PC reboots itself often (XP, SP2)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave Potter
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Dave Potter

Hi,
Have looked through above messages, and although found similar problems, haven't managed to find any identical problems, so I'm hoping someone can help me.

I have XP Pro and pc WAS running perfectly until I installed SP2.
Now the pc reboots itself at random intervals, no matter what I'm doing on it (even if I'm doing nothing!).
Sometimes (rarely, it will last 2 hours before rebooting, but more often it's just 5 minutes, and too many times it crashes and reboots even before the pc has fully booted up.

Have sent an error report to Microsoft but the advice makes no mention of anything to do with SP2.
This happened to me before and I removed SP2 and all was well, but as soon as it (SP2) was reinstalled, the pc's gone wonky again.

The error log reports:-
STOP: 0x0000009c
and says it's a hardware fault, but why have I a hardware fault only with SP2 installed?

Sorry for long-winded post, but trying to furnish all details.

TIA for any help.

Dave, UK.
 
I have been having the same problem. I wish I never would have downloaded
that darn SP2! Nothing but trouble! At first I was blaming the kids. I'm
still trying to figure out how to get the computer to sleep without having to
turn it off and back on at the power switch when I want to get back on
(instead of just moving the mouse or something). I lost Internet Explorer
somehow and that was a big mess. Suddenly the file of games we had on the
desktop can't open because the drive or network connection is unavailable.
What's going on?! I know how to use a computer, not fix a computer. Good
luck!
 
Guys A few things to consider would be, check to make shore that you
have all the latest drivers for your hardware. Windows XP very rarely
crashes and when it dose its usually because of a Hardware Driver. Try
to install the latest drivers from the actually manufactures or if
windows has a driver for that device use that.

Its pretty hard for a piece of software to crash XP so I'm guessing its
to do with your drivers. Even try removing any external hardware like
printers and modems completely (drivers as well) and connect them One
At A Time and see if any of them crash the system. I know it sounds
time consuming but it may be the only way.

If you cant seem to fix the problem I suggest Removing SP2 for now. I
found that SP2 works best if you install it after a fresh install of
XP. That requires backing up your data and reformatting and then
reinstalling XP and SP2.

I installed SP2 with a fresh install of XP and it works fine no
problems. I recommend this as the best way to get SP2 to work. Good
luck.
 
Solution that worked for me:

I had this same problem for days and I was about to throw my computer
out the window. I ended up replacing everying except the hard drive,
reinstalled my system numerous times, ran all the test people
suggested-- I was on my last straw. Finally I noticed that there was
something fishy about my hard drive. Everytime I searched for something
on my computer, when it reached my back-up hard drive it would freeze
and pop up 0x0000009c Machine Exception Error. After testing out the
hard drive (succesfully) I decided to change the order the hard drives
were plugged into the MB. In other words the cable that connected the
hard drives to the mother had to be twisted. I switched the order they
were plugged in leaving the tail end of the cable to be plugged into
the back-up and--- voila! No 09c error!!!
Hope this helps out for everyone else.
 
Outlaw - I would, but I can't get the damn thing to boot to the desktop!
it's stuck in an endless loop of rebooting!
 
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