Random Reboots

agg123456789

Senior member
Jan 28, 2001
319
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Hey all. Just wondering if someone else might have had this problem... Windows seems to randomly reboot my machine. There is absolutly no pattern to it. Just sunndenly i will be typing away, or gaming, or reading, or websurfing, and boom! black screen and then the vid card bios and the mobo bios, just like i pressed the reset switch.....

any ideas???

thanks
agg123456789
 

RaDragon

Diamond Member
May 23, 2000
4,123
1
71
My computer used to reboot just after starting it up! e.g., when I power it on, as soon as it loads windows, it then suddenly reboots. There were other weird things happening to it, but I found out that it was my HD's controller card.

If you don't have such hardware, check your Systems Properties and see if there are any conflicts with your devices. What OS do you use?
 

KBTibbs

Senior member
May 3, 2001
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Well, most likely it is hardware. I've known a semi-faulty PSU that did it, also could be the hardrive, cable, controller.

Well, it's not so common anymore (its a throwback to the old DOS days) but you could be slipping past the os safegards and overwriting a protected area of memory sparking a reboot.

You live in California? It could be a rolling blackout... ;)

Just how often does this happen? Does it ever happen while inactive or only when it is activly being used? Does it spark Scandisk? If it doesn't (and you don't have Tweak UI stopping it) look for a program to be doing it.

Once my live update went nuts and ever time my scheduled live update even happened it downloaded a tiny patch and prompted for a reboot (it never realized if it succeded so it kept trying over and over).

Got any spare parts lying arround to test? Try to narrow it down (Hate for you to buy an replacement part needlessly).

Oh..one last thought, you consider the power getting to the computer? Do you have a UPS (backup battery)?
 

aimn

Banned
Feb 14, 2001
683
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0
I had the same problem a year or so ago. I tried the "take everything out" and add one thing back at a time until it reboots on you. Come to find out it was my cpu.
 

agg123456789

Senior member
Jan 28, 2001
319
0
0
i get that when i boot up and it just instantly reboots too... well yes...when it reboots it starts scandisk... i am using win 98 se. bt here is the kicker.....it never happens in Linux..........

I dont have a UPS, they are too expensive.....

thanks for the help. any more ideas would be appreciated...


agg123456789
 

TuffGuy

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2000
6,478
0
76
it's probably your via chipset or the power supply. what are your system specs?
 

agg123456789

Senior member
Jan 28, 2001
319
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0
CPU: AMD Duron 800MHz @ 1000MHz
Motherboard: Abit KT7-RAID
Memory: 256 MB of Mushkin Basic PC133
Video Card: Hercules 3D Prophet II MX (GeForce2 MX)
Hard Drive: 2 IBM Deskstar 75GXP 60.0 GB @ 7200 RPMS
Additional Hard Drives: ·The IBMs are on the HighPoint Raid in Raid 0 mode
·Western Digital Caviar 30 Gb 5400 RPM (For Mandrake 8.0 and MP3s)
Monitor: Radius S-3F 15
DVD Manufacturer & Model: Toshiba SD-M1402 12X
CDR/CDRW Manufacturer & Model: Sony Spressa 4x2x32
Storage Interface: IDE
IDE-RAID

Sound Card: Turtle Beach Montego II Plus Digital Optical I/O
Internet Provider: RoadRunner
Internet Connection Type: Cable

Operating System: Windows 98 SE & Mandrake 8.0

PSU: 400watt Anteck
 

Killrose

Diamond Member
Oct 26, 1999
6,230
8
81
Sounds like power supply problems. My girlfriends comp did the same thing untill one day there was a loud pop, and then of course nothing worked. New power supply, and the problems never surfaced again.
 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
This happen to me last year,in my case it was a faulty CPU,I would change the PSU just to be sure it`s not faulty & take it from there.
 

TuffGuy

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2000
6,478
0
76
it could be your power supply or you've pushed your chip too much. try running it at stock speeds and see if the problem goes away.
 

agg123456789

Senior member
Jan 28, 2001
319
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0
thanks for all the input. The thing reboots wether or not i am overclocked. I even tried giving the thing a little more voltage and running at at 1.65 at the stock 800mhz....to no avail....

I wish i could be sure that it was my PSU, because 400watt and greater are not cheap.....


thanks

agg123456789
 

TuffGuy

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2000
6,478
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76


<< I wish i could be sure that it was my PSU, because 400watt and greater are not cheap..... >>


you *could* just pick one up temporarily to verify if it's your power supply or not. if it's not, return it. if it is... :(

i just upgraded my 300w to a 550w a couple of days ago. i'm &quot;future-proof&quot; for a while...
 

agg123456789

Senior member
Jan 28, 2001
319
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lol...unfourtuantly this is already the second PSU i have had on this system....and there are no good computer stores here in Podunk USA.... i guess i may have to internet order a 550 or something......

i wonder if i can pull that much more through the wall.....if i am not using 550 will it still pull 550?

thanks

agg123456789
 

rubberduck21

Junior Member
Jun 18, 2001
5
0
0
I am having the same problem as we speak. I have updated all my drivers, Brand new PSU, changed ram 3 times, checked the lantency time they are the same, I have reformatted my hard drive on sunday KNOCK on WOOD I have not had a Re boot yet. If it happens again I will let you know. My computer runs 24/7 with a large time playing games and internet close to 10 hours a day.