Computer restarting at random times.

[SpeedOfSmell]

My PC has been running just fine for almost a year. Starting a few days ago, it has started to restart randomly without any warning. I've noticed this happens often while listening to music. I have a very low wattage power supply (430W), could it be that?

 

[JoakimL]

Unless you have a high-end graphics card in your system 430W is fine. However it could still be the PSU that is the problem if it's of low quality and about to break. 430W sounds like an Antec, and they are usually good quality.

Before anything else you should do some house cleaning on your system. Open it up and clean out all dust from the heat sinks. Don't open the PSU, but suck as much dust from it as you can with a vacuum cleaner.
Make sure all fans are spinning like they should.

Then visit the manufacturers websites for your motherboard, graphics and audio card, and download the latest drivers for everything. Install them all.

If that doesn't help, then you should investigate the PSU. The motherboard manufacturer has probably some kind of monitoring utility that can show you the CPU temp, fan speed, voltage etc. If the voltages differ a lot from what they are supposed to then that is a sign the PSU might be a problem.

 

[smorizio]

also run malware and hitman pro scan to rule out a virus. also look at the windows error log. see if it a program trying to shut down windows or a power error.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn641144.aspx

 

[SpeedOfSmell]

Unless you have a high-end graphics card in your system 430W is fine. However it could still be the PSU that is the problem if it's of low quality and about to break. 430W sounds like an Antec, and they are usually good quality.

Before anything else you should do some house cleaning on your system. Open it up and clean out all dust from the heat sinks. Don't open the PSU, but suck as much dust from it as you can with a vacuum cleaner.
Make sure all fans are spinning like they should.

Then visit the manufacturers websites for your motherboard, graphics and audio card, and download the latest drivers for everything. Install them all.

If that doesn't help, then you should investigate the PSU. The motherboard manufacturer has probably some kind of monitoring utility that can show you the CPU temp, fan speed, voltage etc. If the voltages differ a lot from what they are supposed to then that is a sign the PSU might be a problem.

I have a Radeon 7850 and a FX-6300 so the Corsair 430W is pretty low. I was also monitoring the temperature of the parts and they seemed pretty fine but I wasn't watching the voltages. I'm gonna try updating the drivers and see if it continues. Thanks.