computer randomly reboots

[randal1013]

i built a customized computer a few months ago and i'm suddenly having some problems.

PC:
AMD athlon 64 3800+ (2.4GHz)
1GB of DDRAM
chaintech ATX mobo
geforce4 ti 4400 video card
i use the onboard sound card
i have a western digital hard drive @ 120GB capacity
the psu is a generic brand that came with the case. it says it has a total max of 350W output.


so on rare occassion my computer will randomly reboot, and sometimes it won't even reboot, it will just keep trying to boot up and it will beep and retry then beep and retry, and so on and so forth. i think this only happens when the computer has been on for days. i can't tell if it's overheating or the psu is just too generic or something and ultimately not powerfull enough. i recently put a new, more powerfull fan on my cpu, and everything worked fine for a good while before it started this random rebooting. i thought maybe the hard drive was overheating, so i bought a fan for it, and everything ran fine until today. i've had my computer on for a few days and it just tried to reboot by itself. i had loaded up vice city while i had a bittorrent program and music player running in the background. i don't know if maybe i didn't clean off the cpu well enough before installing the new fan, but it did fine for a couple weeks or so before the funny business started.


does anyone know what might be going on with my comp?

 

[dhw200]

Id say its PSU. Generic = Crap. Even if its not the issue, u should get another one

 

[anmont]

While dwh200's comment has some validity, it doesn't really leave you with too much to go on.
Does your bios have a hardware monitor (can you see what the temperature of the processor is operating at?).
This sounds very much like it still may be overheating. When it does this reboot, go directly into the bios and see if the processor is too hot. It could also be that the temperature your bios is shutting down the pc may be set too low. Is your heatsink seated properly? (were you too lazy to put the thermal paste on between the processor and the heatsink(my biggest mistake)).
The only other reasons that I have experienced with this is; if there is a bad capacitor on the motherboard, or if there was a problem with the power supply.

 

[randal1013]

i don't think my cpu is overheating. i applied plenty of thermal paste when i installed the new fan, and i've checked the temperature a number of times and it's always well below the max temp that AMD recommends on their site.

i dont know why it randomly rebooted, but i've had my PC on for a few days, again, and it's fine.

i've ordered a new, robust power supply from newegg. regardless if my current psu is the problem, i still kind of wanted to get a really good psu anyway.

 

[Sprooty]

i don't think my cpu is overheating. i applied plenty of thermal paste when i installed the new fan

You are not meant to apply much thermal paste at all, less then a 1mm layer over the dye of the CPU. To much will cause the thermal paste to have a reverse affect.

 

[Ring0]

You are not meant to apply much thermal paste at all, less then a 1mm layer over the dye of the CPU. To much will cause the thermal paste to have a reverse affect.

He is correct. Too much paste will just absorb the heat into the excess paste, and not read correctly.

 

[randal1013]

but i check the cpu temp and it's always at a reasonable temp. if the thermal paste was too much and it was overheating, wouldn't i see a really high cpu temp?

 

[Sprooty]

what temps are you getting?

If its over 55c then that would be pushing it a little.

 

[Elbatrop1]

I wrote a big guide on random reboots. The link is in my sig. If that doesnt help out, then post back.

EDIT: I just noticed that it isnt in my sig, but it is at the top of the hardware zone.

 

[Nitestick]

replace the psu anyway