Why does computer randomly restart?

[Yzzim]

My g/f's parent's computer will automatically restart sometimes when they're just messing around with it. They'll be playing games online, watching DVDs or other things and the computer will restart.

Sometimes it will hang right before it loads WinXP too. The computer has to be turned off for a while and then once you start it back up again everything is fine.

I turned off the Automatically Reboot option in Startup and Recovery.

Here's the system specs:

Epox 8K7A
2x256mb Crucial DDR PC2100
1.3Ghz AMD Athlon
60gig Maxtor hdd
ATI AIW Radeon
Soundblaster Live! Value
Lucent 56k modem

All running on WindowsXP Professional.

 

[noxipoo]

try taking that live card out or putting in a different slot, from my experience, they cause problems. update all drivers and such.

 

[Yzzim]

Originally posted by: noxipoo
try taking that live card out or putting in a different slot, from my experience, they cause problems. update all drivers and such.

Sounds like I'm in for a fun night

:frown:

 

[JellyBaby]

Sounds like a heat issue or perhaps some flakey memory...? Trying leaving the case open and see if the problem persists.

 

[Yzzim]

Originally posted by: JellyBaby
Sounds like a heat issue or perhaps some flakey memory...? Trying leaving the case open and see if the problem persists.

That's what I was originally thinking. I've got a Coolermaster HSF on the processor and 2 fans in the case.....
Probably wouldn't hurt upgrading the Coolermaster.

 

[BFG10K]

It could also be a problem with your power supply not being strong enough to handle all of your components. Consider getting one with a higher wattage than your current one.

Also make sure that you have the latest BIOS and chipset drivers for your system.

 

[Anubis]

my brothers computer does thsi also. and its not the ram or hrat or soud card cause i checked them all. the comp never gets above 42 C the ram is good crucial and was installed bu a dude that knew what they were dooin. other them me. somr store gut who put the new processo in when he killed it. hes runnin win 2k on a athlon 950 and it will just do it at random times like when you surfin teh net.

 

[spanky]

i say it's the psu. but i would check for lose connections & the ram first.

 

[Soulkeeper]

maybe we should ask him what psu he has before we conclude anything
do you have any cpu temp monitoring software that can check the temps ?
did you use thermal compound before you put your heatsink on ?? heh might as well ask just in case..
--Soul_keeper

 

[Xidus]

What you do is take out all extra components and see if the problem still persists. It makes it easier to narrow down then, either the problem is with one of the parts you took out or it's still in there. If it's ok then you just put them back in one by one until the problem appears again.

 

[Dreadogg]

damn the other day this happened to me, I was pulling my burner out of my fathers PC because I let my youngest sister use it because she was home from UK. I must have unplugged the fan wire to his processor! He has a XP 1600, we used this PC for say 1 hour without it restarting, then it would do the same thing go to boot and reboot after 3 times I figured that I might have done this! Good thing I had shutdown temp set in the bios or I would have fried that chip! OH yea and who says that AMD chips cant go long without a fan?

 

[c0rv1d43]

Am I missing something here? You turned off Automatically Reboot on Error -- so do you get to read a blue screen when the error occurs? Also, the fact that the system hangs occasionally during startup indicates a probably device / driver problem. (Makes little difference to the OS whether it's the driver or the device that's actually faulty.) I'd also check the Event Viewer's Applications and System logs for errors. If there's a blue screen message and / or Event Viewer errors they could be pointing right at the problem.

- Collin

 

[pcclub2000]

1. try to install windows new.
2. Make sure that your CPU is not to hot!!

 

[Yzzim]

maybe we should ask him what psu he has before we conclude anything

I got the case and PSU from Newegg. It's an Enlight case with a 330W (IIRC) PSU. The only other components it has other than what's listed above are a cd-rom and floppy drive, so I think it's got plenty of power.

do you have any cpu temp monitoring software that can check the temps ?

No. I was never able to get any monitoring software to work I just check the temps in the BIOS.

did you use thermal compound before you put your heatsink on ??

yes, Arctic Silver II.

You turned off Automatically Reboot on Error -- so do you get to read a blue screen when the error occurs?

No blue screens or errors at all. The computer just restarts without notice. Sometimes after it reboots without notice it will hang right before it fully boots up. It only hangs when the computer restarted without any notice.

 

[c0rv1d43]

No blue screens or errors at all. The computer just restarts without notice. Sometimes after it reboots without notice it will hang right before it fully boots up. It only hangs when the computer restarted without any notice.

