Random reboots... help please!

[Weselan]

Recently I've been getting random reboots. This started completely out of nowhere. I've been running my computer with the same setup for months, and never had a single random reboot, and now I get them frequently enough to render my computer unusable.

Here's my setup:
Duron 800
MSI K7t Turbo
GeForce 3
256 megs PC100 RAM (actually, 128 of this is PC133)
SB Live! Value

Like I said before, this setup has worked just fine for me untill now... Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,
Graham

 

[Bovinicus]

I have heard many state that the MSI K7T Turbo seems to have a fairly short lifespan. Perhaps this is the problem. Pehaps your PSU is nearing the end of it's life. I would say that cooling is the problem, except that you have been using the same setup for several months and that wouldn't make sense.

 

[Weselan]

Yeah, cooling was my first thought, but I'm running at a max of 109 F under full load, so I think I'm OK there. If it's my motherboard failing on me, is there any way to get it replaced (ya know, without having to pay anything)?

 

[kylef]

In my experience, this can occur when the power supply's components have been stressed over a period of time and an actual reduction in the current-supply capacity results in random reboots. Random reboots (not blue screens), especially in Windows 2000 or XP, seem to be caused by anemic power supplies more often than not.

What BRAND power supply do you have? Although a Duron 800 is not what I would call a power hog, the GeForce3 does draw a significant amount of current. I had a 250 watt power supply that couldn't even run a K6-2 450 system reliably without spontaneous reboots... once I replaced it with a Sparkle 300W power supply, the problem went away...

AMD has a list of recommended power supplies on their website. If you search for "AMD recommended power supplies" in Google you're sure to get the link.

 

[Weselan]

It's a Viking 300W power supply. And I've noticed that sometimes I get random reboots before Windows (I'm running 98, currently) even starts loading... usually while I'm in the BIOS setup screen.

 

[Weselan]

bump

 

[Weselan]

bump... come on, anyone?

 

[kylef]

Hmmm... Viking is NOT on The List of recommended power supplies.

Plus, the fact that it has rebooted BEFORE Windows starts means that it's definitely not a driver problem: it's a hardware problem. With a temp in the range you listed, cooling shouldn't be a problem. However, the placement of the thermistor underneath the processor might be a factor there, but I don't think it could be THAT much of a factor...

I would:

1. Try a beefier power supply. If that doesn't work, then
2. Get some brand-name PC133 RAM (from Crucial or Mushkin). The generic stuff is notorious for causing problems like this...

That's all that I can really think of. I find it highly unlikely that the motherboard is at fault at this point in the investigation.

Good luck!

 

[fs5]

are you running XP? try doing a search for "random reboots" and you'll find some threads that have solution to the XP reboot problem.