Solved Computer restarts at random times, bsods

[NMDanny]

I have this problem for some months, that i get random BSODs/computer restarts
First of all, a problem i have for some months: When i use mozila firefox browser, the computer crashes after a few minutes
And when i start BFBC2, it instantly reboots

But lately, it is happening more often, the computer restarts randomly when browsing in chrome, or playing in games (such as garrysmod and fallout new vegas)

And i'm not sure that it is a BSOD, because i only have two minidumps that are pretty old

I don't know if this is a software or hardware problem, because i tried installing drivers and it didn't help, and some months ago i reformatted windows and it didn't help either

The GPU Temperature is about 60*C after the computer restarts which is normal
And the CPU Temperature is about 59*C too

I'm planning on upgrading the hardware, probably the GPU
but i don't know if it is the problem, or is it the processor/psu/ram/motherboard/etc..

Included perfmon and bsod dump/system report file, but i'm not sure if the problems i have are BSODs since i don't get the actual blue screen and i only have two old minidumps
The computer just randomly restarts

 

[MvdB]

Temps seem ok...

You also have some problems with Windows Update

Please go to your Maintenance Center and check the Windows Update status. Make sure you are up to date, do them one by one manually if needed.
For help or reset see: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/91738-windows-update-reset.html

Furthermore... you might want to free some space on D:

Dumps are old...but the Aug 3rd one points to problems with your graphics drivers.
Please renew: ati driver

Make SURE you delete old first.
When upgrading your graphic driver you MUST remove all traces of the current driver. In order to do that we recommend using Driver Sweeper

Driver Sweeper is a fast tool to remove driver leftovers from your system. It's very important to remove your drivers on a proper way, because driver leftovers can cause problems like stability and startup problems. You can use it if you want to update/remove drivers from your system.

How to use ?

There are two methods to use Driver Sweeper.
Both methods achieve the same results. This method is always able to clean all files.

This method will delete remaining files upon reboot (if deleting failed). You can clean your drivers this way:

- Use the official uninstaller(s) of the driver(s) you want to uninstall.
- Reboot your PC in Safe Mode.
- Run Driver Sweeper and select what to clean.
- Analyse lists all the entries possible to remove, cleaning removes the entries selected.
- More drivers can be selected for the same cleaning process.

What can it be used for ?
The current supported drivers are NVIDIA (Display and Chipset), ATI (Display), Creative (Sound) Realtek (Sound), Ageia (PhysX) and Microsoft (Mouse).

Phyxion.net - Driver Sweeper
When it is removed then download and install the fresh copy, from the manufacturers' site if possible.

 

[NMDanny]

Fixed the windows update problem, freed some space in D:
I deleted ATI drivers like you said and reinstsalled, but it did not help, i keep getting computer restarts.

 

[MvdB]

Ok, then lets have a look at power. Could you please go through your Powerplan, incl Advanced settings? Turn off all powersaving? Also, in DEvices, go through ALL devices and turn off powersaving or powerdown options. Examples are NIC and USB here.

 

[NMDanny]

Turned all powersaving in power options advanced settings, and disabled powersaving in device manager
Computer still keeps restarting

 

[MvdB]

Does it restart if you let it idle in Safe Mode? Safe Mode - Windows 7 Forums

 

[NMDanny]

I don't think it ever restarts when idling, but i will check that

 

[NMDanny]

Ok, i was idling some minutes in safe mode in firefox, then switched to safe mode with networking and surfed the web in firefox with no problem, and idled in firefox for about 10-20 minutes
When i restarted to normal mode and got into firefox, the computer restarted within 2 mins, and tried it again and it restarted again

 

[MvdB]

And no dumps? In that case... there is dome driver or setting causingthis. Let's find the driver by using Driver Verifier:

I'd suggest that you first backup your stuff and then make sure you've got access to another computer so you can contact us if problems arise. Then make a System Restore point (so you can restore the system using the Vista/Win7 Startup Repair feature).

In Windows 7 you can make a Startup Repair disk by going to Start....All Programs...Maintenance...Create a System Repair Disc - with Windows Vista you'll have to use your installation disk or the "Repair your computer" option at the top of the Safe Mode menu .

Then, here's the procedure:
- Go to Start and type in "verifier" (without the quotes) and press Enter
- Select "Create custom settings (for code developers)" and click "Next"
- Select "Select individual settings from a full list" and click "Next"
- Select everything EXCEPT FOR "Low Resource Simulation" and click "Next"
- Select "Select driver names from a list" and click "Next"
Then select all drivers NOT provided by Microsoft and click "Next"
- Select "Finish" on the next page.

Reboot the system and wait for it to crash to the Blue Screen. Continue to use your system normally, and if you know what causes the crash, do that repeatedly. The objective here is to get the system to crash because Driver Verifier is stressing the drivers out. If it doesn't crash for you, then let it run for at least 36 hours of continuous operation (an estimate on my part).

If you can't get into Windows because it crashes too soon, try it in Safe Mode.
If you can't get into Safe Mode, try using System Restore from your installation DVD to set the system back to the previous restore point that you created.

