Computer Restarts Randomly Out Of The Blue... ?

[Guest]

Hello All,

Have had this problem for a while now. It use to happen to me back on my old
Win98se P2 400mgh machine with 192mb of ram. Well, now I updated to a
Windows XP Pro, P4 3.4ghz, 1 gig of ram, Geforce FX 5200 256mb, Onboard sound.

The problem is, sometimes my machine will randomly just restart. Like if you
were browing the net and all a sudden your screen went black and you were at
the bootup screen booting back into windows. Ive tryed to find out what the
problem is with this. I do play a lot of high graphical type games online and
push my computer to its limits and there is a few games where if there is a
large explosion with a ton of debris and effects it can crash my game with a
memory problem. Im sure this is just because I only have 1 gig of ram. I have
a few system tools and it shows how much availible ram my machine has at any
one time. When I boot up into windows XP and all my stuff loads I usually
have about 700mb left of available memory for doing whatever. I have 5
different spyware removal tools which I update and use often so virus or
spyware is not the problem.

Anyway usualy 80% of the time this happends when im playing a game. The game
will play fine, ill run around in it and game for about 15-20min and then
sometimes after about that long my screen goes black and im at the bootup
screen cause my comp just suddenly restarted. I kept thinking well this is
obvious, this has to be a heat issue since if I put my hand next to the fan
on the side of the case its blowing (not hot) but warm air. Its really
anoying and if this could be something else I would like to know so maybe I
can fix it if its not a heat issue. But then on the other hand just yesterday
I was browsing the net. Only thing I had going was my internet browser and
some music playing and when I went to view a video on the net my compter did
the same thing and rebooted, I quickly felt the fan and it was blowing cold
air... so its leading me to think this is not a heat issue... If anyone has
any ideas on checks I can do or anything that might help find and or
eliminate my problem please post. Im pretty sure this is not a hardware
problem cause there is times my computer can run for days straight and not
have a problem...

Thanks in advance,
Brandon

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Have you considered that the PC may be overheating? This is one of the
causes for random reboots, and you are 'pushing' your machine, as you put
it.

Open the PC case and check the fans for dust etc. You might also try running
the machine witht he cover off to see if that cures the problem. If it does
then suspect overheating.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org

The information in this post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any kind,
either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this post. The Author shall not be liable for any
direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use
of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this post..

 

[DanS]

Hello All,

Have had this problem for a while now. It use to happen to me back on
my old Win98se P2 400mgh machine with 192mb of ram. Well, now I
updated to a Windows XP Pro, P4 3.4ghz, 1 gig of ram, Geforce FX 5200
256mb, Onboard sound.

The problem is, sometimes my machine will randomly just restart. Like
if you were browing the net and all a sudden your screen went black
and you were at the bootup screen booting back into windows. Ive tryed
to find out what the problem is with this. I do play a lot of high
graphical type games online and push my computer to its limits and
there is a few games where if there is a large explosion with a ton of
debris and effects it can crash my game with a memory problem. Im sure
this is just because I only have 1 gig of ram. I have a few system
tools and it shows how much availible ram my machine has at any one
time. When I boot up into windows XP and all my stuff loads I usually
have about 700mb left of available memory for doing whatever. I have 5
different spyware removal tools which I update and use often so virus
or spyware is not the problem.

Anyway usualy 80% of the time this happends when im playing a game.
The game will play fine, ill run around in it and game for about
15-20min and then sometimes after about that long my screen goes black
and im at the bootup screen cause my comp just suddenly restarted. I
kept thinking well this is obvious, this has to be a heat issue since
if I put my hand next to the fan on the side of the case its blowing
(not hot) but warm air. Its really anoying and if this could be
something else I would like to know so maybe I can fix it if its not a
heat issue. But then on the other hand just yesterday I was browsing
the net. Only thing I had going was my internet browser and some music
playing and when I went to view a video on the net my compter did the
same thing and rebooted, I quickly felt the fan and it was blowing
cold air... so its leading me to think this is not a heat issue... If
anyone has any ideas on checks I can do or anything that might help
find and or eliminate my problem please post. Im pretty sure this is
not a hardware problem cause there is times my computer can run for
days straight and not have a problem...

Thanks in advance,
Brandon

The first guess I have is it's some type of video driver issue, but you
don't know that, because your PC's set to automatically re-boot on error.

Goto: My Computers->Properties->Anvanced Tab, under the 'Startup and
Recovery' section, click 'Settings'. Now, in the middle section, 'System
Failure', un-check 'Automatically restart'. Now your PC will actually
show you the error.

Make sure your video drivers are up to date.

If it is the drivers, the error will most likely be the 'IRC not less
than or equal to...' message.

DanS

 

[Guest]

Thanks Dan...

Ill give that a try and see what I can find out...

Thanks,
Brandon