[SOLVED] Computer keeps restarting after I installed new motherboard

[Pepsi Man]

I apologise if I formatted anything wrong on this post, this is my first one on Tom's hardware. I'll get right to the point, I installed a new motherboard a couple days ago because my old one had broken ram slots so I got a new one to fit all my new ram in. After installing the motherboard, my PC would randomly pick times to restart. Even stranger yet, some games seem to restart my PC faster than others (they aren't difficult games to run). After installing the motherboard, I got a little notification to activate windows. I thought that was the issue so I did it and it still kept restarting. I have tried everything under the sun to fix this, including installing a new psu, making sure everything was seated correctly, reinstalling windows, resetting the PC to factory settings, turning off auto restart and more. Ther are two error codes I got, one was watchdog clock timeout, and the other was irql not less or equal. I would really appreciate some help because I am very lost and this is incredibly annoying. I will add that I don't think this is a overheating issue. Thanks anyone for the help!

 

[Pepsi Man]

I will add, I've seen some people say stuff about updating bios, would that help? That's the only thing I haven't really done yet

 

[egda23]

I apologise if I formatted anything wrong on this post, this is my first one on Tom's hardware. I'll get right to the point, I installed a new motherboard a couple days ago because my old one had broken ram slots so I got a new one to fit all my new ram in. After installing the motherboard, my PC would randomly pick times to restart. Even stranger yet, some games seem to restart my PC faster than others (they aren't difficult games to run). After installing the motherboard, I got a little notification to activate windows. I thought that was the issue so I did it and it still kept restarting. I have tried everything under the sun to fix this, including installing a new psu, making sure everything was seated correctly, reinstalling windows, resetting the PC to factory settings, turning off auto restart and more. Ther are two error codes I got, one was watchdog clock timeout, and the other was irql not less or equal. I would really appreciate some help because I am very lost and this is incredibly annoying. I will add that I don't think this is a overheating issue. Thanks anyone for the help!

And the make and model for your motherboard, CPU, RAM ,GPU and PSU are ....?

 

[Pepsi Man]

And the make and model for your motherboard, CPU, RAM ,GPU and PSU are ....?

Thanks for the reply! GPU is an EVGA 1050ti mini, RAM is all ddr3, slot one is PNY electronics 8 gig stick, slot 3 is Kingston 4 gig stick, and slot 4 is a Kingston 8 gig stick. CPU is an AMD FX-8320 (AM3+ socket). Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3. PSU I would have to look at but everything else is here for ya. Besides the PSU, please let me know if you need anymore information

 

[Zerk2012]

I apologise if I formatted anything wrong on this post, this is my first one on Tom's hardware. I'll get right to the point, I installed a new motherboard a couple days ago because my old one had broken ram slots so I got a new one to fit all my new ram in. After installing the motherboard, my PC would randomly pick times to restart. Even stranger yet, some games seem to restart my PC faster than others (they aren't difficult games to run). After installing the motherboard, I got a little notification to activate windows. I thought that was the issue so I did it and it still kept restarting. I have tried everything under the sun to fix this, including installing a new psu, making sure everything was seated correctly, reinstalling windows, resetting the PC to factory settings, turning off auto restart and more. Ther are two error codes I got, one was watchdog clock timeout, and the other was irql not less or equal. I would really appreciate some help because I am very lost and this is incredibly annoying. I will add that I don't think this is a overheating issue. Thanks anyone for the help!

Was that a different motherboard than what you had? If so the first step would be fresh windows install if you have not done it already.

 

[egda23]

Thanks for the reply! GPU is an EVGA 1050ti mini, RAM is all ddr3, slot one is PNY electronics 8 gig stick, slot 3 is Kingston 4 gig stick, and slot 4 is a Kingston 8 gig stick. CPU is an AMD FX-8320 (AM3+ socket). Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3. PSU I would have to look at but everything else is here for ya. Besides the PSU, please let me know if you need anymore information

I doubt very much that such an old MoBo would support an 8 Gb RAM stick. What happens when you take these out, and keep only the 4 Gb stick ?
And the Mobo specs https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-880GM-USB3-rev-1x/sp#sp
allow only 16 Gb total RAM, and you are at 20 Gb now ! Maybe, also, try to take the 4 Gb stick out, and keep the 2 x 8 Gb

 

[Pepsi Man]

I doubt very much that such an old MoBo would support an 8 Gb RAM stick. What happens when you take these out, and keep only the 4 Gb stick ?
And the Mobo specs https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-880GM-USB3-rev-1x/sp#sp
allow only 16 Gb total RAM, and you are at 20 Gb now ! Maube, also, try to take the 4 Gb stick out, and keep the 2 x 8 Gb

Oh jeez, ok let me try to change the ram around and I'll get back to you

 

[Pepsi Man]

Was that a different motherboard than what you had? If so the first step would be fresh windows install if you have not done it already.

Yep it sure was a new motherboard, but I activated windows and reinstalled and reset the PC several times so that was already taken care of.

