I run my asus reader with coretemp there is a 12c differance. The asus reader being a direct read from the CPU. So I would estimate the hottest it being around 66-70c. As the q6000 can handle up to 72.8c or something stupid I dont see it being an issue, especially when the CPU is OC.

Just because the computer does not BSOD does mean it is likely to be a power issue, it could still be many things. It could also be the motherboard, which is what i'm prediciting it to be atm, but not being able to find any direct issue im still stumped.

I have managed however to make the system more stable, by removing some of the USB connections, the front mic/headphone ports and my two firewire connections. However, this doesn't help me in a direction closer to finding the issue, as it leaves me in the current situation of mobo/psu.

The graphics card is not overclocked and the current driver version is 197.45 the most up to date. I've tried other drivers, but the issue stays the same. As far as Im aware there is no graphics card issue, I have ran several tests and no errors/fails at all.

nvidia drivers are know to be causing massive problem since 19x.xx. I run the lastest without any major issue, however my view event logs show lot of minors errors related to theses drivers.

My brother is using the same GPU than me with the same OS and the same drivers and he's having lot of reboot problem and freezing issue, all related to the video drivers. However if you tried older drivers and still have the issue it's clearly more than that.

For the temperatures I'm still more comfortable running temps lower than 65. I do not think your temp might be in cause. Even if the software are reading corrects power indicators it is still possible that the PSU might be in cause. However you are always the better judge of your problem so if you think it is not related then it is likely that you are right.

You could try to remove 1 ram and see the result. IF nothing happens, switch them, and try again differents positions on the mobo.

You may want to test your ram.

You can try to run Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool Follow the website instructions.