Computer restart unmotivated.

[darkhorse]

I have encountered, that my computer does restart unmotivated, and suddenly.

Could it be the backup batteri for the BIOS ?.

Is there any log somewhere ?

 

[Northernsoul55]

Hi Darkhorse,

If the CMOS settings are incorrect due to a failing CMOS battery,
that may possibly account for the reboots, although there are other causes,
like bad memory, overheating issues and possibly a failing PSU.

Do you get a CMOS checksum error at boot? Is the system time incorrect frequently?
If so replace the battery.

You can stop the restart problem by stopping automatic startup when your computer's having a problem by way of System Failure Settings to Stop Automatic Restarts
(bear in mind this will not fix the issue, just stop the restarts):

1. Click Start and Open the Control Panel, choose icon view
2. Go to System, Click on System.
3. Select Advanced System Settings and choose Advanced tab.
4. Under Startup and Recovery, click on Settings.
5. Under System failure uncheck Automatically restart.

Check all fans are running correctly, the inside of the case is free of dust (which can act like an insulator).
Monitoring the temperature of the system using :ar: HWMonitor

Take memtest. Run for 8 passes and test each stick in a know good slot for an additional 6 passes.

:ar: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/105647-ram-test-memtest86.html

   Tip

Run these tests overnight, pay particular attention to #3 in tutorial

cheers

Dave

 

[darkhorse]

@Northernsoul55

Hi and thanks for your reply to my query.


I will run through your suggestions, and will report back after.

 

[Northernsoul55]

No problem, look forward to your reply.

cheers

Dave

 

[darkhorse]

Back again after the tests.

I have not received any CMOS checksum errors. The system time is ok.

I stopped the restart from your advice.

Also I removed dust from the fan on the CPU. Was not a huge amount, and I remove it often.

The HWMonitor and MEMTEST results are shown in the dumps here.

 

[Northernsoul55]

Hi,

Looks to me like your Vcore voltage is too low, but I am not 100% so I have
asked another member Essenbe to check it out for you.
(Please be patient as he is off-line at the moment)

You could check in the BIOS to see if your settings are set to stock?

How is the computer now, has the restarts stopped since disabling Automat restart?

cheers

Dave

 

[darkhorse]

Hi.

That is fine with Essenbe, I will wait for him. Thanks for asking him.

I'll see how my BIOS settings looks like.

The computer has behaved ok since I asked here

 

[essenbe]

Darkhorse, sorrry for the delay. This is simply personal preference, but I don't like HW monitor for values. A lot of people really like it so, again personal preference. The voltages I see look low. ATX standards are +/- 5%. Most those voltages are below that. If you can, please go to bios and most boards have a Hardware Monitor, please give me the values you find there for the +12V, +5v , and +3.3V. Also, I've never had that CPU so am not sure about your Vcore. If you could would you download Core Temp. It is a temp monitoring program but has another improtant value it shows. The VID it shows is directly related to Vcore. The values Intel Gives are Vid ranges. Could you give me the VID from Core temp? According to Intel the VID should be between 0.85V – 1.3625V.

 

[darkhorse]

@essenbe

No problem with the delay. For me this is just a hobby

I took a photo of the BIOS, and also installed the Core Temp.


Both picts are shown here.

 

[essenbe]

In BIOS your 5V is good, your 3.3V is barely within ATX Standards but is OK, it didn't show your +12V for some reason. Vcore looks ok. From the values I've seen in bios and HW Monitor, I would say your PSU is borderline. Seasonic is an excellent brand, how old is it? I may suggest going into bios and look at your ram, timings, frequency and voltage and your sata controller mode (IDE,AHCI) then set optimized defaults, set your sata controller the way it is right now and set your ram timings, voltage and frequency to manufacturers specs, which should be the way they are right now, but check. Sometimes setting everything back to default levels solves problems that would tke forever to run down. Also, if you have any issues with bios not holding the values you set or your clock being off, replace the CMOS battery. They are quite cheap and pretty common. I imagine you know, but if you replace your CMOS battery, all bios settings will be lost. You will have to go back in and set defaults then completely reset bios, including date and time.

 

[darkhorse]

Why do you think, that the 12V is not shown ?. It's shown in the first dump I show.

