Random restarting

I've already read like 15 different threads around Google about this problem but none of them really sounded like my problem.

What happens is that sometimes when I'm just using my computer, whether it be gaming or browsing the internet, it will restart randomly. Sometimes it will shut down and not even start up again. I don't think it is an overheating problem because it happens no matter the temp. of my cpu. There are no errors, no blue screens, just sudden shut down. It wasn't too much of a problem before, but just now when I was playing TF2, it "stopped working" and then my computer restarted. As it was starting up again, it restarted again. While it was booting up for the second time, it shut down and didn't wake up. I pressed the power button and tried to boot it up again, but it said something about corrupted startup files and ran startup repair. Now it works, but I want to know what could be the problem. Running Windows 7 x64 build 7100 (RC).

*2 hours later*

Just restarted about 4 times in a row, I was playing Prototype for the first time and it restarted barely 30 seconds in. I logged in and tried to test with Prime95 and it restarted almost immediately, before I could double-click on the .exe. Logged in again and tested without a restart, finally, within 2 minutes 2 of the 4 threads failed. Might have something to do with it. Tried to post here, restarted again.

*3 hours later*

Restarted a bunch of times again and had to launch startup repair, again. Could this be a power supply problem? Everest reports the +12v voltage at about 9-10 volts. What happened:
1. converting some music, restarted in the middle.
2. after just logging in, opened the app i was using and it restarted.
3. during startup, it restarted
4. did not even boot up this time, the computer just got stuck during POST. Reset button or holding power button down did not work - had to unplug computer.
5. after trying to boot up, it told me to launch startup repair. Restarted immediately after pressing enter.
6. launched startup repair again, restarted while launching it.
7. currently running startup repair, hoping it wont restart again...

*20 minutes later*

Ok, now this is starting to get ridiculous. startup repair was successful, but then after I logged in it restarted after about 5 minutes. Shut down the computer now, and I'm pretty sure I can smell burning coming from inside the case. can't tell what it's coming from, though.

help, somebody!

Dude if you are smelling something burning from inside your case then I dont know...something is OVERHEATING!!

Either that or you are overclocked...I didnt see you mention if you are overclocked or not...so yeah make sure to go back to your default settings.

Everything is default settings. Never overclocked before. I think it might be the power supply burning, but idk. CPU temperature according to Everest is around 32-37C so that can't be the problem, GPU temp is around the same, maybe 1-2C higher. What worries me is that the +12V voltage is much lower than it seems like it should be - about 9~10V.

Unplug the case from the wall, open it up, ground yourself by holding onto the metal of the frame and sniff around inside the case. Locate the source of the burning smell and you've located your primary problem.

That PSU is failing. First of all smell it like others are told you, u will note quite soon if something is toasted.

For other hand, some models can undervolt due simply to the cables in bad position. Try unplug it and plug it again trying to put the cables as well as you can, and check again the voltages. If the reads of +12V, +3.3V and +5V still so poor think about buying another one. You can try with multimeter too. GL.

I currently have a cold, so right now all I can smell is a general burning smell

I will try rearranging the cables to see if that works.

The air coming from the PSU is only a little bit warm. The CPU is only about 33C. RAM feels slightly warm. GPU is about 34C. Motherboard temps are around 29~30C. Anything I missed? Could it possibly be that I applied my thermal paste wrong? The smell isn't like normal electrical burning. Its kind of weird.

moshee said:

I currently have a cold, so right now all I can smell is a general burning smell

I will try rearranging the cables to see if that works.

The air coming from the PSU is only a little bit warm. The CPU is only about 33C. RAM feels slightly warm. GPU is about 34C. Motherboard temps are around 29~30C. Anything I missed? Could it possibly be that I applied my thermal paste wrong? The smell isn't like normal electrical burning. Its kind of weird.

it smells like burning plastic, right ?
definately the paste or PSU... if your PC is restarting then something is overheating and the PC is preventing it to boil by restarting... no alarm sounds or anything ? Wait, wait... check your HDD ! Seriously... i had a similiar issue several months ago..my PC kept freezing..and all of a sudden my hard drive burned...just in case check it out too..

For random shut downs and/or restarts, the strongest single suspect is a faulty/failing PSU and/or power connections to the motherboard.