PC restarts randomly.

>>304693
>Am I?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuKB0_t3J0A

Have you tried reinstalling the OS yet?

>>304725
>Have you tried reinstalling the OS yet?
No. Could that be the cause?

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>>304726
Seems you've eliminated most of the obvious hardware issues, so it very well could be.

Other possible issues could be PSU, or the hardware conflict and damage you haven't ruled out - or maybe getting overambitious with the thermal paste like pic related.

>>304728
>or maybe getting overambitious with the thermal paste like pic related.
No, that's not it. A friend built this PC and he's given it maintenance. This is a very recent problem, so I have no idea what it could be. Maybe an issue with the fan?

>>304735
Ya said you've got no heating problems...

Ya might wanna check it in more detail though:
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

56C is a bit warm for ambient motherboard temperature, but for anything else that's pretty darn cool.

Custom built PCs are prone to hardware conflicts though - but most of those will get you BSOD's rather than direct reboots.

>>304738
>direct reboots.
So what does a direct reboot usually mean?

>>304726
A bad sector landing in the registry or the page file can cause random reboots, as can various viruses and certain driver flaws. An OS reinstall will usually fix those issues. (Just be sure to back up anything unique first.) A low level hard drive scan (chkdsk /f /r + reboot) might fix it too, but sometimes damaged registry entries get copied to the backup registry, so a reinstall is all you can do anyways at that point, and Windows will do a hard drive scan as part of its install process, marking bad sectors ahead of time.

Memory gone bad will sometimes cause it, but usually in a more predictable fashion (ie. the first time you load anything large, puter goes smash.)

Overheating will cause it, though just as often will cause the computer to shut down (depending on the motherboard). Metal touching the motherboard somewhere will, similarly, cause the computer to shut down and refuse to restart until the short is corrected (if you're lucky).

Only other possibility is a faulty PSU, but this, again, usually leads to straight up shut down.

So if you've got no heating problems and haven't added any new memory or pieces of hardware recently, or fiddled with CMOS settings, then a core flaw in the OS is probably your best bet. Reinstall.

If that doesn't fix it, you've got some fundamental hardware problem, and it might take quite a process of elimination to figure which. Stress test the memory, stress test PSU, try alternate GPU, and if they all check out, get ready to buy a new motherboard - which will probably entail basically tossing the whole thing.

>>304748
OS damage/corruption, overheating (guess not), or hardware failure (hopefully not).

Among hardware failures: a failing PSU failing to provide the required power to the GPU will cause random reboots when playing video games. Memory will cause reboots whenever Windows fills the offending bytes (such as when loading a video game, processing video, or having played a memory intensive game for quite some time). Fried North Bridges (common motherboard failure) will cause totally random reboots, but more often during heavy data transfers (either hard drive or network, depending on the board).

Most likely, in this scenario, is OS damage/corruption - and of the three, it's the only one that you can probably fix for free. Then again, such OS failures are often the result of a failing hard drive.

>>304750
>>304752
Thanks. I'll talk to an IT guy I know to see if he can help me with this without charging me too much.

one more thing you might want to look at -

- see if the power socket is supplying the right voltage. i once had an office full of pcs that would restart at random. drove me crazy trying to figure it out until one day on a whim i tested the power socket at the wall, and it was something like sixty volts below normal.

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OP, write down every step you took in a word document (not on this pc, of course) and save it to a flash drive.
Take it to a PC Repair shop, one that is A+ certified. Ask them how much for a consult. If they say it's free, take it. Also, if they have free estimates for walk ins (where you bring in your PC to them vs. their service call to your house) then bring it in. Be sure to ask for detailed estimate, including resolution steps.
If this was me: I'd do a chkdsk, and see which pass it failed on. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, you shouldn't be doing this). After that, I'd either replace the failing part or do a system restore from a date where there was no problem.
Pic unrelated

didn't read all the replies ?
what about windows event log ? anything there to find ?

>>304797
>>304806
Let me amend my post. Do the power measurement first, then if that doesn't give results, do mine.

>>304726
i hate you reinstall guys
might be when its accessing the second memory stick (maybe) or a capacitor might be faulty, look for bloated capacitors, have you checked the event log

>>304811
Dude, just go to gamestop, drop $2 on a 20GB Xbox 360 hard disk, shuck it, reinstall on that, and if the computer's still fucked it's a hardware problem.

I had same problem before and it was the video going out.

>>304797
>>304810

If it was the power socket, the restarts would have happened immediately after I started using the socket, right? I've been here for a couple of weeks and the computer just started acting weird.

>>304994
Not him, but one would think that, yes.

PSU's do decay though. New socket won't help that.

>>304811
I doubt that's it, but yes, do try disconnecting all the USB devices before you go full reinstall. Even then, that's just as apt to be an indicator of PSU failing. (And I really doubt he can physically replace capacitors if he has someone else doing his computer builds.)

Only "ultimate" versions of Windows have an Event Log service, but it might alert you of hardware/driver conflicts. However, generally, if the computer immediately reboots, it means Windows can't catch it, and the only thing you'll get is a note that it didn't shutdown properly last time. Windows won't force an instant reboot if it can avoid it - BSOD followed by a reboot at worst.

WindowsKey+R: eventvwr.msc

Lots of screwed up viruses will cause instant reboots when they try to use low-level hardware access improperly.

Thanks everyone for your help. I'm really at a loss for what to do here. I'll take it a repairman I can trust ASAP.

What I'm hoping is that whatever I have to replace isn't too expensive.

>>304994
not necessarily. if it's right on the edge of being enough, random transients in the power grid can drop it just below the level needed to keep it going and it'll fail.

you could experiment with plugging different appliances in and varying the load. or test the sockets with an appropriately beefy multimeter.

what is your CPU core temp? what about your GPU core temp?

>>305368
Does this help?

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>>305368
>>305743
Shit, forgot pic.