The Seasonic PSU, I don't know it's age, but it's some years old.

How do I reset BIOS ?. By removing the BIOS battery or ?.

Also how do I set defaults then completely ?. To what values ?.

By reading the manual for the MOBO ?.

The link to the MOBO manual is here:

P5Q Deluxe - Motherboards - ASUS

And it's windows 7 ultimate 64bit

 

[essenbe]

There's usually an 'optimized defaults' or just a defaults setting in bios. It's usually listed in the help section if not in the exit menu. You can completely reset it bu removing the CMOS battery after you unplug the PSU and hold down the start button for 20-30 seconds to drain the standby power, but then you need to set optimized defaults after that. Let me see.

 

[essenbe]

In BIOS press F5 and you will get a confirmation screen asking if you want to load defaults, press yes, then set the sata controller to the way it is right now, set the ram frequency, timings and voltage to manufacturers specs (it should be that way now), then set the boot options, save and exit.

EDIT: If you don't have it please download and install CPUz and post screenshots of the Mainboard, CPU, Memory and SPD tabs. If the SPD tab is empty, in the top left where it says channel 1 use the dropdown list and select the next channel.

 

[darkhorse]

If I use F5, I get what is the way to choose Failsafe mode by entering F8.

I do not get up the screen asking if I want to load defaults. But that I can do by entering Exit in the BIOS, and I have done so.

I'm not sure where to set the sata controller, the ram frequency, timings and voltage.

Dumps from CPU-Z is attached.

 

[essenbe]

Do you get that screen every time you start? What I told you about F5 came from your manual. If you are using the F5 on start up that may be the issue. You need to go into BIOS, once there press F5. Your ram looks good. It's set up right. All this stuff is in your manual, but I can look it up for you if you want. The Dram (Ram) timings, frequency an Voltage should be under the AI Tweaker tab. I suspect the Sata controller will be under Advanced tab, but I'll look for you.

 

[essenbe]

The sata mode is on the main tab under storage configuration, select storage configuration and press enter to open it. Make sure you set it to what it is now or your computer won't boot. See section 3.3.6 in your manual. You will have a choice of IDE, AHCI or Raid.

 

[darkhorse]

Do you get that screen every time you start? What I told you about F5 came from your manual. If you are using the F5 on start up that may be the issue. You need to go into BIOS, once there press F5. Your ram looks good. It's set up right. All this stuff is in your manual, but I can look it up for you if you want. The Dram (Ram) timings, frequency an Voltage should be under the AI Tweaker tab. I suspect the Sata controller will be under Advanced tab, but I'll look for you.

I misunderstood it, sorry. If entering BIOS and F5 the default option came up. But I did not get any options, and this is exactly what I also get, if I do the same from the Exit menu in the BIOS.

BTW, having loaded the default, the socalled ASUS Express Gate SSD come up when booting, and at that point I cannot use it as the mouse is not active at that time of the boot. Never mind, I deselected the express gat ssd to avoid it's booting

Thanks for looking at the SATA this time.

 

[darkhorse]

The sata mode is on the main tab under storage configuration, select storage configuration and press enter to open it. Make sure you set it to what it is now or your computer won't boot. See section 3.3.6 in your manual. You will have a choice of IDE, AHCI or Raid.

It's set to IDE now.

 

[Northernsoul55]

Hi,

Exactly which motherboard do you have??? Its confusing to all?

This one you gave to Essenbe?

The link to the MOBO manual is here: P5Q Deluxe - Motherboards - ASUS

Or what you have stated in your system specs?

System Manufacturer/Model Number Homemade 
OS Windows 7 Ultimate 
CPU FX4100 
Motherboard [COLOR=red]ASRock 970 Extreme3[/COLOR] 
Memory 8G Corsair 
Graphics Card HD5400 
Sound Card N/A 
Monitor(s) Displays Acer 
Screen Resolution 1600x1200

Please clarify?

cheers

Dave

 

[essenbe]

OK, that's what you want it set to after you reset bios defaults, also check the Ram timings and voltage in AI Tweaker. I think we are a little confused. When we help someone we need to know the hardware we are dealing with. The motherboard and CPU we are discussing here is completely different in what is in your system specs.