PC restarting problem

siriuslee

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Feb 19, 2012
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Afternoon everyone, i have updated my sons pc with my old rampage iii extreme, i7 960, and 2 black caviar 1tb hdd which at the time was in raid 0 set up. I went to install a fresh copy of windows vista after i done a full format on my old hdd but the system kept restarting during the installation (mainly while expanding files), so i reformatted my sons old hdd which was working fine and installed vista onto that one which for the first time did not restart on its own, so i thought the problem had gone.

But now every time i go to do a check disk or update the windows score it keeps restarting again or just leave the pc for while. But the thing is there is no BSOD the screen just goes blank (black) and then just restarts. I have tried a different hdd, used other ram, reseated and reapplied new thermal compound onto the cpu just incase it was heating up, but still no luck.

it was running fine when i had the parts in my pc, i had know problem at all, so i thought it might have been when where they used to be in raid, but like i said even a new hdd does the same. I have unchecked the automatic restart on system fails, in the hope it will show a blue screen but nothing.

hope someone can help as the parts were meant to be a christmas present for my son, and now he cant even use his pc let alone play any games.

edit: it seems to be every time i try to do something demanding ie update windows score index, scandisk, even going into media center is fine but as soon as i go to watch any video or pre recorded tv (which 3 films come with them already installed) it crashes.

after windows loads which is not 100% all the time, it will still restart on its own after a while but as soon as i do anything above that is when it restarts, seems to be when the pc really needs to use its processing power or is under a little stress.
 

siriuslee

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Feb 19, 2012
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old specs

antec 900w psu
intel i7 1366 960
rampage iii extreme
asus gtx 690
2x wd black caviar (raid0)
6gb corsair dominator gt ddr3

new specs
zalman 750w psu
asus rampage iii extreme
intel i7 960
asus 9800gtx
2x wd black caviar (raid0)
integral 4gb ddr3 1066mhz

the old specs are what was in my pc, and really the only thing i have given my son is the motherboard and the processor. his psu was fine before i changed the items
 

larrym

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Oct 29, 2012
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What was the complete old specs of your sons PC? I would suspect the zalman PSU is at fault. Do you have another PSU you can try in your son's pc?

EDIT: You could also try bread boarding the parts to make sure you dont have a short with the new MOBO and case.
 

siriuslee

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Feb 19, 2012
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i have another psu but it does not have any pci express connections and the only video card i have is my sons, the problem i have with the mobo is it does not have any vga/video output.
 

larrym

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Oct 29, 2012
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Since the problem happens whenever you PC is under any type of load, that tells me the problem could lie with the PSU. Any chance you could use your antec 900 to test you sons pc?