Computer Restarting

My computer seems to be restarting while I am on SL. It is the only time my computer does this. It has not done this before. Any ideas?

I have Windows XP Home
1 gig of RAM
512 Nvidia 7600GS video card

some possible causes:
- overheating
- insufficient power supply
- software/hardware conflict

Perhaps the beginning of the end. My first SL computer died that death. You need a really big fan in there if it's not already too late.

A simple can of compressed air and a phillips screw driver can do wonders too........but do it outside.

If you've never blown out your computer case you are in for a huge surprise..........and it don't take long to get that way either.

I have a 580 watt power supply in my computer and also in one of my expansion bays slots, I placed a fan beside the video card. Also each month I clean out my computer with a can of air spray. I learned that the hard way on my last computer, never cleaned it out and it went out. lol

I just recently formatted my computer which wipped everything out and I reinstalled stuff and it just here since I done that, that my computer has been restarting alot. I already uninstalled my video card drivers and replaced it with old ones ((I used new ones from NVIDIA but took them out)) I also uninstalled SL and it is still happening.

When you formated your drive, did you also wipe it (write zeros or random data to every sector)? Last time I formated I did that..........and forgot to reinstall my motherboard drivers. Didn't even think of it because everything seemed to work fine and other formats did not screw them up like the wipe did.

Just a suggestion.........check those drivers.

Try this:
goto your System Properties
under Startup and Recovery
click Settings
look for Automatically restart
untick that
click OK

another thing is your PSU might not really be able to supply the 580 watts as stated.

On my computer I did a destructive recovery which says it wipes everything out and then reinstalls it to factory settings. Is that the samething? If not I do not know how to do that.

All the drivers of the computer (except for video card) are on a partition of the hardrive.

I've already disabled the automatic restart, but when I did that all I am getting now is the Blue Screen of Death.

If my PSU is not supplying the 580 and my video card only requires a 400. It shouldn't make a difference should it?

The only time this restarting is going on is when I am playing SL. It does it at random times.

I've left my computer on all night and it has not restarted cause I left this web page up and I've suffered the net and nothing else else is happening.

Mine was doing that and it ended up being a bad spot in the memory - when information hit that spot - my computer would spontaneously reboot. The error was confirmed with a memory tester - new Ram installed and end of problem.

How would I go about doing that to test to see if it is my RAM?

http://www.memtest86.com/download.html

ISO images suitable for creating a bootable Memtest86 CD-ROM ,burn iso, and reboot pc, it will start and test, if any of the test fail mem is defect, most have a loong waranty on them tho.

One of the hardest things to spot is the very fine almost angel hair like mess that cloggs up the computer case vents and lays like an invisible blanket over the system, just like a nice layer if insulation.

I will run that Memtest later tonight when I go to bed. I DLed it and started it up but did not realise it was going to take a long time. lol. I will update this after I run the test. Hopefull I figure something out. Thank you all for the advices.

I ran the test last night when I went to bed, results listed: 9 hours later and only 24% completed in the memory test (think I need to leave the house and let it run over the weekend, lol). Just 24% completed and it ran into 2 bad sectors in the ram. No way I can afford to go out and by a new ram stick to replace the bad one. Is there any other way to fix the problem?

memory usually have 5-lifetime warranty (-.- wich means as long as they produce them anyway) id return the ram if it had 1 error on that test, errr i forgot how long it take to do that, but you could quick test it , the complete one take forever : p

1 error is enough to justify a return on it, well i always gotten replacement when i had error on mine anyway, -.- but mine gave me seriously error like copying a file to somewhere else = corrupt file , even tho the file was fine till it got copied :q

How do I tell which ram stick it is? I have 2 different ram sticks in my computer both of them are 512= 1g. 1g is the highest my system will go. I believe it could be the one that came with my computer as it has done the random restart in the past but the random restart was like once every 5 or 6 months it would do it. I have had this computer for almost 4 years.

Run the test with 1 stick in it and if it's bad- it's that one, if it's good - it's the other one.

Also definately look into warranty replacement. I will only buy RAM with a lifetime warranty, and most manufacturers offer it.

Unless it's OEM RAM, like that comes with a Dell, HP...that type of system, then the RAM is only covered by the system warranty.

With my luck it is probably the stick that came with the computer. As I said, in the past it has done random restarts on other games (even before I bought the new ram stick) and at the time I only had 512 in it and the random restarts were rare.

It just been the past couple of days it has gotten worse. So pretty much if it gets worse I probably just need to remove the stick and wait until I can either afford a new ram stick or wait a bit longer and get a newer computer since this one is pretty much out of date.

All of this information has been very helpful to me in understand ram a bit more. Thank you all.

Unless motherboards have changed recently, if you are going to remove a memory stick you need to know which slot to place the one you want to use. You say you have two slots so both are used......most motherboards require a stick in a specific slot. So if you have the suspect module in that slot then you will have to move the suspected good one to it's place. Your manual should tell you which it is........or your manufacturer. But, you would know immediately if you got it wrong......your computer won't boot.

Hahaha.......I did it so I know. LOL