computer randomly rebooting...

[substance]

i built a computer the other day, athlon 1.3, 256mb pc 133, all in one motherboard DFI AM33-EL, 20 gig drive, windows 98. But i thought i could get away with putting a 250watt power supply in it. After a couple days the computer started randomly freezing up. and sometimes randomly restarting. So i replaced the 250 watt PS with a 300 watt, and i ran some tests on it with sandra for like 4 hours. and it was working fine. (the first couple times, it would mess up and restart) but i kept running the burn in test and it finally ran stable for about 6 hours straight. Now the computer is freeezing up again and restarting randomly. Could have i damage some of the parts in the computer from using a 250 watt generic power supply? If so, what would be the most common, memory, cpu? MB? any way to find the exact componant that is causing the problems??

 

[ccgr]

I doubt damage can occur from a lower watt power supply. I woulld monitor the heat on your processor. It wouldn't hurt to check the power supply voltages as well to make sure they are okay.

 

[JknowWhat]

check your cpu temps and if thats ok then try another stick of RAM just to make sure you dont have some bad RAM in there

 

[cmaMath13]

As a hobbyist, the first comment that I will make is that it could be MANY things.

If you assume your Windows is install correctly, then I would adjust voltage on the following: CPU, AGP slot, and memory in the motherboard's bios (if you can). Any of these could do the trick. Be careful and don't raise anything too high.

Keep us informed.

 

[nicebutt]

I have had the same problem. A different system but random boots and memory errors
I got some good advice from here and it turned out to be bad memory.
I used the Memtest-86 test to prove it.
RMAed my memory will get new ones on Monday.




Download Memtest-86

 

[cmaMath13]

Yes, there are some nice utilities one can utilize to test memory, hard drive, etc. I just used that memory test last night. Basically, you create a bootable floppy with the software and follow the directioins.

 

[erikiksaz]

Originally posted by: cmaMath
As a hobbyist, the first comment that I will make is that it could be MANY things.

If you assume your Windows is install correctly, then I would adjust voltage on the following: CPU, AGP slot, and memory in the motherboard's bios (if you can). Any of these could do the trick. Be careful and don't raise anything too high.

Keep us informed.

Why would he have to raise voltages above factory to fix anything? The system should run 100% stable with default voltages.

If your system reboots during gaming, or anything that might involve chunks of your memory, then i'd suspect the ram. Otherwise,download Motherboard Monitor, set that up and check the voltages AND cpu temps.

 

[substance]

the cpu runs at 40-44 degrees, but before i changed the power supply, it was getting higher. Also the person who uses this computer, only runs office xp, IE, and the OS is 98se. Should i try reinstalling the OS?

 

[cmaMath13]

erikiksaz,

I just built a computer that was rebooting and I could not figure out why. It turns out the 1.5v was not enough for the vid, so I upped the voltage a little about default and it runs fine now.

I had some Corsair DDR in another computer (supposively high quality). It would not run stable (Prim95) at its default speed and cas setting, unless I bump the voltage up a little.

I run my current AMD athlon XP overclock (2100+ @ 2700+ speeds), and I have the voltage raise quite a bit.

I was just making a suggestion that could help system stability.