PC rebooting itself

[youradds]

Please make it public

Oops. Thought I had! Please try it now: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KPhyeHy2YfYbOKq1Jm2xTvcbki-Tq97n/view?usp=drivesdk

 

[ubuysa]

That does tend to suggest that it's not the 580 card.

There is no clear cut or obvious reason in the logs for the restart, but I've spent some time this morning going carefully through your logs looking at all of the restarts and trying to find a pattern. One thing I did find is a single WHEA fatal error...

Log Name:      System
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-WHEA-Logger
Date:          17/09/2024 12:07:37
Event ID:      46
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:   
User:          LOCAL SERVICE
Computer:      AndyNewPC
Description:
A fatal hardware error has occurred.

Component: Memory
Error Source: Machine Check Exception

The details view of this entry contains further information.

This error also resulted in a 0x124 BSOD. Although this is the only WHEA error in the logs it would be unwise to just ignore it because it may lie at the root of your problems. There is no indication here of the likely hardware cause but RAM is always the first suspect. Assuming of course that your AX210 card is now removed? I'm pretty sure there is a problem with that card based on the raft of errors we were seeing for it.

In your Application log I can see a few application errors with exception codes indication memory related problems, that only serves to question whether this may be RAM related.

We've not tested your RAM yet I think? It's now time that we did. The best way to test RAM is to remove one stick and run on just 16GB for a few days. Ensure the one stick is in the correct slot (usually A2). If you have BSODs/restarts/crashes, or after a few days if all is well, swap sticks and run on just the other 16GB stick for a few days. If it BSODs/restarts/crashes on both sticks on their own then your RAM is most likely good.

Do you run Microsoft Visual Studio? I ask because there are other informational messages in your log that may be of interest and research suggests that they may be VS related. Do you run the Windows Subsystem for Linux?

Do you allow the PC to Sleep? Do you allow the PC to hibernate?

One other, rather strange, thing I'm going to ask you to do is to stop your monitor(s) from going into standby - just as a test for a few days. My research, and some of the informational messages I see before your restarts, suggests that monitor standby may be involved.

Oh yes, I think you may have Windows Fast Startup enabled. Please disable that ASAP. It's of no benefit to those with SSDs and it can (and does) cause issues on some systems.

 

[youradds]

Hi,

Thanks for your detailed look. I did do a RAM check using MemTest:

PC rebooting itself

Hi, I have a new build, with the spec: Case CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE Processor (CPU) AMD Ryzen 9 7900 12 Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.4GHz/76MB CACHE/AM5) Motherboard ASUS® PRIME B650-PLUS (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0) Memory (RAM) 32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5200MHz (2 x 16GB)...

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

I can do your suggestion though if you think its beneficial. The machine is running at 14gb usage currently - so it may be a bit tight. Although, I think Chrome etc does get greedy when you have more RAM!

> Assuming of course that your AX210 card is now removed

I haven't removed the AX210 yet - will do that when I open the PC up in a bit.

Do you run Microsoft Visual Studio? I ask because there are other informational messages in your log that may be of interest and research suggests that they may be VS related. Do you run the Windows Subsystem for Linux?

I do have VSC, yes. I'm not sure what you mean about the subsystem? I don't have Linux on here (even as a VM)

Do you allow the PC to Sleep? Do you allow the PC to hibernate?

No. I turned those off when I got the machine, as it annoys me that it disconnects the SSH terminals I have open for work when it goes into power safe / hibernate

I've set the monitors to never go into standby (the reboot issue has only happened when I'm working, so I'm assuming its unlikly thats the problem)

Oh yes, I think you may have Windows Fast Startup enabled. Please disable that ASAP. It's of no benefit to those with SSDs and it can (and does) cause issues on some systems.

I'm not sure what that does - but I've turned it off now =)

Cheers

Andy

 

[ubuysa]

RAM in use is a totally meaningless value, the Windows memory manager is extremely good at managing RAM. It's designed to use as much RAM as it can - you paid for it so Windows will try and use it for you - but it's very reactive when demands are made for new RAM pages. Looking at RAM in use is completely pointless because it tells you nothing useful.

Memtest86 is good but it can't find every possible RAM issue (no memory tester ever can). That's why removing one stick and then swapping sticks is the gold standard RAM test. It's worth doing.

