Please help, my computer restarts on its own...

[FTLOSM]

I can't figure out why this pc is randomly restarting itself, it seems to run smooth most of the time yet restarts on me right in the middle of checking email or watching a dvd etc...

I installed motherboard monitor and my temps are averaging 96 case / 93 cpu , voltage all appears ok, fans galore, blowing even on hard drives, I really doubt this is a heat issue...

I am running 1 gig of ram, athlon 2100 processor, on a gigabyte ultra 7 board, 450 watt power supply, no real changes software or hardware that I can say except replaced dvd burner with a newer version (pioneer 108) however it was fine after that change too, the restarts are more recent.

Bios is fully updated to current, I run ad aware SE as well as have Norton 2004 running all the time, I am running windows 2000 pro with all current updates, lets see,,, beyond that heck I dunno what else to say or look at in terms of why this pc is just restarting on me at random.

It almost seems like when i go to put load on the cpu it acts up and restarts, I was watching a dvd the otherday and went to open a browser on the side to check a website at the same time, within about 10 seconds of opening that browser while the dvd was playing the pc just restarted, the other day while typing an email and having the pc encoding a video file to burn to dvd-r, again bam it just restarted on me.

I guess I am just looking for advice on what to check next, I doubt its heat related, power supply is decent and not working too hard here that I can tell, motherboard monitor shows volts as
core 0/core 1/ +3.3
as
1.65 / 1.31 / 3.23

and in general this pc and os runs really well really fast and is pretty stable till just recently here, and again I have gone over it all in my head, nothing much new added or changed even hardware or software, and I do regular windows updates as well as norton full scans, ad aware scans etc etc.

I take good care of my stuff here, its all cleaned out inside, no dust or dirt or gunk in there around the cooling fans or heat syncs etc, and I do my best to keep the OS updated, defragged, minimal resources being used, task manager shows cpu usage as only 3% and mem usage also very low, I have to really JAM on 2-3-4 things to get it to spike up (seems plenty powerful enough) yet once I DO start to push it and do 2-3 things at once suddenly it dumps on me and restarts.

I know there are probably things i have forgotten to post about my system or whatnot that might help, please just lmk and I will do my best to post them to get this fixed, also have tried mybest to explain what I have done to try and self diagnose but at this point I just can't seem to use my pc like I used to be able to use it - once I try to do more than 2-3 things at once I see the cpu usage rise and then bam restart within 20-30 seconds. I have even watched the temps voltage and cpu usage during these times (i can re-create it easily unfortunatly), nothing out of the norm that I can see except when cpu usage nears 95-100 range is when i see the pc start to just become a ticking bomb of restarts.

Thanks for ANY advice or help on this, I haven't got the $$$ to just go buy a new one, this is a home built that is about 2 years old yet has served me very well until recently.

 

[mechBgon]

1) could you give the precise model of Gigabyte motherboard

2) what is the composition of the 1GB of RAM (like, two 512MB, or a 512 plus two 256's, and what brand/model if you can recall that)

3) what brand/model is the 450W power supply?

 

[Uncle Bob]

By default, XP is set up to automatically restart in the event of a serious software crash. If you disable this, the next time it will produce a crash report on a blue screen (BSOD). This will provide information that will help in identifying the cause of your random restarts

To disable auto-reboot, go into control panel->system, click on the advanced tab, then click on the settings button under Startup and Recovery Options. Untick the box next to 'automatically restart'.

Once you have seen a couple of these BSOD's, make a note of the info displayed. You don't need to note all the info, just the 'Stop Code', the next line down which will be a description of the stop code and filenames that are referenced

once you have that, report back and we should be able to help more

 

[FTLOSM]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
1) could you give the precise model of Gigabyte motherboard

2) what is the composition of the 1GB of RAM (like, two 512MB, or a 512 plus two 256's, and what brand/model if you can recall that)

3) what brand/model is the 450W power supply?

The motherboard here is a GA 7VAXP ultra by Gigabyte

The 1 gig of ram is 2 - 512 of crucial 2700

The powersupply is a True Power 430 (came in my antec 1080 case)
its powering the motherboard, 2 - WD 120 gig 7200 hds, 1 dvd burner pioneer 108, one dvd rom samsung, and my video card is an ati AIW 8500 DV, processor is the amd athlon thoroughbred 2100 not overclocked or anything and never has been, cooler on the processor is a vantex (system seems to run ok heat wise I think), 95 case F / 93-95 cpu F & under load it hits around 98 case / 97 cpu, havent seen it go beyond that even at 100% cpu usage... altho once I hit 100% cpu usage for more than say 20 seconds the system just restarts on me...

