I need a computer genius for this!

[Top Ground Studios]

So heres whats goin on. About a year ago, i bought a custom made computer for my studio. It was a decent computer, nothing over the top. I installed all my recording programs and plugins such as cubase, pod farm platinum, steven slate drums 4 and steven slate trigger platinum, UAD plugins, and sonnox plugins. Once i bought all my software, i hooked up all my gear to it which was a Fireface 800 and a pod xt pro (the redish pink thing every studio has lol). I updated my RME Fireface drivers and i was golden! i was recording bands and rappers almost every 3 days. Then i went away for about a month, and when i came back to recording, my computer kept restaring every 2-4 seconds. It wouldnt even let me load windows. So i ended up taking it to a computer specialist guy, and he made me get a new motherboard. I went to his shop (after he installed the new motherboard) and it was working great! everything seemed normal. Then i took it back home.....


I plugged all my gear in and the same F****** problem happened! Although this time i was able to roam around my files and programs a while before it restarted. So i would say it restarted every 5-8 minutes. I noticed that when i didnt have my interface on, it lasted long. Once i put my fireface on, BOOM, the computer would shut down. That made me think "Maybe i need to update the drivers?" so i did. But, nothing has changed. it definitely is something im doing or something that i have hooked up because the computer guy had it on all damn day and it was fine. i just installed a new graphics card, new power supply, and a whole new motherboard. What the hell could it be guys?? Please ask as many questions as you like!

 

[Terminus]

Sounds like a bad RAM stick to me. Just a guess. Bad RAM or 2 mismatched RAM densities can cause random restarts.

 

[XxSicRokerxX]

Make sure that nothing is overheating, sometimes when the computer overheats it can shut off. Make sure your CPU fan is working and other fans. Remove all but 1 Ram stick and see how that works. Check every stick one by one, maybe one is the culprit. You bought a new powersupply so thats good. Maybe your fireface requires a unique type of firewire card

 

[Damian B]

Could be a bad firewire card. If you want to check the RAM, download Hiren's BootCD here: http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/; burn the image to CD and boot up your PC from the disk. There are several memory diagnostic tools on there - just let it run for an hour or so and see if it comes back with any errors.

Make sure all of the fans are running.

Did the tech reinstall windows?

 

[Nuno Filipe]

Could be a lot of things, even a weak power supply can restart your pc. Test the ram, the graphic card, see if the pc overheats, if the fans are working right.

 

[kev]

Wow, I hate these super weird ones. In my experience its usually power related when this sort of thing happens. That seems to be invalid though as you've changed the supply itself :S

 

[MKS]

When does it restart now? Is it still rebooting before windows loads? If so, that's probably not a driver issue.

I say RAM or Firewire Card. Please tell me you're not using FW built into motherboard.

What kind of Video Card? Hopefully not ATI. Notorious for being unfriendly with windows based daws.

Post full specs.

 

[Top Ground Studios]

It restarts before windows comes on and sometimes when I'm in windows already. I'm not using the FW build into the motherboard. And I'm using a GeForce graphics card. What really stumped me is that the computer tech had it up and running the whole day and it was fine, the minute I brought it home it started restarting again

 

[XxSicRokerxX]

Do you have your equipment and PC on a surge protector? Try connecting straight to the wall or a different location, see if it still does it.

 

[Top Ground Studios]

Do you have your equipment and PC on a surge protector? Try connecting straight to the wall or a different location, see if it still does it.

Tried this already. It got a little better (in terms of how long it stayed on until it restarted again)

 

[Top Ground Studios]

When I get home I was going to take out my FireWire connector to see if that's the problem. Then i wanted to test the ram. But I don't know how to.

 

[Damian B]

If you want to check the RAM, download Hiren's BootCD here: http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/; burn the image to CD and boot up your PC from the disk. There are several memory diagnostic tools on there - just let it run for an hour or so and see if it comes back with any errors.

^

 

[Top Ground Studios]

Could be a bad firewire card. If you want to check the RAM, download Hiren's BootCD here: http://www.hirensbootcd.org/download/; burn the image to CD and boot up your PC from the disk. There are several memory diagnostic tools on there - just let it run for an hour or so and see if it comes back with any errors.

Make sure all of the fans are running.

Did the tech reinstall windows?

If it comes back with errors, would it repair itself?

 

[Damian B]

Nope, it would have to be replaced.

Any decent tech should have checked the RAM before replacing the board though. I'm betting it's your firewire card. If he replaced the board, power supply, and graphics card it seems like you experienced some sort of power surge (either from the power supply or board going bad, or an electrical storm, brown out, etc) - if it got the graphics card it probably got the firewire card too.

This is all assuming you had competent PC tech though...

 

[JamieK]

Doesn't sound like a RAM problem to me, in my experience, if it's a RAM problem, then the computer won't boot at all and you can hear a sequence of beeps when it's trying to load.

Sounds like it could be your CPU overheating - make sure nothing is getting in the way of the fan (wires etc.)

Also make sure the computer is not alongside a wall or something, leave enough room for the fans to get a decent amount of air.

Hope this helps, I know how frustrating computer problems can be - I've had so bloody many!



EDIT: Oh, and make sure your PC guy didn't try to overclock it or something, go into your BIOS and set everything to default.

 

[Top Ground Studios]

Doesn't sound like a RAM problem to me, in my experience, if it's a RAM problem, then the computer won't boot at all and you can hear a sequence of beeps when it's trying to load.

Sounds like it could be your CPU overheating - make sure nothing is getting in the way of the fan (wires etc.)

Also make sure the computer is not alongside a wall or something, leave enough room for the fans to get a decent amount of air.

Hope this helps, I know how frustrating computer problems can be - I've had so bloody many!



EDIT: Oh, and make sure your PC guy didn't try to overclock it or something, go into your BIOS and set everything to default.

This is so frustrating man...and no he didnt overclock it. But i took out my firewire card, and it actually survived for 25 minutes lol and then i loaded up cubase and it shitted the bed lol it kept restarting again.

 

[Top Ground Studios]

and also is there anyway i can check to see the temperature of my CPU? i have a meter on my desktop telling me how much of it is being used and it gets to about 25-30% without me even doing anything. If i just have iTunes open or something, it gets to like 25%. Idk what to do

 

[Damian B]

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

 

[Volcane]

If you're running Win 7, it has a built in RAM checker (windows memory diagnostic under control panel). I've seen it where the second DIMM is bad, and it's OK up until the system tries to use it, and then it's goodnight Vienna.

Try a different HDD with a clean install of Windows

It really is just a process of elimination. Does the event log show you any pointers?

 

[Lon]

you do not need a computer genius but a days time of troubleshooting to nail this down to the right error.