Okay, so no pop-ups, no blue screens and nothing in the Event Viewer. We're starving for useful information. Not sure we can get anything from the system, but it would be nice to have somewhere to start rather than just eliminating all of the devices (including pseudo-device-drivers installed by stuff like firewalls and anti-virus and cd burning software) one-by-one.

This is kind of a long-shot, but you could try downloading the bootvis utility from Microsoft and using it to monitor a reboot. If there's flakey hardware somewhere in the system, maybe you can spot it on the basis of how long it takes to load its drivers. You might also keep the task manager up at all times on the Processes tab to see if one process or another goes crazy just before one of the reboots occurs. The process involved could give you a clue to the location of the fault.

Or you could just go through the process of elimination. If you take the system down to the absolute bare necessities and the behavior is still occuring then you're probably looking at an intermittent basic hardware failure. But if the problem goes away, then you can add devices and processes back one-at-a-time with rebooting and testing in between to see who the culprit is.

Dang, I hate intermittent problems like this!

You did check the drivers for all the devices to be sure you've got XP-compatible drivers for everything, right?

- Collin

 

[InFecTed]

FAQ you

It's a BSOD. Disable auto restarting and tell us what it says.

edit:
sorry didn't see you have already disabled it...I would verify that btw.

 

[Yzzim]

You did check the drivers for all the devices to be sure you've got XP-compatible drivers for everything, right?

Everything is XP-ified. I'm thinking it's not a hardware compatibility problem since I can't pin-point when the computer is restarting.

I'm thinking it's either A) It's a heat problem, B) The motherboard is flakey, or C) A stick of memory is bad.

I'm going to re-apply some ASII and re-seat the HSF to make sure it's on the processor correctly.
After that I'm going to take out all non-essential hardware (sound card, modem) and re-install Windows. If the computer restarts while installing Windows with the bare-essential hardware then it has to be a memory/motherboard problem.

Sound good? Anything else I should look at/do?

 

[c0rv1d43]

Sounds like you're on the right track. It would be nice if a "shot in the dark" could find and fix the problem, but I'm afraid you're probably going to have to roll up your sleeves and nail this one down the hard way.

I thank my lucky stars I've never had this sort of experience with any of my own machines (well, except for one old DOS machine a long time ago which was at the end of its useful life anyway). But I've helped a couple of friends through this sort of scenario. My advice is to get yourself into a really good mood and just kick back and relax as though you were going on a little adventure. Yeah, I know it's crap, but it's a better trip if it's taken in a mellow mood. That way things don't go sailing out the window onto the lawn.

Good luck! I hope you'll post back to let us know if / when you determine the guilty party.

- Collin

BTW, one thing for which you can be VERY thankful is that this system's misbehavior happens frequently. A buddy of mine went through a process-of-elimination diagnosis on an SGI workstation that experienced its fits and starts on an average of about once every couple of weeks! Now THAT was a PIA!!!

 

[majewski9]

Power Supply! Power Supply! Power Supply! I am pretty sure that is it!

 

[Yzzim]

Thanks for the help and advice Collin. The random restarts don't happen too often, maybe once or twice a day. It's going to take a full day for me to figure out what's wrong with it.

Originally posted by: majewski9
Power Supply! Power Supply! Power Supply! I am pretty sure that is it!

And how would I go about finding out if that's it? The only other PSU I have in my house is the one on my main rig....which I really don't want to take apart right now.

 

[c0rv1d43]

Thanks for the help and advice Collin. The random restarts don't happen too often, maybe once or twice a day. It's going to take a full day for me to figure out what's wrong with it.

Bummer, sort of. On the other hand, you get to demonstrate your sincerity.

I've been married thirty years. I find that it's still best to prove my own sincerity once-in-a-while. Speaking of which -- it's time to mow the lawn.

Good luck!

- Collin

Edit: "I've been married thirty years." Yikes! I've been saying this so long it's almost forty! Just realized that tomorrow is the thirty-ninth!!! Good grief, I'm old! But don't worry, I'm not wise.

 

[QwErTyBk]

Most likely:

1. Probably Power Supply (test with another if you have one)
2. Possibly Overheating (get a temp monitor)
3. Maybe memory (pull out all except for one stick and test)

 

[salz]

Although my current computer uses windows 98, this problem happened to me as well. I reinstalled windows and I haven't had the problem since. Hope this helps!