Vista reboots instead of BSOD

[Mac]

I"m running Vista with an nvidia mobo and 8800 GTX graphics card. Whenever I
try gaming or running the nvidia stability test, my machine will reboot
itself in between 10 to 60 minutes. The machine went back to the provider
and they replaced a bad graphics card but it's still happening. I've been
through all the regular tests (memory, hdd, graphics, power, etc). I do
have automatic restart turned OFF and I don't see a blue screen flash, it
just reboots. I am running fully up to date on software, but I've used a new
HDD with a base Vista install and have the same problem. It sounds like
hardware but I have also tried running under XP and it has zero problems with
that so I'm figuring it's Vista-specific and not hardware. I'm about to just
ditch Vista and go with XP but I'd like to try and stay with Vista to keep
from having to migrate all my apps/files. If I could get it to BSOD instead
of reboot I think I can get someone to fix it. Suggestions on stopping
reboot?

 

[Klusbusverwenweek]

I"m running Vista with an nvidia mobo and 8800 GTX graphics card. Whenever I
try gaming or running the nvidia stability test, my machine will reboot
itself in between 10 to 60 minutes. The machine went back to the provider
and they replaced a bad graphics card but it's still happening. I've been
through all the regular tests (memory, hdd, graphics, power, etc). I do
have automatic restart turned OFF and I don't see a blue screen flash, it
just reboots. I am running fully up to date on software, but I've used a new
HDD with a base Vista install and have the same problem. It sounds like
hardware but I have also tried running under XP and it has zero problems with
that so I'm figuring it's Vista-specific and not hardware. I'm about to just
ditch Vista and go with XP but I'd like to try and stay with Vista to keep
from having to migrate all my apps/files. If I could get it to BSOD instead
of reboot I think I can get someone to fix it. Suggestions on stopping
reboot?

Had the same problem here, with a MSI P6 Diamond board and a GTX. Kept
rebooting, rather random, sometimes with a BSOD, sometimes without.
The solution was ( found out by just fiddling around in the BIOS ) to
link the MEM speed with the CPU. So, i do not know your Mobo, but try
to mess a bit with mem speed icm with your CPU ? maybe it helps.

good luck.

 

[BurrWalnut]

Stop the computer from automatically restarting when an error is encountered,
viz. Right-click Computer > Properties > Advanced System Settings > Advanced
Tab then click Settings at the bottom alongside Startup and Recovery. In
System Failure untick ‘Auto Restart’. Now, next time you have a BSOD, the
STOP error will be displayed on the screen.

Make a note of the error number (the format is 0x00000aaa, where aaa is the
error number, e.g. 05A) and look for an explanation of your error number
shown in the left pane here
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-gb/library/ms795508.aspx

 

[Mac]

I had put that in my original post. Auto restart is turned off yet it still
will reboot sometimes. I have gotten BSOD where it will halt and I can see
the screen but it's only every so often.

 

[Mac]

From a cold start, If I immediately use nTune I can get it to reboot fairly
quickly. nvidia's nvmonitor can track temps on the CPU, system, and GPU.
I've set it up to track the temps every 4 seconds and even when gaming, the
temps are well under the limits right up to reboot. The system was built by
Velocity Micro so the parts are decent (nvidia 680i mobo, 8800 GTX gpu). I
did buy the system with the intent on overclocking, but wanted it to run
solid on base settings first (they didn't overclock it before shipping). The
CPU has Arctic Cooling fan on it. Not the best but the temps I'm seeing
aren't too high so it's working. VM does a great job of routing cables so
the internals seem to have good airflow for cooling. I figure if it was a
temp or bad graphics card issue, I'd hit it when running the same system
under XP but it runs like a champ there. I'm still leaning towards it being
a standard driver issue, but unless i can get it to blue screen instead of
rebooting I'm not sure how to prove it.