Random Reboots!

[neutralizer]

I have an ep-8kha+, xp 1600+, pny gf3 ti200, running win xp. When i'm in heavy 3d games and quitting back to windows environment or after i finish benchmarking, sometimes the screen just goes black and the whole system reboots. What's wrong? Any help would be appreciated. BTW, i'm not ocing.

 

[neutralizer]

^bump. need some help here!

 

[Roguetech]

Make sure you have the memory dump turned on, or else you won't see an error message (though it may not be displaying one).

 

[Jiggz]

First you need to identify if this is hardware or software related by setting the bios of the mobo to its most conservative settings and then see if the problem is still there. If it's still there, then open the case and make sure the CPU temp is not going too high and PSU is not running too hot or voltages drooping too low. If it still persists, then it's most likely a software problem. To find out which software, you have to do heavy usage on what software is causing the problem. Uninstall the software temporarily and do more testing. If the problem stops then you need to check the manufacturer's homepage if they have heard of it and probably have a fix already.

 

[Jasmine]

I've seen this same problem posted all over the web. I think some people narrowed it down to power supply. 300 watts wasn't cutting it. (esp the Enermaxes I believe).

I have the same board, using a 400W Maxtor PS. Just out of interest, what is your PowerSupply?

 

[rwalterk]

:frown: I am having the same problem, but it only started after I upgraded to WinXP! Random reboots occur during just about anything: Web browsing, starting up Counter-Strike (that one more than anything), even when I haven't touched it for hours. I am not overclocking anything, so that isn't an issue. I noticed that you also have XP, neutralizer. I tried the latest BIOS upgrade from my mobo mfr (MSI), but it didn't do anything. This was never an issue with Win 98 (shockingly). Any recommendations would be welcome. I considered increasing CPU voltage but don't want to fry the thing.

PIII 933 Mhz (not overclocked)
MSI 8326 (815 Pro)
256 MB PC133 SDRAM
Leadtek Winfast Geforce 2 Pro
300W Sparkle power supply
CPU runs around 39 degrees C when idle

 

[fs5]

I've just experience it right now during a game of Ghost Recon. Check my system rig for details about my comp. But I'm pretty sure it's winXP. I've only experienced it twice so far after upgrading to XP (never in ME). Once during Ghost Recond like I said, and other time when I was trying to upgrade ASPI Drivers off of CDRwin's site.

I've also got a 300watt PS but I'm pretty sure that's not the problem.


[edit]
Solution
Just found this in another thread. Basically in XP when you get the BSOD (blue screen of death), instead of showing you the BSOD XP automatically reboots your comp. This link tells you how to disable it. That's really stupid of Microsoft. Instead of showing you the BSOD saying that "oops WinXP messed up because it's buggy", they just hit you w/ a restart and let you ponder whether or not it's your hardware or something OTHER than WinXP.
[/edit]

 

[rwalterk]

Thanks for the link, fivespeed. I'll disable it tonight and see what happens.

On a side note, I noticed that ZoneAlarm had a recent upgrade that included "Improved operability on the XP platform." I was using 2.6.357, I upgraded last night to 2.6.362. I had four reboots last night before I upgraded, but none afterwards (might just be coincidence, though).

 

[teddymines]

Also check your ram timing. Some ram cannot be pushed. I had cas 2.5 ram that I pushed to cas 2 and kept getting returned to desktop with no errors. Sometimes it would just freeze or reboot. Try relaxing your ram setting.

Not enough clean sustained power and overheating may contribute to your problem.

 

[rwalterk]

This is funny, I'm taking everyone's advice like it was my post

Anyway teddy, I'm not pushing my RAM. It's CAS 3 from Crucial and that's what I have my BIOS set at.

I get the feeling it's software due to the fact that fivespeed5 pointed out: instead of displaying the BSOD, WinXP and 2000 both reboot instead.

 

[MSNY]

Had random reboots with new Soyo Dragon + and win xp.

Turns out had a corrupt OS install, reinstall fixed all problems.

Random reboots gone !


Hot Dragon + rig

 

[ku]

turn on memory dump and turn auto-reboot off in windows. If you do this, it might go to a blue screen and tell you the error. With this error, you can derive whether it's hardware or something else. I had this problem too when I was running a certain FSB. I upped it a little more and lowered RAM settings and it was good.Now I stopped overclocking and I have no problems.

 

[fs5]

I blame everything on XP, I didn't have half the blue screen in ME. I think I'm going to do a little updating of XP tonight. Damn Microsoft, there's probably 200 megs worth of upgrades already.

 

[HappyPuppy]

The more I read about XP the happier I am that I haven't wasted my money on it. My new rig runs great with Win98SE...no reboots, no shutdown problems, no BSOD's...just a good stable machine. By the time the next iteration of Windows comes out, probably next year, I'll be able to upgrade to a more or less bug free XP while all the adventurers work the kinks out of the newest and best Microsoft OS.

Thank you Microsoft. Your software usually works fairly well after a year or two of bug fixes.

 

[rwalterk]

POSSIBLE SOLUTION

:Q FYI guys about my earlier comment on ZoneAlarm... I checked my Event Viewer and was shocked to find the number of application errors generated by ZoneAlarm. I upgraded last night to 2.6.362 and haven't seen any application errors yet (fingers crossed) in the Event Viewer. That coupled with the realization that XP is automatically set to reboot instead of showing a BSOD leads me to believe at least my random reboot problem may have been due to ZoneAlarm crashing XP.

I have since changed my settings to not have XP reboot when a BSOD occurs. In addition, the 2.6.362 upgrade for ZoneAlarm contains "improved operability on the XP platform," which probably means it was causing problems. Haven't seen any random reboots since, but then it's only been one day. Anyway, if you have this problem and use ZoneAlarm, upgrade immediately.