Hey guys, I reloaded win7 on this unit, it started restarting on it's own after I choose the shut down option in windows and it shuts down but now "sometimes" when i go to the net it will shut down too and restart, any ideas please?

Have you checked the power options to see how they are set, Mike?

Power options set on "balanced" and Turn off display 10 minutes and Put computer to sleep 30 minutes Cindy.

I noticed the the vga port on the back as been pressed in on one side, could this be a graphics hardware problem?

I chose safe mode and no restarting, even when I shut down from safe mode I had to use the power button to startup the pc again, I did this 2x so the problem apparently doesn't exist in safe mode.

Wait a minute, since no problem in safe mode does this mean would not make sense to buy a PCI graphics card, right?

Can you download Speccy and check the temps, Mike?

 

https://www.piriform.com/speccy/download/standard

Since it's not staying on in normal mode, would I be able to run speccy in safe mode?

I ran speccy in Safe mode, please see attached screenshot but I don't think anything is overheating as that was my first inkling and taking the cover off, nothing is heated up or smells. On the screenshot it shows the graphics cannot be started in safe mode.

Oh sorry, I have no idea why the screenshot is showing upside down. On the screenshot it shows the graphics cannot be started in safe mode.

Is the VGA port damaged?

Well, it's working so I can't say that it's damaged, it's bent inwards,

So can I rule out software and declare this a mobo hardware issue?

Any chance this can be HDD issue so should I attempt to use another HDD?

Or should I try ordering a pci graphics card to test since only $5?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Radeon-DMS-59-PCI-e-Low-Profile-Video-Graphics-Card-256MB-/171828123086?hash=item2801c115ce:g:2YUAAOSwHjNV8423

This is probably a driver issue. The restarts are probably blue screens. Look in the system logs for any errors generated during these restarts. My bet is the graphics driver is causing the problem since it doesn't happen in safe mode when the full driver isn't loaded.

I tried updating the display driver but it showed "the best driver is installed".

Have you checked the event viewer for errors, Mike?

Yes, i had checked it initially and had seen errors but it did not stay on long enough for me to have a god look. I am currently trying a spare HDD, will you know in a little.

Rather than changing out the hard drive, I doubt that is the problem anyway, set the computer to not restart automatically when a system error happens. You can do that in safe mode in advanced computer properties. Once you set that the next time it reboots you'll get the bluescreen with the error code.

Yesterday I had tried "Disable Autorestart on System Failure" but that did not solve the problem.

I installed a new OS on the spare drive, without activating the license and restarted 5 times, no issues. I then installed the chipset and restarted a few times, no issues. I then installed the network driver no issues but after opening up IE, the problem is there again so I don't know if IE had anything to do with it? Either way this should rule out HDD, correct?

You can view the event viewer in safe mode, Mike.

 

I would also reset Internet Explorer settings to default.

It could be an add on or an extension causing problems.

 

Have you tried using firefox?

The new OS for disk 2 on the original drive does the same thing this time without myself installing any driver or opening IE. Looking at the event logs, all errors seems to be pointing to Network issues. Sorry for posing all these screenshots below but it is to confirm network or network driver issue?

Go in safe mode and disable the the network. Restart and see if the problem persists. If it happens when you start IE then start it and see if it reboots. You'll have no network so IE will only show the error about no network connection. Go through the steps to fix network issues from IE. It should enable the network. If after IE does it's thing try to access the internet. If it reboots then you have to look at the network card as the problem.

 

In one of the errors it says it can't bind to an address because it is already in use. You could also try assigning an IP in network settings.

There aren't any issues in safe mode as mentioned. i think this is mobo related but still why no problem in safe mode?