Unexpected Computer Freeze & Reboot

[SafeHex]

Of late we have noticed one older computer in the family going into a freeze
and rebooting. There are no entries in Event Viewer on this Windows XP Pro
SP2 machine, that points to this occurrence.

The freeze cannot be tied to any one action. Happened once while opening
Nero Burning (Version 7). Another time when opening a file in the dialog box
within Word 2003. And once while closing WinDVD 7. Once it did the reboot
(perhaps the freeze too) by itself.

This PC has a D850GB mobo with a 1.7GHz P4, 768MB RDRAM, 1.2 TB total HDD
storage, 256MBFX5500 AGP graphics and is not on a network - it uses a
Wireless Broadband modem (Verizon) for Internet connectivity.

I realize that this is not enough information to pinpoint or even narrow the
source of the problem but can anyone advise me where to start looking? Also,
the hardware is old and maybe outdated but this PC has run flawlessly (save
for the occasional small software blip or two) for almost 5 years now, and
this is the first real glitch we have come across on this. It serves
perfectly as storage for all work files and documents of several computers.

Chkdsk /f, SFC, SpyBot, AdAware, ClamWin AV, CCleaner - have all been run
without finding anything out of the way.

Regards and thanks in advance for any insights.

SafeHex

 

[Al Brumski]

I bought a barebones package that came with a case and cheap PSU. Had
problems much the same as you're describing. I ugraded my board to a
new Asus P5P800 SE and I think that forced the PSU issue, cause it
flashed a blue bolt and died, taking my new mobo with it.

The nice tech at TigerDirect replaced my board free of charge but said
"dude, get a decent PSU. We've had nothing but problems with these
cheap pieces of junk. We've stoppoed selling them and have 600 we
don't know what to do with".

I bought a Coolmax 400 W PSU for ~ $35.00 and everything is great!! A
quality supply for the price. Five years might be pushing it in terms
of life expectancy for your PSU particularly if it's a cheap one to
start with!!

I'd start with the PSU and buy a decent one. If you do a new build,
you can use it there, or keep it for a spare.

All the best,

Al.

 

[SafeHex]

My response at the end:

I bought a barebones package that came with a case and cheap PSU. Had
problems much the same as you're describing. I ugraded my board to a
new Asus P5P800 SE and I think that forced the PSU issue, cause it
flashed a blue bolt and died, taking my new mobo with it.

The nice tech at TigerDirect replaced my board free of charge but said
"dude, get a decent PSU. We've had nothing but problems with these
cheap pieces of junk. We've stoppoed selling them and have 600 we
don't know what to do with".

I bought a Coolmax 400 W PSU for ~ $35.00 and everything is great!! A
quality supply for the price. Five years might be pushing it in terms
of life expectancy for your PSU particularly if it's a cheap one to
start with!!

I'd start with the PSU and buy a decent one. If you do a new build,
you can use it there, or keep it for a spare.

All the best,

Al.

Thanks for the response. I checked the power supply and it turned out
perfectly okay.

The original 450Wpower supply was swapped out sometime back with a 680W one.
That was because of the 5 hard drives on this baby.

Regards and thanks again.

SafeHex