Voltage readings seem to stay stable (no fluctuations when idle vs load) and are
1.65 core 0
1.31 core 1
+3.3 = actual 3.23
+5 = actual 4.85
+12 = actual 11.81
-12 = -10.03
and those too under load don't change much that I can see, (have watched with 1 second updates on motherboard monitor while creating a 100% load and making the pc restart).

 

[FTLOSM]

Originally posted by: Uncle Bob
By default, XP is set up to automatically restart in the event of a serious software crash. If you disable this, the next time it will produce a crash report on a blue screen (BSOD). This will provide information that will help in identifying the cause of your random restarts

To disable auto-reboot, go into control panel->system, click on the advanced tab, then click on the settings button under Startup and Recovery Options. Untick the box next to 'automatically restart'.

Once you have seen a couple of these BSOD's, make a note of the info displayed. You don't need to note all the info, just the 'Stop Code', the next line down which will be a description of the stop code and filenames that are referenced

once you have that, report back and we should be able to help more

I am running windows 2000 pro, but i did go into control panel/system/advanced startup / system failure box and I unchecked "automatic reboot", once I hit OK it told me to turn on something called "administrative alerter" so I did that also.

I guess the next step is to restart, then recreate the cpu 100% max thing by doing 2-3-4 things at once, and see if it tries to reboot or crashes with an error screen or what,,,,

THANKS to everyone who has read this post and is trying to help me on this...
Bill

 

[montag451]

look also in event viewer to see what is coming up.
Please include ID/SOURCE and text

 

[mechBgon]

An entertainable possiblility is that the CPU is getting too hot, despite the appearance to the contrary. IIRC, the VAXP (like most mobos) doesn't give you its temp readings from the CPU core, but rather from a socket thermistor with about a two-minute ramping delay.

Start by looking at the third and fourth photos here, although I doubt that's your issue. If there is a shim between the CPU and the heatsink, remove it. Give the CPU core a fresh paper-thin coat of high-quality thermal grease (Coolermaster/ShinEtsu or Arctic Silver) and reinstall the heatsink. Might want to blow out any dust in the heatsink while you're at it

If the problem persists, you might try just one memory module at a time, won't take long to see if it changes anything.

 

[FTLOSM]

Ok pc dumped on me today, gave me blue screen instead of restarting thanks to the tips given above, went to event log and saw this entered (I am 99% sure it is what the blue screen said too except the blue screen also said save dump


The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000000a (0x00000000, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x804472bb). Microsoft Windows 2000 [v15.2195]. A dump was saved in: C:\WINNT\Minidump\Mini012105-01.dmp.

I can go to the .dmp file but (don't laugh) can't seem to figure out how to open it, tried notepad but its just garble that I can see...

How does one figure out what the bugcheck numbers mean or how to open or read a dmp file (so I can figure out why this is happening).

Thanks again to all who have offered suggestions here,

BTW my temps were (at the time of the dump) 98 cpu 96 motherboard 88 case

Bill

 

[FTLOSM]

Just happened again,

Event Log says:

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000001e (0xc0000005, 0xa00058c0, 0x00000000, 0x0000040d). Microsoft Windows 2000 [v15.2195]. A dump was saved in: C:\WINNT\Minidump\Mini012105-02.dmp.

This seems to happen most when I am burning a dvd-r or cdr with nero , but has also happened using prassi and also has happened while encoding with dvd shrink, also happens when I run multiple apps like word, IE6 and try to check emails in outlook (no cdrom or dvdrom involved)...

Temps seem to average around 95-98 degrees for the cpu btw, if I can figure out how to open those DMP files or if there is a way to check these bug reports somehow then I might be able to put a finger on what is causing this... seems no matter what program i am using, just when there is a load on the cpu that i see this happening, altho i don't think it is heat releated heck I dunno at this point, just hoping from the event logs or further help with the dmp files (what are they how do i read, what will they tell me) i can figure out WHY this is happening..

