Hi all, haven’t posted here for a while, too busy playing Skyrim.

I’ve encountered a problem in my last three computer builds. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought I’d put this out and pick someone’s brain about a possible common element that I may be missing.

About two computers ago, playing Morrowind, self-built PC running Windows 98SE. Rock-solid, never had an issue with it.

Oblivion came out. Re-built for use with Windows XP (Service Pack 3). Ran this for quite some time but had to put things off while helping someone with an on-line Masters Degree course. About a year into that, the power blinked – the computer suddenly re-started as if someone had tapped the reset button. Odd, but it only happened once so I didn’t think anything of it. About three months later, it blinked again. Wasn’t sure why but just to be sure, I re-formatted the HD and re-installed XP and all programs. Stable for about 6-8 months. I had Windows 7 on the shelf by this time getting ready for Skyrim.

Right around the middle of December 2011 I had a major malfunction where the PC wouldn’t even start up successfully (blinking restarts were happening too often now). At this time, I had replaced both IDE DVD drives with those new SATA types and found out that Windows XP doesn’t believe in SATA. Since I had the new MB and other components for the Skyrim computer, I scrambled to assemble everything with Windows 7 on it. That was December 2011. Finished Oblivion, enjoyed Skyrim twice.

Just recently, you guessed it, reset-type blinks again. All random, no idea why. Replaced the power supply. Fine for a month or two, but they’re happening again.

I have gone through three power supplies (two in the last build, one new one in this build). The CPU was different for each motherboard. Same for the RAM (DDR3 in this current build).

Personally, I’m stumped. Defective motherboard? Possible, however this same issue crops up in the last three. Defective RAM? I’m not certain. I honestly have not purchased the same brand twice in a row. Drivers? Thought about that except that these are three different motherboards and video cards. Overheating? Not according to the heat monitoring things that come with these MB’s.

There has to be some common thread that I’m missing. I’ve noticed that these blinks all seem to start at some age of operation, usually at least two years after the build. Perhaps the drivers on the HDD are being corrupted over time. I always check for viruses as a possible cause but so far nothing is coming up.

Here’s what I’m running at the moment:

Windows 7 Home Professional (32 bit – yes, next one will be the 64 bit version)
MB: MSI 990FXA-GD65 (MS-7640)
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. V19.3B2 09/19/2011
3316 Megabytes Installed Memory
3.40 gigahertz AMD Phenom II X4 965
PS: CORSAIR CX series CX600 600W ATX12V
Main HDD 750g 7200rpm
Second HDD 500g 7200rpm
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti
Creative SB X-Fi
Temp on CPU at idle is about 40C
System idle temp is about 35C
(note: The fans ramp up when needed)

Any clues/hints of something I’m missing would be appreciated. BTW, this is my first MSI board. I was thinking about going to Asus for the next one. I tend to lean towards AMD processors as they seem to be more OC friendly (I like it when they ramp up speed for games and calm down for ‘normal’ activities, such as typing this whining missive).

BTW, I forgot to mention, it doesn't BSOD; again, its like someone hit the reset button. Any ideas or thoughts from the experts would be greatly appreciated.