New system restarts itself at operating system boot screen

jfina

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4
Hey all,

This is my first time I've tried to build a system in 5 years since I built my first computer. I'm thoroughly confused on what's happening, but it seems to restart itself continually.

To make a long story short, here's what happens:
1. System gets through POST
2. I'm asked to select my operating system (pick Windows 7 x86)
3. I am asked if I want to perform startup recovery (or, this step is missing depending on if I previously ran the recovery - in essence, this does nothing)
4. Windows 7 load screen will appear, a few pixels of the graphic appear before the system restarts itself.
5. I curse and throw something at the dog

Here is my setup and here is what I've changed hardware wise:

MoBo: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UDL - new
Processor: Pentium E5300 dualcore 2.60 Ghz
RAM: 4GB (2gb x 2) OCZ PC2 6400 DDR2 (these worked on another machine and I've switched the RAM out on this box with some older DDR2 - still get the same problem, so I don't think it's this)
Video Card: GeForce FX 5500 (I know this is old, I didn't realize the motherboard didn't have onboard video card, so I'm going to pick up a new card eventually)
HD: Western Digital WD Caviar SD 250GB
Power Supply: Bestec ATX-250-12Z (250W max)


Here are my hypothesis:

1. I need to try installing Windows 7 x64 instead of the x86
2. The old video card is not compatible and is forcing the system to restard
3. The power supply, which is old, needs to be replaced? (I'm less inclined to believe this because I would think the system just wouldn't turn on if there's a problem with the power supply)

If someone could offer some sort of validation to these hypothesis or perhaps give me a good idea of what to look for so I don't go spending a bunch more on this system unnecessarily... I would greatly appreciate it!
 
You DO NOT have enough power. change your power supply to something, preferably with 400 watts or more.

If you have another one, try it, if not I'd reinstall but it looks like PSU here. When the DE attempts to load, it taxes the system a lot more, causing it to draw more power, which overdraws your PSU for a split-second causing the reboot. I had the same problem with my old OCZ 700 watt PSU, so I know it exactly.
 
Fantastic, thank you for the insight...I had a feeling since power supplies are what I did the least amount of research on that this is probably going to be the problem. I'll run to Microcenter and update if that works...

EDIT: Is there a way that I can find out how much power I'll actually need? Like, is there something on the specs that I can review with each component and compute the amount of power required? Just curious, thanks
 
well usually you'd go by what the graphics card calls for, but since yours is so old idk there. Don't get the bare minimum if you're gonna upgrade your graphics card. If you're going for low end/ midrange card, I'd get 500 watts to be on the safe side, for a high end card 580, and 700 for SLI/crossfire.

450-500 should be good for you though unless you plan on intense gaming with high end cards.
 
Bought a 500W power supply (Coolmax V-500), but the same issue occurs. Starting to get frustrated, the dog is scared to be in the same room as me at this point.

Not sure what else I can do to get this thing running other than replacing the video card, I'll see if I can boot up with x64 but who knows if that is even going to work.
 
Those FX series graphics cards are so old I would be surprised the psu is trying to draw more power from the graphics card than it has causing a graphics shortage and causing the PC to restart. Just a wacky guess. I would also recommend checking out your ram. I've have start up problems before when a ram stick is going bad.
 
I've tried switching the RAM out with some 512 sticks that I know to work on another board. I even tried the new RAM in the old board as well, no problems...Memory test completed with no errors as well.

If it's a video card issue I'm going to have to update in a few weeks. I was planning on buying a case and a video card at the same time. In the meantime I'll try installing x64 to see if the OS is the issue....not holding my breath though.
 
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