I'll say more about the possible Visual Studio impact (from messages in the logs) when we know your RAM is good.

That you're not running Windows Subsystem for Linux is good, it means we don't have to look there.

Not Sleeping and/or Hibernating is also good, they can be sources of problems.

Windows Fast Startup is designed to improve boot times on systems that are installed on an HDD. At normal shutdown it hibernates the kernel (even if you're not using hibernation) and on a cold boot it resumes the kernel from hibernation. Some drivers don't play well with this which is why we recommend that you turn if off if you have an SSD - which boots faster anyway. You might want to open an elevated command prompt and enter the following command

powercfg -h off

Nothing exciting will happen but this will disable all hibernation (including Fast Startup) and it will delete the hiberfil.sys hibernation file on your system drive and give you 32GB of drive space back.

BTW. Do you regularly shutdown your PC? At night for example?

 

[youradds]

RAM in use is a totally meaningless value, the Windows memory manager is extremely good at managing RAM. It's designed to use as much RAM as it can - you paid for it so Windows will try and use it for you - but it's very reactive when demands are made for new RAM pages. Looking at RAM in use is completely pointless because it tells you nothing useful.

Ah ok cool - thats good to know

Memtest86 is good but it can't find every possible RAM issue (no memory tester ever can). That's why removing one stick and then swapping sticks is the gold standard RAM test. It's worth doing.

Right - I'll give that a go as well then.

I'll say more about the possible Visual Studio impact (from messages in the logs) when we know your RAM is good.

OK

That you're not running Windows Subsystem for Linux is good, it means we don't have to look there.

Not Sleeping and/or Hibernating is also good, they can be sources of problems.

Windows Fast Startup is designed to improve boot times on systems that are installed on an HDD. At normal shutdown it hibernates the kernel (even if you're not using hibernation) and on a cold boot it resumes the kernel from hibernation. Some drivers don't play well with this which is why we recommend that you turn if off if you have an SSD - which boots faster anyway. You might want to open an elevated command prompt and enter the following command

powercfg -h off

Nothing exciting will happen but this will disable all hibernation (including Fast Startup) and it will delete the hiberfil.sys hibernation file on your system drive and give you 32GB of drive space back.

Cool - thats how I did it Good to know that the pagesys file is also removed, as thats is a bug bear of mine, especially with higher RAM rates. My old PC only had a 256gb SSD for the primary, and 32gb of that was gobbled up with the pagesys file.

BTW. Do you regularly shutdown your PC? At night for example?

Yes, it goes off every night. I'm not a fan of leaving it running (especially as its not doing anything overnight, except wasting power )

Cheers

Andy

 

[youradds]

No crashes so far after taking out the network card! Fingers crossed thats it (I'm not sure what the fix is though, as I still need that card for my Bluetooth connections so I can have the mouse / speakers etc running through it)

 

[youradds]

haha I'm sure I jinx myself - it just did a reboot! I'm going to take out one of the RAM chips now to see if it happens. I'm guessing its not the network card after all

 

[ubuysa]

Cool - thats how I did it Good to know that the pagesys file is also removed, as thats is a bug bear of mine, especially with higher RAM rates. My old PC only had a 256gb SSD for the primary, and 32gb of that was gobbled up with the pagesys file.

It's not pagefile.sys that's removed when you use that powercfg command, it's hiberfil.sys. The pagefile.sys file is the paging file and you absolutely want that!

I run my PC 24x7 and always have, with every PC. I use the overnight to schedule the various backups that I do every night. The extra power drain of leaving a PC on and largely idle is minimal and (IMO) not worth talking about. I also believe that a PC is best left running, the power shock each time you turn a PC on does more long term harm (IMO) that leaving it on. The day when Windows needed a regular reboot to clean out garbage are long gone.

Leave the wireless card out, until we've sorted the problem. Removing one RAM stick at a time is good. You may notice performance issues with only one RAM stick, but that's worth living with for a day or two to see whether or not it restarts.

You said in your OP that it's a new build, when did you get it? Now that your AMD graphics card is out the PC is in the same spec that PCS shipped it? You might want to contact PCS too and talk this over with them under warranty. Point PCS at this thread if you do.

