Computer Randomly Resets Itself

ande4100 · #1 10-25-2007, 11:18 AM

5 Days ago I was playing the Sims 2 when all of a sudden my monitor went black (meaning no video output) and my HD light stopped blinking (showing my computer stalled). I held down the power button for 5 secs and rebooted. I assumed overheating of the GPU was to blame. All was fine and I was able to keep playing.

3 days ago, I it happened again, only while using MS Word. Then it started happening more and more frequently. Until I would log on and five minutes later it would hang again. Sometimes it would restart as if I pressed the reset button and other times it would hang with the no video or response. However, I noticed that if I was not using my computer it would stay on just fine with no issue. It only happened while I was using my computer. I began to blame XP, but it died once during the BIOS post (Can't blame that on XP).

Here is my system:
ASUS p5wd2 premium (North Bridge runs at 45 degrees C)
Intel Pentium D 2.80 GHz (runs at about 60 degrees C)
2 GB Corsair DDR2 800MHz
PNY Geforce 6600 256 MB DDR (PCIE)
Antec 520W Power Supply
2 WD Raptor 74GB in RAID 0
Plextor DVD +/- R/RW

I am not sure what hardware component is causing the death but I am wary of the GPU. But I have never heard of a GPU bringing an entire system to a halt before like that. Any advice/recommendations?

ande4100 · #2 10-25-2007, 03:45 PM

So it was actually the GPU. I pulled it out and put it in a friend's box and ran AquaMark and Nbench to stress it. Sure enough, halfway through the ninja jumping off the roof in Nbench, the GPU reset his computer. Bought a new 8600GTS today. And computer has been on and working for past three hours and video games have never looked better.