[darcynader]

For some reason, my PC has started rebooting itself at seemingly random times.

I will be working on something, or simply open 1 program (like winamp) while running Photoshop, and suddenly the computer just drops. No warnings appear, no blue screen, no alert boxes, no warning sounds, one moment everything is fine, the next everything freezes for about 1 second before the screen goes black and the boot sequence kicks in.

At one point things got so bad that the computer would barely begin to load the desktop before it was back to a black screen.

Games are absolutely a no-go. Even the simplest and processor-unintensive games seem to provoke the machine to crash.

I took a friend's advice and disabled the option that tells XP to restart when it encounters an issue...which seemed like the problem. However, now when I am working on my machine, programs will suddenly start dropping, rather than the OS just restarting. Eventually, the OS restarts anyways.

Here's what I've done to combat the issue:
-cleaned all spyware
-defragged disks and checked for errors
-removed questionable items from startup
-updated all software and XP security
-unplugged an extraneous HDD and a CD-ROM drive in case it is a power/heating issue
-etc etc...

Regardless, it still happens.

Here is what I am running:
P4 2.8e - ASUS P4P800 Deluxe mobo
1Gb DDR RAM
200 Gb HDD (partitioned 3 ways)
GeForce 5900 VC (fan on board)
Thermaltake 480W PS (2 built-in fans)
1 case fan
2 CD/DVD drives

I realize that this is likely a heat issue, but it's still confusing as I had no problems with this setup until just recently, and have been running it for nearly 6 months. All the fans also seem to be running fine and, when the system does crash, don't seem to be throwing out much more heat than usual.

Any insights would be greatly appreciated, thanks,
-Darcy

 

[keymaker]

good troubleshooting but it sucks that your computer is still acting up. hmmm......check out www.majorgeeks.com and download memtest86 and put it on a floppy. then restart your computer, go into the bios, and change the first boot device to floppy. then save settings and exit the bios. then the computer should boot to memtest and memtest86 should automatically test your ram for any errors. make sure to let memtest86 go for a minimum of 10passes and see if it detects any errors.

assuming memtest86 didnt detect any errors. you can try using a spare power supply on your computer too and see if its a power issue, good luck.

 

[darcynader]

Thanks, I'll give that a go.

 

[whodat]

greetings

1 case fan?

try it with the side off and a fan blowing in, make sure all dust is blown out of the interior of the case, [ video card fans, cpu fans, psu fans, ect.]

then also run a serious spy/ virus check with at least 2 scans below, not norton.

as keymaker stated, a tired psu is sometimes the culprit.

post back

 

[darcynader]

argh...this is driving me nuts!

After successfully running a memory test and finding nothing wrong (on the 2nd try that is, the first test ended in a crash), I proceeded to completely clean my registry as well as rid my machine of any spyware, viruses, and programs that I never use.

That seemed to fix things for a couple of days; however, last week my machine crashed while I was using Word, of all things, and got itself stuck in a loop of crashing and rebooting. This is the first time in almost a week that I have been able to run my machine without incident.

It is entirely possible that my PSU or cooling may be at fault. But my PSU is fairly new and more than sufficient to power my machine (Thermaltake 480W), it also pushes a lot of air and throws very little heat unless the machine is doing something intensive.

I was wondering if there are any other major things that could be the cause of my problem? I am decent at troubleshooting, but am almost in the dark when it comes to hardware issues.

Could my issue be being caused by a faulty MoBo or HDD?
I know that there are probably many things that could be causing this problem, but is there anything I should consider before shelling out gobs of cash on new equipment?

Thanks for all the help so far and any insight anyone can give me.
Cheers

 

[whodat]

greetings
i think its time for a hyjack log to be posted in the hyjack section on the forum
lets just have a look...the link is below