 

[youradds]

It's not pagefile.sys that's removed when you use that powercfg command, it's hiberfil.sys. The pagefile.sys file is the paging file and you absolutely want that!

haha thats the one

I run my PC 24x7 and always have, with every PC. I use the overnight to schedule the various backups that I do every night. The extra power drain of leaving a PC on and largely idle is minimal and (IMO) not worth talking about. I also believe that a PC is best left running, the power shock each time you turn a PC on does more long term harm (IMO) that leaving it on. The day when Windows needed a regular reboot to clean out garbage are long gone.

I've got 2 little geekom mini-pc's that I use to run my backups (I backup all my web servers to them). So the PC really doesn't have anything to do overnight except waste power I've always turned off the machine at night (unless something was running that I needed to happen overnight). Been doing it 25 years like that

Leave the wireless card out, until we've sorted the problem. Removing one RAM stick at a time is good. You may notice performance issues with only one RAM stick, but that's worth living with for a day or two to see whether or not it restarts.

Ok cool. I've removed one stick of RAM for now. Then will see if the issue occurs over the next few days.

You said in your OP that it's a new build, when did you get it? Now that your AMD graphics card is out the PC is in the same spec that PCS shipped it? You might want to contact PCS too and talk this over with them under warranty. Point PCS at this thread if you do.

I only got this machine a few weeks back. It was a new build from PSC. Currently, the only difference in spec is my 4 TB m.2 drive that I've added as a secondary drive

 

[ubuysa]

I only got this machine a few weeks back. It was a new build from PSC. Currently, the only difference in spec is my 4 TB m.2 drive that I've added as a secondary drive

It might be worth removing the M.2 card you added (and any other hardware changes you may have made) and verify that the problem remains. If it does I would suggest you contact PCS. I'm happy to help, but it's in your interests to report problems to PCS as soon as possible to ensure that the problem is covered by the warranty. I would also recommend that you follow all instructions from PCS rather than anything we might suggest on here. None of us work for PCS we're just a community help forum.

You're welcome to keep us informed what PCS ask you to do, we're even happy to be a second opinion, but if this does turn out to be hardware you want PCS involved as early as possible.

 

[youradds]

Touch wood - now reboots since I took that RAM out. Although, the last time I commented and said it hadn't done it (after taking out the network card), it then went and crashed... so lets see

 

[ubuysa]

Fingers crossed then. Be sure not to change more than one thing at a time though, your troubleshooting needs to be a step-by-step approach testing one thing at a time.

If it does turn out to be the RAM ask PCS to replace both sticks with a pack of two matched sticks (they'll probably do that anyway).

If you do still get restarts then please see my post #56 and remove everything that you have installed. If it restarts in the state in which PCS built it then you really should contact PCS.

 

[youradds]

Thanks. I've just submitted a ticket so they are in the loop (especially if it does turn out to be the RAM). Fingers crossed it is that! (as thats a relatively simple fix)

 

[youradds]

Thanks. I've just submitted a ticket so they are in the loop (especially if it does turn out to be the RAM). Fingers crossed it is that! (as thats a relatively simple fix)

8 days without a reboot. I've now swapped the RAM out with the other one, to see if it does it. I guess if it does, then its the RAM. Lets see what happens

 

[ubuysa]

Don't be surprised if both sticks are fine on their own but not together. It's possible for one stick to have drifted a tad in it's operation so that it works on its own but not with another stick (which hasn't drifted).

 

[youradds]

Don't be surprised if both sticks are fine on their own but not together. It's possible for one stick to have drifted a tad in it's operation so that it works on its own but not with another stick (which hasn't drifted).

Interesting. Didn't think of that. I just assumed they work on their own (like hard drives do). I'll see if it happens - and failing that, I'll put the other one back in and see if it occurs when both are in together. I almost wish it happened more often, so I could get this tracked down quicker lol

 

[youradds]

Don't be surprised if both sticks are fine on their own but not together. It's possible for one stick to have drifted a tad in it's operation so that it works on its own but not with another stick (which hasn't drifted).

They have replaced the RAM now. Didn't seem to be the CPUs causing it (they did a stress test), and all the other components seemed ok. So hopefully this was the culprit, and it fixes it