random cold reboots, plz help.

[devision]

Motherboard: Abit NF7 2.0, Latest BIOS
CPU: AMD 3200+
RAM: 400MHz FSB, (1) 512MB
PSU: 420W, P4 Approved (which i assume is okay for an athlon as well)

The box is running super nice, however.. i am suffering, as the topic indicates, cold reboots, meaning the computer reboots to post, at completely random intervals.. I have replaced the PSU already, and re-seated the entire board.. I frankly, am at wits end.

Anyone of you ninja's have a suggestion as to what can be causing this heinous circumstance?



Thanks in advance.

Devision.

 

[MrYogi]

something to do with the operating system?
what os are you on?

 

[devision]

Operating system?.. that didn't even cross my mind.. i can't imagine it being a software issue..

Its Win2k Professional SP4.

Devision

 

[devision]

Also, one thing i forgot to include.. is that cooling in the machine is sufficient..

I have a ThermalTake Volcano 11+ on there, and its running on a decent load, at about ~47.5 degrees celcius.

Devision.

 

[scrubman]

i have the same problem with my system... everything is running great but periodically it just reboots while just as if i did a ctrl-alt-del from a command prompt... i cant imagine it being the OS but i suppose anything is possible... im running winXP pro on a Epox 8RDA+ with a Antec PS... specifics are in my sig... i would really liek to see what others have to say about this... i definately dont feel like changing my motherboard to test it and really dont want to change my PS either... unless of course i had strong reason to believe it was one or the other... good topic devision!

 

[raytsman]

I just posted the same problem on my system and have no idea what it can be but if we compare we might find a common denonminator. So here we go P4 2.4 gig, Soyo mobo, Crucial mem, Pro source case with 350 w ps and evga 8x 440 128 meg vcard

 

[Gravity]

Full system scan for virus? Sounds like reboot.exe to me.

 

[scrubman]

yes, no viruses here... after searching some more i got a few ideas... 1st, i set windowsXP so it wont reboot on errors... right click My Computer, properties, advanced, startup and recovery, and uncheck automatically restart... at least that way you will get an error message instead of a reboot IF it is being caused by the OS... 2nd, people said it is possible if you are running too tight of memory timings... so maybe try to set it to "set by SPD" or else just relax the timings a bit... 3rd, maybe just from overclocking... if so maybe boost cpu voltage a little... or else maybe there is overheating due to overclocking the CPU... 4th, could be driver issues... 5th, of course bad hardware is always possible.... power supply, mother board, RAM, CPU...

so far i have set XP not to reboot and im waiting to see if i get an error mesg. and the rebooting stops completely... then from there i will try making adjustment to RAM timings and then overclock settings...

good luck and keep us posted with any results!!

 

[devision]

Virus scan is clean, with Symantec..

quick thanks to scrubman: i was pushing my memory timings a bit i think.. i had them on the 'Optimal' preset, it is how switched to, as scrub said, 'Set by SPD' and i've got about a 24 hour uptime, which is good comparitively. *knocks on wood* We'll see if it sustains..

Thanks alot for all the great feedback.. and good luck guys.

Devision

 

[jackel808]

my pc reboots also but only when i am using peer2peer like bittorent. don`t bother buying a new motherboard like i did because that isn`t the problem so save your money. i think it is a combination of operating systems and software

 

[devision]

thought i'd follow up and then the mods can close the thread...

My issue was eventually figured to be a memory issue. The following helped, but didn't solve the problem:

1) Running 'Optimal' or 'Set by SPD' timings on the memory.
2) Upping the voltage to the SDRAM banks on the motherboad. (to 2.8v)


Both things prolonged my uptime but did not entirely solve the problem. I then ran a utility called 'Goldmemory', which does a verbose check of the mem... It came back as showing my stick of "Certified" 512MB DDR 400MHz had FAILED, almost every bank of it.

At this point I returned the memory (generic), to the reseller i bought it from and got myself some proper Crucial PC2700. Now i'm up solid for 3 days rendering and doing quite the workload which would have previously caused a cold reboot... problem solved..

Lesson --> Don't go cheap on memory, (Crucial or OCZ), the better the memory, the more compatible it is with high-end hardware like I'm running. In retrospect i should have known, good processor, good board, needs good memory.. My Bad...

Thanks for all your help.


Devision.

 

[kLipzE]

I have the same problem but my computer only reboots/freezes when I try to run the CPU at default settings. I replaced my Crucial memory with kingston but that didn't solve it, so it's not a memory problem.

I have to underclock my CPU through the multiplier (12x166, instead of 13x166) just to keep my computer stable. But I'm still trying to find a way around this.

 

[scrubman]

devision ----> good job troubleshooting your problem!! im happy you found the problem with no unnecessary expense and are up and running at full force now!!! Merry Christmas!!