Randomly Rebooting

[Shlup]

My computer reboots itself! Randomly! It smurfing sucks!

I installed a second hard drive. Now I have a half gig with my installs, and a one gig with my datas. But the random rebooting is not acceptable.

How do I make it stop?

[o_O]

Is your computer actually shutting down and rebooting, or does it just kinda turn off in an instant? Do you get a bluescreen before it reboots? Is it getting hot? It could be the result of overheating or you might have bad memory/PSU/GPU.

If it's overheating, you can download a program like <a href="http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html">HWMonitor</a>, which'll tell you how hot your CPU is getting. If you run it immediately after a random reboot and it's up around 80+ degrees celcius then that's probably what it is. Also, if you're hearing any super-high-pitched whiney-whistle then it's probably your CPU overheating, but not all overheating CPUs make that noise.

If it's bad memory or GPU, then you'll probably be seeing a bluescreen before the reboot (but not necessarily) should download <a href="http://www.memtest86.com/">memtest86</a>. You can either get the ISO version and burn it to disc; then boot your computer with the disc in the drive or you can get the installable version and run it from Windows.

Otherwise you could be looking at a faulty power supply unit, in which case you should replace it as SOON as possible, cos failing PSUs are particulary good at ruining other parts of your system.

[Shlup]

I would guess it's the power supply, since it now has to power two hard drives. I will check out the heat issue though.

It just clicks off and back on again, as if I had hit the reset button.

[o_O]

Ooh, right, so the rebooting only happened after the second drive? Then it's probably none of the things I mentioned, but an underpowered PSU. I still recommend replacing it as soon as you can, because an underpowered PSU is just as dangerous to the rest of your machine as a faulty one.

[CommanderShepard]

don't go cheap on power supplies. I know that Corsair is a little pricey but from all the reviews, quiet, reliable, and delivers the power.

I've recommended them and used them myself and have had no issues.

Antec is a a good brand as well. So good that they have their own calculator so you know what PSU to buy!

check it out! Antec Power Supply Calculator

[Mirage]

Do you know how much power your PSU can deliver?

Also, do you mean terabytes rather than gigabytes, perhaps?