How to troubleshoot random reboots on XP?

[Bogdan]

Hi,

I have a XP Pro machine that randomly reboots. This happens while running
an app that supposed to work 24x7. The app plays some movie clips and/or
displays still images. The same app runs fine on other similar systems (I
have 3 other almost identical systems).

The rebooting machine's startup settings do not disable BSOD (i.e. BSOD is
supposed to be shown on system failure).

I'm not getting BSOD or any errors in system logs that are related to the
reboots.

Could someone please give me some idea what could be causing the reboots?
It can't be faulty RAM because that would bring up BSOD. But, it has to be
a piece of hardware that causes the reboots. Would overheating (e.g. of
CPU) bring the system down without leaving any trace? What about faulty or
not tolerant enough power supply?

I'd appreciate _any_ pointers/suggestions.

Thanks,
Bogdan

 

[Rich Barry]

Both overheating and a flaky Power Supply can cause reboots.
Overheating would be fairly easy to check but PSU is another story.

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

Hi,

I have a XP Pro machine that randomly reboots. This happens while running
an app that supposed to work 24x7. The app plays some movie clips and/or
displays still images. The same app runs fine on other similar systems (I
have 3 other almost identical systems).

The rebooting machine's startup settings do not disable BSOD (i.e. BSOD is
supposed to be shown on system failure).

I'm not getting BSOD or any errors in system logs that are related to the
reboots.

Could someone please give me some idea what could be causing the reboots?
It can't be faulty RAM because that would bring up BSOD. But, it has to be
a piece of hardware that causes the reboots. Would overheating (e.g. of
CPU) bring the system down without leaving any trace? What about faulty or
not tolerant enough power supply?

I'd appreciate _any_ pointers/suggestions.

I had a similar problem with an older motherboard. The problem turned
out to be a failing capacitor on the motherboard. Once it was repaired
under warranty the problem went away. You can do a quick visual check
of the motherboard to see if any of the capacitors are leaking or bulging.
Another thing that will cause these reboots would be if the video card
is overheating. You can check the temperature by feeling the card and
if it is too hot to touch it is probably overheating. This can be
caused by blocked airflow or a failing/failed fan on the video card.