New Hard Drive and Windows Home Edition and computer still messed up

Off-Topic Games, Gaming and Hardware
1

I have nowhere else to go, none of the immediate people I know can help me fix this computer I have, and I’m trying to get it in for Shadowlands. I have a LOT of problems and I could really use someone with the savvy in this to bring this up.

So my computer died a month ago and I decided that maybe I had to update stuff. The power supply wasn’t working so I replaced it. It was also doing a combination of stuff and I asked the Windows tech support on the phone and my tech savvy friends say it could be a hard drive issue; so I bought a new Barracuda 1TB hard drive.

There are a lot of things that have happened all at once and I don’t know enough about computers to find the problem. So lemmie list the issues since they all happened at once.

1.) Every time I would reinstall Windows and do the updates, my computer goes bonkers, I do have the updated Nvidia drivers I need for things to work perfectly fine. It will randomly restart either at log in just after I type in password or my pin number, or… it will restart itself after I open up Internet Explorer to download the things I want for my computer like another browser, Discord, WoW, etc.

2.) When it does a random reboot, it sometimes hangs up on me. The tower will still be on (the button is acting as if it was pressed and I hear the beep of the BIOS turning on) but my Keyboard, Mouse, and Monitor will not be active in the slightest. Or if I turn it on from shutting it down.

3.) It would restart after I told it to shut down after update; it would do the Restart Lock Up (Number 2) if I told it to update and restart.

4.) I only got one BSOD out of it with the error message of “Video_TDR_Error” but I haven’t seen it since; I’m not overclocking my computer nor am I pushing it too hard.

5.) It works fine if I just hang out on the BIOS menu, no restarts, no weird hang-ups.

6.) Sometimes the BIOS screen would come by real fast, or sometimes the computer will boot up at a relatively sane rate.

7.) This is a brand spanking new Windows and Hard Drive, both from Newegg.

8.) Computer will also freeze and/or restart even looking at Settings or Control Panel

Stats: https://imgur.com/a/UNF7ein

I’m at my wits end here, I really need help, not even my super techie friend knows what the deal is since the things I bought that are new (Windows Install USB and the Hard Drive) shouldn’t be making this issue.

My theory (an uneducated one) would be Graphics Card or Ram is acting up.

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Depending on what you mean by bonkers,
Its normal for fans to spin up during update.

What is your power supply and what is your gpu?
Take the GPU out of your system and use the integrated gpu (the output near all your usbs).

Start with this.

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Can you translate for a five year old?

After doing the updates, it’s when I noticed the system goes nuttier than the acorn quest in Legion.

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4

Run memtest
Clear CMOS

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I have no idea what that is…

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Resetting CMOS just means popping out the battery on the motherboard for like a min and putting it back in or there is a switch/button you toggle or press.
For your motherboard z77 sabretooth
There are some pins at the bottom with a black cover.
123
The cover should be over 1&2. Move the cover over 2&3 and leave it there for roughly 10seconds then move it back to the original and it should reset your CMOS.

Then as mention above.
What is your PSU?
Remove your GPU from your system and see if that helps

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7

I don’t know if my Mobo has a built in graphic’s card.

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Run Windows memory diagnostic (if you aren’t familiar with memtest86)

As already explained, reset your BIOS

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your motherboard has a display port and hdmi port and you have an i5 3570k so you should have an igpu.

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My graphics card is a Geforce GT740 not an i5 3570k

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an integrated gpu (iGPU) is how you can use your system without a graphics card installed.

What I am asking you to do is remove the Gt740 from your system and use the iGPU to see if your issue still occurs.

You still failed to tell us what psu you swapped to.

This is your rear I/o
https://i.imgur.com/Y3oQpT3.png
7 & 8 are your display outputs.

If your power supply truly failed, there is a chance it damaged some components.

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Unfortunately I don’t have an HDMI monitor to use it with so I gotta grab that.

It’s a Thermaltake TR2 RX 850W

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Reset your CMOS.
The reason we want you to do this is, is to set your motherboard settings back to factory settings.
Refer to this image https://i.imgur.com/EOlQZt5.png

Make sure all your connection are plugged in correctly. Your computer can still start and do things even if everything is not correctly seated.

Base on your post, im assuming all you did was swap the psu and hdd.
Your old psu not working could be the troublesome part as it could have taken some things with it.

You can do what Salranas suggested via Memtest, to verify your RAM isn’t the problem.
Refer to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_xFNojChNA

Worse case scenario.
Your motherboard or CPU (more likely the motherboard) got damaged. Motherboards replacement are more daunting to replace for the average person who don’t work with computers.

Medium Case -
RAM/GPU was damaged. Much easier to manage and replace.

Best Case -
Something wasn’t connected properly or a setting was causing instability.

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I’m curious as to why that’d help, not questioning your validity just asking so I know what I’m getting into here. I’ve never really ‘programmed’ before so I wouldn’t know what I’d be typing or if I’d end up breaking it more on accident.

I might’ve misconstrued, it was dying on me so I quickly replaced it, didn’t wanna risk it.

I’d have to have my computer not screw up long enough for me to pull this off.

Worst Case Scenario: Ack, I could always try to ask my dad, he used to be a computer engineer (had to quit because they were outsourcing him, he’s still very savvy)

Medium Case: I got a couple extra RAM running about, I could replace it.

Best Case: I’m a pessimist, I can’t afford to think best case scenario unfortunately.

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Resetting the cmos resets bios setting. Something can be set incorrectly causing the system to act up.

When you’re able to. Do the what was recommended and ask your friends or use a different computer to get memtest86

Replacing the motherboard isn’t hard. Just a lot of cables which makes it nerve recking for some people

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The hard part is the money part what with Covid-19 making it hard to find work. Also the way my motherboard is (and because of how the case works) the Motherboard is vertical and had to fit a fan on it so I’d have to remove the big ol’ fan, I’ll have a big project ahead of me.

Update: I did the CMOS thing, it restarts and shutsdown normally, I’m going to try and reinstall windows to see if that fixes it.