Computer Spontaneously Restarts?

[efru]

I have a friends computer that just spontaneously restarts sometimes, and other times, when he goes to shut it down, it'll just turn itself on.....

Is it the PSU do you think?

Thx

 

[DimZiE]

yes, but it could also be CPU overheat, defective memory, or even corrupted registry ( assuming your using Windows )

could u describe the problem more spesifically (such as how,when, and at what times does the problem occur, what software(s) are u using..

 

[Viper96720]

My computer was doing that found out my ups was screwed up. It would turn off and on. If your friend is using winxp. Go to control panel, system, advanced, start up recovery settings, uncheck automatically restart. Then next time it happens check the system log. In administrative tools event viewer. See if there is anything with an !.

 

[thorin]

1) Run Memtest86 and let us know if it throws any errors.
2) What temp is his CPU?

Thorin

 

[efru]

Ok, im going to his house in like 20 minutes..

for now, i have another cool thing his computer does....after you go to start, shutdown., it'll shutdown, wait a couple minutes, and turn itself back on.....

isn't that awesome?


now what do you guys think

your help is appreciated.

 

[techfuzz]

At first I was going to say that it could be BSOD that is causing the reboots and he has that option to reboot on BSOD turned on... But then you mentioned that it turns itself back on after being turned off!

I can only think of 2 things that could cause that.
1. Either the motherboard or the PSU is bad or going bad.
2. He has wake-on-lan enabled and is receiving a wake signal.

techfuzz

 

[Goose77]

i might have the solution, not sure though. You can try this. Go to START/PROGRAMS/ACCESSORIES/SYSTEM TOOLS/SYSTEM INFORMATION. This should bring up the System Information Utility. CLICK on the TOOLS menu and do down to SYSTEM COMFIGURATION UTILITY. CLICK on the GENERAL tab if its not already selected. then at the bottem right click on the ADVANCED tab and look for DISABLE FAST SHUTDOWN and either put a check in it or take it out.

my cousin had a similar prob with her computer. i believe that, that solved the prob.

 

[Reel]

Originally posted by: efru
for now, i have another cool thing his computer does....after you go to start, shutdown., it'll shutdown, wait a couple minutes, and turn itself back on.....

now what do you guys think

Perhaps you need to try an exorcism?

 

[Chadder007]

Turn off Power saving features in the BIOS and in Windows. See how it reacts after.

 

[dzt]

unplug any soundcard or pci devices, or disable your onboard pci's.
my compaq deskpro have the same problem with certain soundcards, a hardware conflict.
your computer should go better without those pci's. If it is so, then your pci is not compatible with the mobo.
if it still restart itself then the possibility is your psu or mobo. borrow a friend's pc to power up side by side (mobo psu). you can decide which one is ugly.
last possibility i know, is yor house AC power. i had an experience with mechanical AC fuse, which rattles and the next thing is my pc restart itself.

 

[Nack]

A. Check to see if your friend's computer is overclocked. If it is, take it down to default settings/increase cooling, and see if this fixes the problem.

B. If not A, check to see if your friend's computer has both 1. a motherboard manufacturered by Epox, AND 2. a power supply manufactured by Enermax. If yes, replace one or the other, and your problem should be solved (recommend replacement: motherboard).

B1. In the alternative, if you find both an Epox and an enermax, and are handy with a soldering iron, there may be a way to correct it, but I do not recommend that you try (see amdmb forums and search for enermax in the epox thread).

C. If none of these apply, check your power connections, check to see that the heatsink is properly mounted on the processor with thermal compound, and see that the case is properly ventilated.

Good luck,

Nack

 

[BDawg]

Mine old machine did this recently. I troubleshot it down to the processor. First it wouldn't run at a 133 FSB, but it would at a 100. A few weeks later, it wouldn't run at 100, but at 66. Then, it wouldn't run at all.

I ended up buying a completely new MB, RAM, and CPU rather than waste money on another PIII.

 

[PCMarine]

If it is running Windows 2000 / XP

Goto My Computer > System Properties > Advanced > (Startup and Recovery) Settings > Uncheck "Automatically Restart" under system failure

Im pretty sure that will solve your problem.

 

[mechBgon]

Also, check to make sure the slide switch on the rear of the PSU isn't set to the wrong household voltage. A former co-worker had this problem, and it did cause random reboots.

 

[thorin]

So did memtest86 report any errors?
What temp is your CPU?

Thorin