Computer Automatically Restarts

[lastchild007]

This has been going on for some time. The longer the computer is left
on, the more frequently it restarts. I was told it's probably the
motherboard or the power supply. After replacing the power supply, the
problem still exits. Am I stuck replacing the entire motherboard or is
there any chance it's a component on the board that can be replaced?

 

[Galen]

In lastchild007 had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

This has been going on for some time. The longer the computer is left
on, the more frequently it restarts. I was told it's probably the
motherboard or the power supply. After replacing the power supply,
the problem still exits. Am I stuck replacing the entire motherboard
or is there any chance it's a component on the board that can be
replaced?

Who knows? It could be all sorts of things - don't listen to blind answers
really. You might have (and probably did) buy a PS for nothing.

Disable Auto-Reboot on Error:
http://kgiii.info/windows/XP/advanced/disable_auto-reboot_on_error.html

Then debug the results via your favorite search engine. I actually find I
get better results with http://search.msn.com by the way but that's entirely
up to you.

Anyhow, when you have those results then you can more accurately figure out
what the issues are. It may be RAM that's gone awry or it may be something
so simplistic as driver issues for the video card. Spontaneous reboots are,
in my experience, very seldom linked to power issues that a power supply
replacement can repair - if ever then it's generally due to dirty power.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"At present I am, as you know, fairly busy, but I propose to devote my
declining years to the composition of a textbook which shall focus the
whole art of detection into one volume." - Sherlock Holmes

 

[Guest]

Been there; done that -- make sure your CPU cooling fan is working OK and
that the fins on the CPU heat-sink are clean (i.e., not full of dust and cat
hair, etc).

Harry

 

[Galen]

In BoatPerson had this to say:

My reply is at the bottom of your sent message:

Been there; done that -- make sure your CPU cooling fan is working OK
and that the fins on the CPU heat-sink are clean (i.e., not full of
dust and cat hair, etc).

Harry

Thanks Harry - I should have mentioned cleaning the inside of the case out.
My bad.

Good catch as that's actually probably what I'd have done first but, well, I
*usually* skip that. Meaning that I skip that set of thinking. To me it's
only natural and I figure that everyone else would have thought of the same
thing. I guess it's pretty hard to explain but if someone were to ask the
steps I took to go to bed I'd probably forget to mention the part about
brushing my teeth because that's something that's so normal that it's
something I think everyone does.

Add to this pulling the cards - memory, video, sound - and reseating them
after blowing them out. Expansion - the seasons are changing and moisture
could have gotten in there and pushed stuff or allowed particulates into the
slots and those are preventing a decent connection.

Thanks again for the good catch.

--
Galen - MS MVP - Windows (Shell/User & IE)
http://dts-l.org/
http://kgiii.info/

"At present I am, as you know, fairly busy, but I propose to devote my
declining years to the composition of a textbook which shall focus the
whole art of detection into one volume." - Sherlock Holmes