 

[Pepsi Man]

I doubt very much that such an old MoBo would support an 8 Gb RAM stick. What happens when you take these out, and keep only the 4 Gb stick ?
And the Mobo specs https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-880GM-USB3-rev-1x/sp#sp
allow only 16 Gb total RAM, and you are at 20 Gb now ! Maybe, also, try to take the 4 Gb stick out, and keep the 2 x 8 Gb

I haven't tried only the 4 gig but I did both the 8 gigs and it just randomly restarted

 

[egda23]

I haven't tried only the 4 gig but I did both the 8 gigs and it just randomly restarted

Try with only th 4 Gb alone, that MoBo is all technology.
If the random restart persists, I would look at the PSU. Random restarts are frequently a sign pf failing PSU.

 

[bignastyid]

The 8320 is not supported on either rev of that model of motherboard.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-880GM-USB3-rev-1x/support#support-cpu
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-880GM-USB3-rev-31/support#support-cpu
Plus with a weak(4+1) uncooled VRM setup it would be problematic with an 8320 if it was supported(likely why it's not listed).

 

[Pepsi Man]

Try with only th 4 Gb alone, that MoBo is all technology.
If the random restart persists, I would look at the PSU. Random restarts are frequently a sign pf failing PSU.

I used 2 pcu's so far and it did It with both. I will say I'm only using 8 gigs right now and I haven't had a restart, I'll keep going down the line as it restarts

 

[Pepsi Man]

The 8320 is not supported on either rev of that model of motherboard.
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-880GM-USB3-rev-1x/support#support-cpu
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-880GM-USB3-rev-31/support#support-cpu
Plus with a weak(4+1) uncooled VRM setup it would be problematic with an 8320 if it was supported(likely why it's not listed).

Dang, someone who knows a lot about this stuff recommended me to get that motherboard

 

[bignastyid]

Dang, someone who knows a lot about this stuff recommended me to get that motherboard

I'd never recommended a 4+1 or 4+2 board for a 125w 83xx AM3+ cpu, especially one with no vrm cooling. You want atleast a 6+2(for stock) 8+2(or better) for some overclocking.

A decent AM3+board is not going to be cheap as they are getting hard to find, to the point the price of the motherboard is not worth it. If you look at the newer Ryzens a ~$100 Ryzen will smoke the old FX cpus. In most situations I recommend not putting anymore money in the old platform.

 

[Pepsi Man]

I'd never recommended a 4+1 or 4+2 board for a 125w 83xx AM3+ cpu, especially one with no vrm cooling. You want atleast a 6+2(for stock) 8+2(or better) for some overclocking.

A decent AM3+board is not going to be cheap as they are getting hard to find, to the point the price of the motherboard is not worth it. If you look at the newer Ryzens a ~$100 Ryzen will smoke the old FX cpus. In most situations I recommend not putting anymore money in the old platform.

So I just got done talking to the person who recommended the board to me, they said it has the exact same CPU specs as my old one. Also before anyone goes any deeper in this, I might add that I can get like, a couple minutes to an hour into a game or something before I restart. Idk if that narrows the problem or helps you in anyway but I figured I'd add it. Ideally I'd like a fix where I can keep up to 16 gigs of RAM and not have to buy anymore stuff. But y'all know a lot more than I do so I'm willing to listen to any potential fixes you might have that could help if you can

 

[bignastyid]

What was your old one?

 

[Pepsi Man]

What was your old CPU? I doubt it had the same specs unless it was another FX 8320.

Oh sorry if I mis worded anything. The CPU didn't change, I only changed my motherboard. I apologise for any confusion. But yeah they said it has the same specs for CPUs

 

[bignastyid]

What was the old motherboard?

 

[Pepsi Man]

What was the old motherboard?

It was like an Asus 970 ProM 3 I think

 

[bignastyid]

The Asus 970 pro gaming has a better VRM phase(6+2), a newer chipset and supports the FX 8320, they are not spec'd the same. The only cpu related similarity they share is the AM3+ socket and that does not guarantee compatibility.

 

[Pepsi Man]

The Asus 970 pro gaming has a better VRM phase(6+2), a newer chipset and supports the FX 8320, they are not spec'd the same. The only cpu related similarity they share is the AM3+ socket and that does not guarantee compatibility.

Ah ok, I got the gigabyte because the original motherboard came with my prebuilt but only one of the ram slots worked. Is there anything I can do to help besides reinstall the old mother board? Because I reallllllly don't wanna do that

 

[bignastyid]

Ah ok, I got the gigabyte because the original motherboard came with my prebuilt but only one of the ram slots worked. Is there anything I can do to help besides reinstall the old mother board? Because I reallllllly don't wanna do that

No, that board just wasn't meant to run an 8320 and continuing to run it will likely kill it.

Use the old board till you can either find a decent cheap replacement or just save $250-$300 for a platform upgrade(cpu, motherboard and ram).

 

[Pepsi Man]

No, that board just wasn't meant to run an 8320 and continuing to run it will likely kill it.

Use the old board till you can either find a decent cheap replacement or just save $250-$300 for a platform upgrade(cpu, motherboard and ram).

Dang ok, I'll let my guy know. Thank you so much for doing what you can I greatly appreciate it