[wrightaj]

just built a pc, loaded winxp pro. after pc has been running for about 5-10 mins it closes down and re-boots!!!
anyone know if this is an xp problem or chip prob...
it has a 1800xp chip and pc chips m/board...can anyone help?

 

[johnwill]

My guess is you have some hardware issue, most likely memory. If you right click on My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Startup and Recovery, you can uncheck the "Reboot on error" box and see the error that is causing the reboot.

 

[Lectraplayer]

How hot's that processor?

I had a system that would do that after running a few minutes. The cause then was the processor was running too hot. After I got it cooled off, it straightened up. Also, try turning down the system board clock speed. That will also cause trouble like that. I better ask now--What's your system specs and settings? I want to hear stuff like your clock specs (system board, multplier, as well as processor clock), RAM type, and the usual system specs. One of these running too fast can cause masive instabilities in even the mighty Linux.

 

[wrightaj]

thanks for your replies. i checked chip temp and it was ok so i reseated the memory and it appears to have sorted out the problem..yipee....

 

[Lectraplayer]

You gotta watch those memory chips. They'll try to run from you. ...and man at the trouble they can cause when they do try to make a break for it!

 

[Stevalami]

I'm having the exact same problem, and I tried both suggestions posted in this forum. They both failed, the problem is still there. Is there anything else to be tried or done. I've tried everything I can possibly think of, and I'm at a complete loss.

 

[johnwill]

You should check the event logs and see if anything is being logged, and also follow my advice to inhibit automatic reboot on error.

 

[Stevalami]

Yes, it is being logged and I did follow your advice. Instead of restarting, a blue screen comes up telling me my systerm screwed itself, and that it must re-boot. At the bottom, it indicated that it performed a memory dump. So I just have no choice but to hit the restart button on my machine.

 

[Stevalami]

One thing I think it might be is my running temp. It's at 124 right now. I'm contemplating running out to buy a new fan, because there is a spot for one.

 

[Lectraplayer]

You may want a badder heatsink if it's that hot in Celcius. It's OK if that's its farenheit temp as 124 degrees farenheit ain't at all hot. If your CPU ambient is hot, you may want to take the case off and see if that streightens up. Only if it don't, get another fan. Also, I have had a hard disk conflict cause that problem, so you may want to give device manager a whirl. Look for anything that don't work (yellow exclamation point thingie). If there's a conflict, the only way to stabilize the problem is to change the settings of that device or its enemy.:bandit:

 

[Stevalami]

Yes that was farenheit by the way. Why not get another fan? The cooler the faster right?

Anyway, I checked device manager, and there was an unknown paralell device. It wasn't my printer, because I found it listed uner IEEE 1284.4 Devices.

I checked the properties on this unknown device, and found it had no drivers, and windows didn't know what it was. I decided to uninstall it, hoping that it would free up a resource for other more profitable uses. I hope I did the right thing, because so far, it hasn't restarted on me yet.

 

[Lectraplayer]

By the way, IEEE 1284 is the printer port. Did it pick it up again? You may want to reinstall the drivers for your printer.

 

[johnwill]

One thing I think it might be is my running temp. It's at 124 right now. I'm contemplating running out to buy a new fan, because there is a spot for one.

If the system is running 50C when it's idle, you probably do have a heatsink issue. My P4-2.4gig processor runs at 31-32, and that's the same temperature as inside the case.

 

[Stevalami]

No, my printer is dandy. It was the unknown paralell device that I uninstalled. I couldn't find any other resource conflicts in device manager.

I'm kinda freaked out that my computer runs at 124 degrees farenheit. I think I will go get that second fan.

 

[Stevalami]

ok well none of that solved my problem. It just did it to me again while trying to play a game. Any other tips?

 

[Lectraplayer]

Try checking your hard disk resources. I have had a disk conflict which caused it. Also, you can touch something that's 124 degrees farenheit, it isn't hot. If your processor's that temp, it's running cool as a Celeron. Beets me how to convert it to Celcius right now.:no:

 

[Stevalami]

I downloaded and installed the M$ service pack 1. It hasn't rebooted on me yet...but who knows, right?

By checking hard disk resources...what do you mean? Do you mean virtual memory or something like that? Would you please be more specific?

 

[Lectraplayer]

Actually check the resources occupied by your hard disks. Use Device Manager and look at your Hard Disk controller (interrupt, DMA, all that. It'll tell you about a conflict there. If it indicates one, that's probably your culprit. A quick glance under Device manager will say alot. Hard disk controller with a yellow exclamation point=trouble (found that to often cause restarts)).

 

[Stevalami]

I've tried that, and I didn't see any yellow exclamation points. How do I check for DMA or IRQ conflicts in device manager?

Oh, and service pack 1 didn't solve my problems, it rebooted on me again. Could this be a bad hard drive? When I built this machine, I took the hard drive that was in my old computer. I've been using it for 5 years now.

Could it be faulty RAM? I tried reseating it in it's slot, but I don't think that was the problem. I have one stick of 256 MB DDR. Could it be bad?

 

[merlin]

hey there,
did you try switching the slots for the memory ? how is your power supply ? I would also try what lectraplayer suggested, take the side panels off the case, leave it running and see if it makes any difference.