Computer sudden shuts off *FIXED*

[suklee]

Hi all AT'ers... I have a problem with a computer that I'm troubleshooting. It's an IBM Aptiva P4 1.8GHz w/ 128MB stock ram (upgraded to 384mb last October). Installed fresh WinXP about 2 months ago, loaded all drivers and all was well. No problems whatsoever. In the past two weeks it's begun to receive some very strange symptoms, apparently after an install of Office 2003.

For no apparent reason it would reboot itself. The next time around, the entire screen would simply go black with the power LED remaining lit. Complete freezing has been witnessed several times as well (mouse cursor no longer moves) Remember there is no specific time at which this will happen. It doesn't matter if it's connected to the Internet or not... it might be scanning for viruses ; or just opened Outlook Express... and then it would crash.

I scanned it with Adaware, came up with 27 "bugs" but nothing major... mostly tracking cookies. Downloaded Stinger and ran a complete scan on C with no trojans.. Never could do a complete scan of D drive though; it would either go black screen or freeze. NAV is loaded in the background and isnt detecting anything.

Given these, would you say that its more of a hardware than a software (drivers, buggy install) problem? I don't know of any virus/trojan that fits the symptoms described, unless there has been a new one released into the wild recently? I had just spent the past 2 hours trying to troubleshoot this but am still very ... so I'm hoping for some new perspectives on things I may have missed. Last resort is to reformat and reinstall XP, but if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!

Thanks!

- If it was hardware-related, why would it suddenly act up?

 

[snidy1]

Do you have a sound blaster? If so, try removing it and see if it fixes the problem. I had that problem caused by SB drivers.

 

[rsd]

Often times when there is random reboots/shut downs it is an issue with the RAM. Try replacing/removing some of the sticks of ram and see what that does. GL!

 

[suklee]

No soundblaster... and I had thought about the RAM, but the thing is that it was completely stable for a good 3~4 months. surely it wouldnt decide to just one day start crappin' out on the machine?!

thanks guys, keep the suggestions coming

 

[Overkast]

Originally posted by: rsd
Often times when there is random reboots/shut downs it is an issue with the RAM. Try replacing/removing some of the sticks of ram and see what that does. GL!

I second that motion. I had a slew of issues with my PC when I first built it and 90% of them came down to RAM. I'm willing to bet it's the RAM as well.

 

[Mem]

Run Memtest86 to test your ram,random shutdowns can also be a faulty PSU(that happened to me a few years back).

 

[suklee]

Thanks guys, seems like the consensus is the RAM. I'll run memtest86 on it and report back my findings.

 

[mechBgon]

Besides the excellent advice already given, also confirm that your CPU fan is running, maybe blow out any heavy accumulations of dust, and ensure that your Norton AV is using the very latest virus definitions and is loaded for bear (all settings maxed out). I was working on a co-worker's home computer and his virus definitions were more than three years old.

 

[suklee]

A quick update, seems like the problem solved but no idea why :

Opened up computer, checked CPU fans, PSU fans -- all OK. No sign of dust build up anywhere.

Took out one stick of RAM and left the stock 128 in there... booted right up into XP, no crashing anymore.

Then put the 256 back in there for a total of 384. Booted into XP once again, and has been running 100% stable ever since.

Now tell me, as an IT support guy, how do you explain that one?

 

[Sideswipe001]

The 2 sticks of RAM had a fight and they needed time to make up.

 

[AIWGuru]

Originally posted by: Kai920
A quick update, seems like the problem solved but no idea why :

Opened up computer, checked CPU fans, PSU fans -- all OK. No sign of dust build up anywhere.

Took out one stick of RAM and left the stock 128 in there... booted right up into XP, no crashing anymore.

Then put the 256 back in there for a total of 384. Booted into XP once again, and has been running 100% stable ever since.

Now tell me, as an IT support guy, how do you explain that one?

the 256MB stick wasn't seated correctly before.

 

[suklee]

I like Sideswipe001's explanation better... :beer:

Well it certainly was seated properly b/c it had worked for months on end before anything 'happened'.

Anyhows, I'm glad it's fixed now ... as is probably the case with the owner of that computer

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