 

[NMDanny]

Well, i enabled the driver verifier, and got the computer to crash and nothing happens
How do i get the results from verifier?
Or is it even working? because i'm not sure that what im getting is blue screens, since it doesn't show the blue screen iteself, the computer simply restarts, it says on the screen "Entering Power Saver Mode" and restarts

 

[MvdB]

Well, i enabled the driver verifier, and got the computer to crash and nothing happens
How do i get the results from verifier?
Or is it even working? because i'm not sure that what im getting is blue screens, since it doesn't show the blue screen iteself, the computer simply restarts, it says on the screen "Entering Power Saver Mode" and restarts

If it says that then you still have an inconsistent Powerplan setting.
Please check step by step, if you want you can post snips of the screens so we can help.

Driver verifier runs on its own and will test drivers. It is meant to do the crashing by itself (not helped by you) as it goes through all loaded drivers.

When you have a driver verifier induced crash you will have a dump.

To make sure your machine can make dumps at all..:

To ensure minidumps are enabled:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/174459-dump-files-configure-windows-create-bsod.html

Go to Start, in the Search Box type: sysdm.cpl, press Enter.
Under the Advanced tab, click on the Startup and Recovery Settings... button.
Ensure that Automatically restart is unchecked.
Under the Write Debugging Information header
Select Small memory dump (256 kB) in the dropdown box (the 256kb varies).
Ensure that the Small Dump Directory is listed as %systemroot%\Minidump.
OK your way out.
Reboot if changes have been made.

 

[NMDanny]

My computer is able to make dumps in the settings, but for some reason it doesn't, maybe because when my computer restarts it's not a bsod, or maybe there's some error

And what do you mean inconsistent powerplan setting?
The computer always say entering power save mode when i reset the computer/random restart
i don't think it actually means theres something wrong with the powerplan


Also, when the computer restarts, in the event log it says:
Critical Source- 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.

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
  <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power" Guid="{331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}" /> 
  <EventID>41</EventID> 
  <Version>2</Version> 
  <Level>1</Level> 
  <Task>63</Task> 
  <Opcode>0</Opcode> 
  <Keywords>0x8000000000000002</Keywords> 
  <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-08-27T14:36:13.551212400Z" /> 
  <EventRecordID>146635</EventRecordID> 
  <Correlation /> 
  <Execution ProcessID="4" ThreadID="8" /> 
  <Channel>System</Channel> 
  <Computer>Danny-PC</Computer> 
  <Security UserID="S-1-5-18" /> 
  </System>
- <EventData>
  <Data Name="BugcheckCode">0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BugcheckParameter1">0x0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BugcheckParameter2">0x0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BugcheckParameter3">0x0</Data> 
  <Data Name="BugcheckParameter4">0x0</Data> 
  <Data Name="SleepInProgress">false</Data> 
  <Data Name="PowerButtonTimestamp">0</Data> 
  </EventData>
  </Event>

And then Error Source Event Log
The previous system shutdown at 17:35:02 on ‎27/‎08/‎2011 was unexpected.

- <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
- <System>
  <Provider Name="EventLog" /> 
  <EventID Qualifiers="32768">6008</EventID> 
  <Level>2</Level> 
  <Task>0</Task> 
  <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> 
  <TimeCreated SystemTime="2011-08-27T14:36:22.000000000Z" /> 
  <EventRecordID>146636</EventRecordID> 
  <Channel>System</Channel> 
  <Computer>Danny-PC</Computer> 
  <Security /> 
  </System>
- <EventData>
  <Data>17:35:02</Data> 
  <Data>‎27/‎08/‎2011</Data> 
  <Data /> 
  <Data /> 
  <Data>2235</Data> 
  <Data /> 
  <Data /> 
  <Binary>DB07080006001B001100230002002403DB07080006001B000E002300020024033C0000003C000000000000000000000000000000000000000100000000000000</Binary> 
  </EventData>
  </Event>

Added snips of my powerplan

 

[MvdB]

That is what I mean with inconsistent settings. Regretfully, W7 doesn't handle that well. Turn every power saving thing off. No sleeping, no HDD powerdown, no USB stuff. Those three are still wrong here...

 

[NMDanny]

Didn't help
but i noticed, sometimes the core temperatures go up to 63*C , usually its around 59*C and when idling 51*C
could it be the problem? Because if i just get computer restart, then try to play in the same game, usually the computer restarts quickly, but if i play after a break, it takes more time to restart

However, no matter the heat, once i start BFBC2 the computer crashes before reaching the main menu, and in firefox computer restarts in less than 2 minutes

 

[MvdB]

Didn't help
but i noticed, sometimes the core temperatures go up to 63*C , usually its around 59*C and when idling 51*C
could it be the problem? Because if i just get computer restart, then try to play in the same game, usually the computer restarts quickly, but if i play after a break, it takes more time to restart

However, no matter the heat, once i start BFBC2 the computer crashes before reaching the main menu, and in firefox computer restarts in less than 2 minutes

What is your ambient temp? These are not too high for when on load, but it is a bit high when idle....

 

[NMDanny]

The problem was not the temperatures... it was the GPU and the PSU
My brother gave me a Nvidia Geforce 9400 GT and some PSU from 2006, now i'm able to run bfbc2 (on low settings, with some lags sometimes) but no more BSODs

i am going to buy a new GPU and maybe a PSU, something that would be able to run new games (such as bf3) on medium/high settings