Maximum PC

Alright, I am stumped with this problem. This has been happening now for a while and I have tried everything short of throwing it out the window to see if that works.

My computer is rebooting itself randomly. Sometimes it is right at the load screen, sometimes when it is just idling, and othertimes, when we open a program (none specifically though which trigger it).

What I have tried:

- Formatting to Windows XP and then Windows 7 again
- Memtest86 for 10 runs
- Changed the motherboard, Ram, and CPU
- Swapped video cards
- Logged into safe mode
- Tried another PSU
- Checked temps and they are fine

Everything has just kept the same result. I am convinced that it is a hardware problem now because of the reformatting and safe mode options that still didnt work. The only things I havent tried is removing the ODD (but that doesnt seem possible since we never really use them) and the HDD. Is there a simple way to test the HDD without hooking it up to another computer?

Specs of the machine:

- AMD Athlon II X2 250 (AM3 socket)
- MSI 870-G45 Mobo
- 4GB DDR3 RAM (1 module)
- Radeon x600 Graphics Card (Family comp for generic use)
- 2 ODD (Cd Burner and a DVD Burner)
- Seagate 320GB drive (boot drive and Data partition)
- Maxtor 250GB drive (Another Data partition)
- 450 Watt power supply

What can be wrong with this? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Go to the Seagate site and get their diagnostic software, I like the Dos type because you have to boot to it in order for it to run. First run the 90 second test, then the long test....takes an hour or so. The results will tell you if the hard drive is dieing or healthy. I prefer this to the Disk Management option in windows as it was written by Seagate to test their drives specifically.

Nasty

also seagate had a firmware problem with some of their older drives 7200.11 I think there is an update available. I own 5 of those 320s and have had problems with 4 of them, dont know if rebooting was a problem though.

Looks like either some malicious code or serious malfunction of the OS. If anti-vir scan fails, I'd just format the machine, which will solve the problem with 99.9% certainty.

Have you taken a good look at the motherboard for blown caps? Here are examples:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&suge ... 0QHv54GYDg

If you have any, you will need to either replace the motherboard or replace the caps if you have the expertise.

When you run memtest86+ you need to check one stick at a time. If any errors are present either RMA the ram or replace it with a new stick. RAM these days has a lifetime warranty.

Did you use the Seagate diagnostic software to check the hard drive?

Nasty

Well I have looked at everything but it seems to be that it is the mixture of AMD proc and MSI mobo as I am getting the Hyper Transport Sync Flood Error which seems to be common with no fix. I am now just waiting to save up some money and purchase an Asus motherboard and Core i7 proc, and chuck the rest.

Unless anyone has any ideas on how to get around this?

I have the updated BIOS, upped the NB, SB, Ram clocks and everything that I could find on the net and other forums and nothing works. If no one can help then I will be going the Intel route.

Did some perusing on the interwebs and found this post:



Hope this helps.

Nasty