Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me with diagnosis of a pc that restarts after around two minutes every time it is turned on. It does get as far as logging on, but always resets a minute or two later. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
For a little background info the pc is about nine months old and has always been fully functional until about two weeks ago. I wasn't doing anything strenuous with it at the time, and hadn't downloaded or updates any programs, but there was a windows update a day or two before the problem started.
I'm about 90% certain it is a hardware issue of some sort, but one thing is throwing me off.
The only exception to this is that restart cycle is that for some reason the problem does not happen in safe mode. This initially made me think it was a software problem, but all my attempts to fix have achieved nothing.
I'll explain what I've already tried...
Software:
Performed system restore, and then when that didn't work, formatted drives and reinstalled windows onto a completely blank drive.
Motherboard:
Unsure how to check, but no visual damage, no lights on to indicate fault.
Processor light flashes around time of reset, but unsure if it's causing the restart, or if it's caused BY the restart.
HDD:
Fully formatted, and then tested in an old PC. Confirmed to work without issue. Confident in saying I can rule this part out.
CPU
More or less the only part I can't visually check. I have no spare thermal paste to reinstall, so once I remove it I cant do any further testing. So leaving this until ruling out other components.
Fans
All of the case fans as well as the CPU cooler fan are working, seem to be a good speed and generate a good breeze.
RAM
Has been removed, dusted, visually inspected, and then tested one stick at a time. No improvement.
PSU
Following advice and against my better judgement, I fully replaced the power supply, which had zero impact. Also confident this is not the cause.
GPU
Fans are not spinning, but as far as I know this is normal, as they won't activate until the GPU heats up more.
Peripherals:
All peripherals have been disconnected, and the restarting still occurs with all the usb slots empty.
Case:
Disconnecting the reset switch was the only suggestion I could find here, and it changed nothing.
Any suggestions on what I can try next?
For a little background info the pc is about nine months old and has always been fully functional until about two weeks ago. I wasn't doing anything strenuous with it at the time, and hadn't downloaded or updates any programs, but there was a windows update a day or two before the problem started.
I'm about 90% certain it is a hardware issue of some sort, but one thing is throwing me off.
The only exception to this is that restart cycle is that for some reason the problem does not happen in safe mode. This initially made me think it was a software problem, but all my attempts to fix have achieved nothing.
I'll explain what I've already tried...
Software:
Performed system restore, and then when that didn't work, formatted drives and reinstalled windows onto a completely blank drive.
Motherboard:
Unsure how to check, but no visual damage, no lights on to indicate fault.
Processor light flashes around time of reset, but unsure if it's causing the restart, or if it's caused BY the restart.
HDD:
Fully formatted, and then tested in an old PC. Confirmed to work without issue. Confident in saying I can rule this part out.
CPU
More or less the only part I can't visually check. I have no spare thermal paste to reinstall, so once I remove it I cant do any further testing. So leaving this until ruling out other components.
Fans
All of the case fans as well as the CPU cooler fan are working, seem to be a good speed and generate a good breeze.
RAM
Has been removed, dusted, visually inspected, and then tested one stick at a time. No improvement.
PSU
Following advice and against my better judgement, I fully replaced the power supply, which had zero impact. Also confident this is not the cause.
GPU
Fans are not spinning, but as far as I know this is normal, as they won't activate until the GPU heats up more.
Peripherals:
All peripherals have been disconnected, and the restarting still occurs with all the usb slots empty.
Case:
Disconnecting the reset switch was the only suggestion I could find here, and it changed nothing.
Any suggestions on what I can try next?