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Need help diagnosing spontaneous restarts!

mcveigh

mcveigh

Diamond Member
OK my main home pc just started acting weird.

Epox 8kha+
256MB crucial pc2100 DDR ram
1600+ XP AMD (1.4 GHz) not over clocked
geforce 2MX
seagate 40GB 7200rpm hd
XP pro w/ SP1
enermax 300w power supply

about 2 days ago I got a corrupt file warning for my system32 folder and it told me to run chkdsk, so I did it found corrupt files and fixed them

yesterday, I swear all I had runnign was mozilla. I typed in yahoo.com, hit enter and it rebooted instantly.
Just now I had flashed to the latest bios that came out the other day, then started UT2003 it rebooted while loading that.

anybody have some Ideas on this? anyone know a way to stress a box enough to hopefully force a reboot? (maybe then I can start swapping out components.)


 
Have you checked your heat sink and CPU temp? OC'ing and overheating can certainly cause this.

Also OC'ing your memory or problems with your DIMMS can also cause these problems. I suggest checking out your CPU temp, open your box and make sure the heat sink is secure and reseat your RAM.

In my experience spontaneous reboots have often been hardware related.

They're very difficult to troubleshoot as they often to don't leave event logs ... Have you checked EventViewer to see if anything is happening around the time of reboot?

Other possiblities are funky power supply or hard drive problems ... It's difficult to initially narrow down problems like this.

Ganbate kudosai! (Good luck)



 
I've got an alpha PAL 8042 heatsink.
current temps 113 (cpu) and 87 (MB) degrees F from MBM.

and it crashed again about an hour ago 🙁
 
you might have a virus. run a check. if that doesn't bring up any results, reinstall windows (doesnt necessarily mean reformat)...

good luck.
 
Do you have windows set to reboot on errors? If so, set it so it doesn't reboot and see what (if any) blue screen error you get.
Something to try anyway.

 
Originally posted by: bleh1
you might have a virus. run a check. if that doesn't bring up any results, reinstall windows (doesnt necessarily mean reformat)...

good luck.
Click to expand...

nope I run AV everynight.
 
Do you have windows set to reboot on errors? If so, set it so it doesn't reboot and see what (if any) blue screen error you get.
Click to expand...

This is quite likely and a good suggestion....it's in the administrative tools somewhere but I don't have an XP machine to check it out, i'm sure somebody will point you in the right direction.

Check the system and application logs for any errors....I guaruntee you will get an error in Microsoft semi-gibberish around 30 seconds before it decided to reboot showing there.

Corm
 
I had a similar problem, and I didn't do anything about it until my system32 directory got corrupted and I had to reinstall EVERYTHING!!!! nightmare! it turned out to be a faulty memory card... replaced it and everything is running smoothly now....
my miistake was to switch off the power on mem test.... which showed up the faulty memory when I switched my machine on.... that will teach me to buy cheap sh|t!
sorry I can't be more constructive!
 
Originally posted by: TheCorm
Do you have windows set to reboot on errors? If so, set it so it doesn't reboot and see what (if any) blue screen error you get.
Click to expand...

This is quite likely and a good suggestion....it's in the administrative tools somewhere but I don't have an XP machine to check it out, i'm sure somebody will point you in the right direction.

Check the system and application logs for any errors....I guaruntee you will get an error in Microsoft semi-gibberish around 30 seconds before it decided to reboot showing there.

Corm
Click to expand...



Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Startup and Recovery box (bottom box) hit settings button > in system failure box uncheck AUTOMATICALLY RESTART.

 
Originally posted by: Nailbunny
Originally posted by: TheCorm
Do you have windows set to reboot on errors? If so, set it so it doesn't reboot and see what (if any) blue screen error you get.
Click to expand...

This is quite likely and a good suggestion....it's in the administrative tools somewhere but I don't have an XP machine to check it out, i'm sure somebody will point you in the right direction.

Check the system and application logs for any errors....I guaruntee you will get an error in Microsoft semi-gibberish around 30 seconds before it decided to reboot showing there.

Corm
Click to expand...



Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Startup and Recovery box (bottom box) hit settings button > in system failure box uncheck AUTOMATICALLY RESTART.
Click to expand...



I did that as well, I forget to mention the mouse has been acting weird often jumping around on the screen.

I'll test the memory, that was a good suggestion
thanks for your help everyone!
 
Well I thinkit's the memory!!
memtest86 came back with over 760000 errors (thats when I stoped it. )

I hope it's memory and not the motherboard. it's crucial memory, so I can return it at least. 🙂

Thanks for the help people!!!!😀
 
Check the memory timing that can be set to either 5 or 6, I forget the name. I have had a problem with corrupt HDD files when that is set to 5. As well, that would explain memory errors. However, you should still test one stick at a time to discover which one it is.
 
Originally posted by: mcveigh
Originally posted by: Nailbunny
Originally posted by: TheCorm
Do you have windows set to reboot on errors? If so, set it so it doesn't reboot and see what (if any) blue screen error you get.
Click to expand...

This is quite likely and a good suggestion....it's in the administrative tools somewhere but I don't have an XP machine to check it out, i'm sure somebody will point you in the right direction.

Check the system and application logs for any errors....I guaruntee you will get an error in Microsoft semi-gibberish around 30 seconds before it decided to reboot showing there.

Corm
Click to expand...



Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Startup and Recovery box (bottom box) hit settings button > in system failure box uncheck AUTOMATICALLY RESTART.
Click to expand...



I did that as well, I forget to mention the mouse has been acting weird often jumping around on the screen.
Click to expand...

:Q Uh oh. I have that problem with the mouse and random reboots. I hope it is not the memory 🙁

Spac3d
 
Originally posted by: Bovinicus
Check the memory timing that can be set to either 5 or 6, I forget the name. I have had a problem with corrupt HDD files when that is set to 5. As well, that would explain memory errors. However, you should still test one stick at a time to discover which one it is.
Click to expand...

only 1 stick of 256 in there now. I'm oging to try different lots and default mem timings.
 
wohoooo😀
I got my stick of samsung ddr333 in today and all is smooth sailing now. I can't beleive how much faster my system is.
thanks for your help people!!

and crucial just sent me an rma number to get my ddr2100 replaced!
 
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