chsriman

Hi All,
I am facing the disgusting "windows frequently restarts" problem. I am using Compaq Presario X1028US laptop with Intel Pentium Centrino 1.5 GHZ processor, 512 MB RAM and a 160 GB hard disk with Windows XP SP 3 as the OS. I regularly update the anti virus (AVG) and the Windows automatically.
The most recent change to the system was to upgrade AVG from 8.5 to 9.0 which was done yesterday. Everything was fine until today morning when the laptop started restarting by itself. I first ignored it and continued to work and it became more and more frequent. I have referred several posts on the internet and have done all the things mentioned below in order but the problem still persists. I am not able to pin point to the cause of the problem. It should be noted that the problem exists only in the normal mode of Windows XP and not in the Safe mode.

0) Uncheck the Automatically Restart windows in the event of a system failure in the system properties. Even after doing this laptop restarts without any error or warning. There is nothing in the event log also.
1) Uninstall AVG 9.0 thinking that it might be the reason for the problem.
Problem still persists.
2) Check the heat at the bottom of the laptop. It is not very hot. The fan is still running at times.
3) Changed the bios setting to make the fan run always when connected to AC power. Fan runs fine but problem persists in Windows Normal mode.
4) Install AVG 8.5 which worked stably for a long time for me without issues. Then ran a full system scan of the machine through the AVG command line scanner while in Windows XP Safe Mode. Nothing Found.
5) As suggested by some people on different forums, I formatted the C drive alone and reinstalled the XP OS. Now it is Windows XP SP 1. Still the problem persists as soon as the setup finished and Windows loaded for the first time. It only became frequent. After Windows was loaded for the first time the laptop restarted itself at least 5 or 6 times within 10 minutes.
6) Downloaded the Windows Memory Diagnostic tool and ran the extended tests in that to see if it has to do anything with the RAM. The laptop didnt restart even once during the almost 1 hour that it took to run those tests. Finally no errors were found.
7) Unchecked the Automatically Restart Windows in the event of a system failure in the fresh installation but still the laptop restarts by itself in normal mode without any error or warning. This doesnt happen at all in safe mode.

I am really short of ideas now as to what can be done to trace the error. Kindly advice. Does anyone think that I should format the entire hard disk and reinstall windows again just to try? I am just thinking about that because I dont have enough space in my external hard drive to backup the entire data in my D and E drives.

I havent connected any external devices. Infact I havent even installed the device drivers and Antivirus also yet after reinstalling windows. I have just installed the Windows XP SP1. Still the problem is happening.
If it is an issue with the heating, I believe it should not happen as soon as I switch on the laptop in the morning after giving it the whole nights rest. I just switched on this morning and it came to login screen and while I was entering the password it restarted. It is so frequent now. If it is a hard drive/RAM issue, should it not happen in safe mode also? I am able to login to this website and write so much stuff in safe mode without any problem. In fact I have changed the hard drive on this laptop only last year. So it is comparitively new.

TriggerFinger

Run HDD diagnostics (SeaTools or Hitachi DFT) if you have not done so yet. Also run CHKDSK /R in Recovery Console when you boot using your XP installation CD. If symptoms still persist then try repairing your XP installation. Post back what happens.

chsriman

I think you hit the nail right on its head. Today I ran the Samsung's HUTIL tool check the hard disk and found some bad sectors (errors) in that. Now I am not sure how I can use fdisk to format the hard drive in DOS because I use NTFS file system and I think DOS doesnt recognize that. I dont want to use the Windows XP format because I feel it is useless and hadnt earlier detected the bad sectors.

I also ran the CHKDSK /R also. After that I see 4 KB bad sectors in the C drive. There is nothing like that in the D and E drives.

All the errors shown were on C drive only. Can I just reformat and use the hard drive or should I change it? Also what should I do next and how should I proceed.

LaptopNomad

I'd backup the disk instantly - preferable using driveimaging.

Next i'd install a SMART attribute monitor to see in what shape the disk actually is. If other attributes are beyond the norm, instant replacement. Otherwise close monitoring and at the first signs of deterioration instant replacement.

chsriman

I have done the following but the restart problem still persists. There is a Low Level Format option in the Erase HDD option of the Samsung HUTIL. Should I do that?

1) Ran Samsung HUTIL which reported some errors.
2) Went into XP Recovery Console and ran CHKDSK /R on all the drives. It reported that it found and fixed errors on all the drives.
3) Formatted the C drive within the Recovery Console using the FORMAT C: command.
4) Reinstalled the Windows XP SP1 OS.
5) Laptop still restarts automatically.

Is it that I should replace the hard disk immediately. I want to be ascertained that this was the real problem before I can invest in purchasing a new hard disk. The one that is currently in the laptop was purchased only an year back.

Please guide me.

TriggerFinger

If HDD diags show errors, most of the time (at least in my experience)... you may need to replace the drive. This is the reason why even how you format it so many times you still have the error.

chsriman

Dear Knowledgable members,

I somehow feel there is some device that doesnt turn on in the safe mode but turns on in the normal mode. And that is causing the entire problem. I already tried disabling a few devices that I wont need definitely but still face the same restart problem. I have given screen shots of the devices in my laptop at the links below. Can you please tell me which devices are definitely not used in safe mode? I will disable them one by one to see if anyone is causing a problem.



http://rapidshare.de/files/48664867/...s_-_1.JPG.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/48664871/...s_-_2.JPG.html

http://rapidshare.de/files/48664872/...s_-_3.JPG.html



Thanks.

TriggerFinger

The difference in Safe Mode and Normal Mode are the drivers being loaded. If your hardware is having errors, you would get the same restart issues in Safe Mode or Normal Mode. Try SeaTools or Hitachi DFT to test your drive... again if it has errors that it cannot fix, replace the drive.

chsriman

The hard disk I am using is a Samsung HM160C. Can we use Sea Tools on that? The Samsung HUTIL had indeed shown some errors which the CHKDSK seemed to have fixed. So you suggest that the hard disk might be the one creating the problems.

TriggerFinger

The Samsung diagnostic tool should have fixed the errors (AFAIK these programs have that capability... not so sure if CHKDSK can fix a hardware error). Anyhow... I think (and I may be wrong) the only way to know is to run the diagnostic tool again. If errors still show up, try with a new or a good working HDD.