boot - Windows 7 x64 - Short Circuit Reboot

07
2014-07
  • Ricardo

    Since a few days ago, my computer has been rebooting out of nothing. It started when I was working behind Microsoft Office Word 2010, doing a project. When it reboots, it's like someone pulls the plug out of the system, it completely shuts down, and afterwards it boots again out of itself. This is not the same as a normal reboot, and the PC doesn't display a BSOD either.

    When it reboots, it's unable to boot up Windows 7 again. I've tried start-up repair, but it cannot fix the problems or repair the system. I tried wiping my partition and reformatting. At first, everything seemed okay. I left it in idle for about 24 hours to rule out if this also occurs when in idle, uptime was still counting and nothing out of the ordinairy happened. However, when I started configurating the clean OS afterwards, it suddenly out of nothing did it again, and no, I couldn't bootup Windows 7 anymore again, it shutted down and powered up again.

    When I configured the PC, I've installed no external software, except default configuration like UAC, Computer Management, Users & Groups, etc - To exclude the possibility of external corrupted software.

    Hopefully someone can help me out, by telling me what to do next. I've tried the following, without any form of success:

    • Scanned the enteire system completely
    • Booting with no peripherals
    • Booting with only the neccesary needed (mainboard, RAM, processor, etc.)
    • Booting from safe mode
    • Trying startup repair
    • Formatting the PC
    • Wiping the partitions
    • Windows Update
    • Windows Repair (From Install DVD)
    • PC also doesn't overheat

    Again, could someone please help me because this is driving me nuts, and I can't figure it out.

    My Specs:

    OS: Windows 7 Enterprise x64 | RAM: 24GB DDR3 | CPU: Intel i7-980X | MOBO: ASUS Rampage III Extreme | HDD(S): WD 10K RAPTOR (x3) | GRAPHICS: EVGA NVIDIA GTX 690

    With ALOT of kind regards, Ricardo

    • Answers
  • Scorpion99

    I suggest you to try a clean Windows installation on a new or other hard disk with minimum RAM (2 or 4 Gb Ram).

  • Mike Naylor

    I would recommend checking your BIOS to see if it contains a logging feature to see if events are logged there. There are a lot of possible causes for this type of event but the boot corruption for Windows leads me to believe it is either a drive problem or a controller/motherboard issue. More information could be helpful.

    Are you using a RAID configuration with those drives or a JBOD configuration? If it is in a RAID I would recommend trying a single drive to see if it is a problem with either the RAID Controller or a drive in the RAID. Also what types of partitions are you using on the drives? GPT or MBR and is the BIOS set to boot using UEFI or Legacy BIOS mode? When you are able to get into Windows are there any errors in the event log after Windows has been running for a while?

    EDIT: Also, just noticed on that motherboard there are overclocking features, make sure all of the overclocking is set to disabled and not "auto" for both Memory and CPU and check the switches on the motherboard to make sure overclocking is not enabled.


    • Related Question

    troubleshooting - Windows 7 reboot and freezing, possible power problems?
  • mikelbring

    My Gateway LX Series desktop is about 6-8 months old. When I bought it, it had Windows Vista. I then put the RC version of Windows 7 on it. About 3 months after I bought it, it would randomly start to reboot, actually just shut off. I monitored the temperature levels and they seemed normal. So I installed a fresh Windows 7 Ultimate OEM 64bit. It actually got worse and would reboot more frequently.

    I then contacted Gateway and they said my machine was built for Windows Vista (made me chuckle), and told me to update my BIOS. So I did, and it was fixed for a good couple months.

    Recently, it started to do it again. Now I noticed early on it was doing it most often, if not every time when I was either watching a flash video or playing a flash game. So I decided to download the drivers again and I also downloaded my motherboard drivers. Seemed to be okay. A week later it started doing it again. And now it's doing it even more frequently. Sometimes I would turn it on, login into Windows and *BAM!* it would shut off.

    Now I am at the point where I can hardly get it to turn on. It would freeze at the point where it says "Starting Windows", with the Windows logo. Sometimes it would say "Checking disk for consistency" or whatever and freeze there (not shut off, just freeze). I even got the prompt to launch startup repair. But that also freezes when it says starting Windows. It does not really freeze, just never loads up.

    I am kind of lost as to what's going on. I have a few ideas but nothing I want to pursue (graphics card? hard drive?). Another thing I did try was to boot into a live disk of Ubuntu and try to launch every program I could and get on the internet but I never got it to reboot. So it sounds like to me it's a Windows thing, but I have no idea.

    I am just stuck and would like to see if any one has any ideas or could lead me in the right direction.


    • Related Answers
  • lrosa

    Could it be the power supply. I would say 50/50 chance between the power supply and a malfunction of the system board. If the system board has standard power connectors, you can try swapping the power supply with another one with a greater power output and see what happens.

    You can try unplugging the CD-ROM (and secondardy hard drives, if any) from power and see if something changes.

  • camster342

    If a LiveCD version of Ubuntu had no issues, this fact lends itself to be a malfunctioning hard drive, as Ubuntu won't touch the hard drive (except in a read-only mode) by default.

    Other diagnostic things to try :

    HardDrive SMART self-test : Using the Ubuntu LiveCD, install smartmontools, and then look up how to use the SMART self tests. You may also be able to use the Windows CD to boot into a recovery mode and run chkdsk in a mode that will test your hard drive, but someone else may have to tell you how to do this bit. Depending on the brand of hard-drive, there may also be diagnostic tools available from the manufacturer.

    RAM torture test : http://www.memtest86.com/ You can download for free from this site, including bootable CD images, or buy it on CD if you like. This may or may not be still be included in latest Ubuntu LiveCD (it used to be).

    CPU Torture test : http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/ It is actually a program to search for very large prime numbers and compete in some sort of competition, but you don't have to do that. You can just run it to torture test your CPU, by selecting that option when you start the program. Considering the ability or not to be able to boot into windows, you may have to do this bit under the Ubuntu LiveCD too...