Computer restarting after blue screen.

[Danklin]

I recently built a computer for my brother with the following parts

Gigabyte GA-EP45_UD3R mobo
Core 2 quad Q8200 (not overclocked at all)
Enermax modu+82 625W PSU
Corsair PC8500 1066 4GB Ram
Gigabyte HD 4670 1GB

The problem is he is getting automatic system reboots quite often. It will go to blue screen( i dont know what the error message is yet as he lives in a different state than i) but then it will restart on its own.

I had him download coretemp to see what the temps were like and this is what he got back


Tj Max: 100 C
Core #0: 42 C
Core #1: 37 C
Core #2: 37 C
Core #3: 40 C

This is a little high for idle is it not? I used a Coolermaster Hyper 212 for the cooler. The most he has done was email and maybe tranferring pictures, nothing cpu intensive at all.

Could anyone tell me what would be a good place to start for troubleshooting this? Bad PSU? Bad ram? I guess i do need to see the error it gives but im afraid it might be too quick to read if its restarting on its own. Any help is appreciated.

 

[xthekidx]

Have him DL RealTemp, not coretemp. RealTemp was developed by Intel engineers and gives the most accurate readings for intel chips. Those temperatures are pretty high for idle on stock speeds. My i7 idles at about that temperature on a hot day OC'd to 3.6ghz.

When does he get the BSOD? Is he gaming? Just sitting idle?

Often BSOD's are a result of ram issues, and if he did not set the ram voltage manually in the bios its possible that is what is causing the BSOD's. That ram requires 2.1v I think if its running at 1066mhz. If its running at 1.8v, which is the default setting for most motherboards, that is almost certainly what is causing the BSOD.

 

[Danklin]

xthekidx, thanks for the reply. That seems like a very good possiblity. I didnt even think to change the ram voltage when i set it up. If it was a low voltage problem, would it still boot up? What would make it reboot/bsod in the middle of say, sending an email?

 

[Danklin]

I'll have him use realtemp just to make sure. The bios states that the core temp is 26-29C at idle which isnt bad at all. But apparent people say the bois cant really be trusted.

 

[xthekidx]

Yeah don't trust the BIOS. Speedfan or RealTemp are the best, RealTemp is more noob friendly.