Computer randomly restarts

P

Punkrulz

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Nov 11, 2001
Messages
1,458
Hey guys,

Back I come again for your help. I'm on a computer that was built from different parts at the firehouse, and one of the problems that we're having is that it likes to randomly restart. I've checked the event log and I haven't seen anything that would come up with it. There are no BSOD's or anything like that.

What could we check that would determine what the problem is? One of the things I want to do is run a memory tester to see if that's anything, but I don't have that here with me.

Thanks!
 
you can put it on a cd or floppy and boot the comptue rwith it..

http://www.memtest86.com/

in my experience with comptuers restarting, it was usually a psu that was crap.. or the leaky cap problem... so see if there is brown crap on the caps on the motherboard.. and try another psu if you have any lying around, which you might not..
 
Could also be an overheating processor, check your temps, bad powersupply sometimes, and upgrade your BIOS.
 
yeah.. start from runnig memtest86.. it won't hurt to test the hard drive as well (for that use manufacturer's software). Check the temps cause like Newbify2 said - it might be overheating..
 
Yeah actually when I said run a memory tester, it was going to be memtest86, I have it on disk here at home, but I was at the firehouse and didn't feel like leaving. I actually somehow got into BIOS [ as for some reason there was no initial splash screen telling you what button it was ] and monitored the temperatures in there.

Initially going into that monitor, 44C was the temp, and slowly creeped up to 47C... that's the culprit right there, that's under minimal idle and not doing anything but the monitor... Bah.
 
Sounds like this box was cobbled together. 9 times out of 10 it's the memory, especially if it's older. Electron tunneling tends to wear out semiconductors as they gety older and heat adds to that problem.
 
Punkrulz said:
Initially going into that monitor, 44C was the temp, and slowly creeped up to 47C... that's the culprit right there, that's under minimal idle and not doing anything but the monitor... Bah.
Click to expand...
Doesn't mean a whole lot. My older Athlon T-Bird idled with the stock cooler in the 60s and would load in the 70s. After replacing it with a stock XP 2400+ HSF the temps are 44 idle and 48 load. And it's still running strong since I bought it, actually its survived 2 motherboard deaths.
 
if the heatsink isn't full of dust or anything then overheating isn't really something that i would be worrying about.. my mom's 1.2 ghz duron runs over 60 celcius and basically has been on 24/7 for over 3 years like that...

try memtest though for sure.. maybe get sandra or everest and do some benchmarking and see what doesn't look quite right..

what is the hardware specifically?
 
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