Bill

 

[FTLOSM]

Uggh this time pc wasnt even ON for maybe 2 mins, and bam blue screen

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000001e (0xc0000005, 0xa009df40, 0x00000000, 0x0000020c). Microsoft Windows 2000 [v15.2195]. A dump was saved in: C:\WINNT\Minidump\Mini012205-01.dmp.

heat cannot be the issue, seconds before this happened i noticed the temps were still in the low 80's and there was virtually NO load on the pc (no cdrom or dvdrom drive in motion) all i had open was internet explorer which is fully updated as well as windows btw...

I gotta figure out what this stuff is and why its happening, its drivin me a bit batty to be honest...

Anyone?

How do I read DMP files?
What are the bugcheck numbers from the event log
and do they tell you/me anything about why this is happening?

I sure can't figure this out, nothing new added software or hardware in a while, I do run norton and adaware often and are both fully updated, i keep the pc fully updated with every critical update, i keep things cool (fans,etc) pc is CLEAN inside no dust even, i scan disc, clean up, defrag all pretty often...

Stumped....

 

[FTLOSM]

I am gonna beat this thing with a bat if it restarts again tonight,
picture the "office space" flashback of the "PC Load Letter" scene....

problem solved LOL,

Seriously guys/gals cant figure this one out...

Anyone that can tell me what the bugcheck numbers are or how to read or figure out what the .dmp files are?

Just wanna learn how to read or figure out what is causing this restart problem.

 

[daniel49]

could even be a driver of one of your componants. I have an audigy2 zs that was causing my system to reboot constantly. uninstalled all creative drivers and creative software and reinstalled web drivers only and the reboots stopped....something to consider if you have changed anything recently?
gl
dan

 

[FTLOSM]

The only thing I have changed recently (in the last 6 months even) has been adding a newer dvd burner, I had a pioneer 105 I added a pioneer 108, but there are no drivers for it, I did upgrade the firmware to the newest version off the pioneer site, however these reboots were happening even before I put the 108 in...

I guess it could have been some driver or software along the way or something, but I sure don't recall it happening right after anything in particular (new video card or installation of a particular new program)

I was hoping the bugcheck numbers or the .dmp files might shed light as to what is causing the blue screen of deaths for me or that it might give a CLUE as to what is causing it so I can start in a particular direction (power loss, memory problem, hardware, drivers whatever) cuz on my own I have tried everything i can think of and more suggestions from others yet it still keeps happening...

What is a bugcheck for and what are those numbers do they tell us anything?

Also what are those minidump files .dmp files, and do they tell us where or what is happening, if so how do I open or read them?

Bill

 

[FTLOSM]

Ok just happened today about 10 mins into turning on the pc, temps were 95 mb, 96 cpu, 75 case...

Only thing I had open was Internet Explorer, motherboard monitor running and norton antivirus,
I have only added motherboard monitor recently due to all these problems with restarts wondering if they were heat related, and as for norton I have even UN-installed it yet still have same problems so I re-installed it...

Anyways here is what the blue screen says

***STOP: 0x0000001E (0xC0000005, 0xA009DF40, 0x00000000, 0x0000020C) KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED

Address A009DF40 base at A0000000, Datestamp 4118463d-win32k.sys

Beggining dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete, contact your system administrator or techincal support group.


The event log for this says

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x0000001e (0xc0000005, 0xa009df40, 0x00000000, 0x0000020c). Microsoft Windows 2000 [v15.2195]. A dump was saved in: C:\WINNT\Minidump\Mini012805-01.dmp.

Does any of this help to figure out why my pc keeps restarting?

 

[montag451]

in event viewer, you should be able to look at all the 'X' and '!' see what occurs near to the crash.

control panel
administrative
event logs
look under system and application

 

[TRUMPHENT]

Has anything changed in your place? Power can be the culprit. If you moved your computer to a different power cricuit or use a UPS with a wornout battery, that could cause your problem. The utility company could be the culprit, creating intermittent low voltage.

 

[jerkdiggler]

umm, im not claiming to be an expert, but it seems to be a cut and dry ram failure. Run a windows diagnostics memory test.

one of my comps had a problem like that and a windows file eventually got corrupted to and now it wont finish starting up without an error about missing file z or sometihng. I'm sitll in the works of trying to figure that one out. If any experts have insight on that id like to know.

Good luck with your prob but my money goes on the ram. You'll have to make a bootdisk that runs the test and it should help clairfy things.

 

[farscape]

Just for the heck of it - what Cat driver are you using with your 8500?

I use to have reboot probs with anything above 4.9. If it's above that, uninstall, run DriverCleaner and reload with 4.9s. My probs are gone, maybe yours will too.

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