PC reboots on its own ?

[noblues]

My PC reboots on its own, normally at random, could be after 10 minutes or 2 hours .... seems normally when I have a lot of applications open and the machine is 'loaded up' .....
Any ideas ?

I have tried ... update latest BIOS.
Switched all the BIOS 'halt on erros' off, and the CPU temp monitoring options (in runs cool anyway).

I am at a lost, don't think its XP that is causing this more hardware ....

Using an ASUS AV333 board with a AMD 1.7Ghz CPU.

Uuuuhhhmm ? Very irritaing !

[SpinSpinSugar]

The only times I have ever seen or experienced that have been when the CPU has become overheated. However you say you're monitoring the temperature and it's Ok... how hot is it when it's "fully loaded"? And what's the difference between idling temperature and maxed-out temperature on your system?

[timmcat]

Have your power supply checked out.. usually the cause of these problems, especially when it happens under load.

Tim

[ratsarrse]

It could also be a faulty memory module - that would explain why the random reboots occur when you have lots of applications open. Search for a utility called MemTest which runs from a bootable floppy at startup and does a thorough check of your memory modules.

[noblues]

Thanks for the advice ....

How do I check my power supply, I presume the supply in the base unit ? (I am running a two additional fan units on the base unit, plus two HD fans ... but they are fairly low wattage).

I have suspected the CPU temp, especially since ASUS boards have their own CPU temp sensors, but have switched off most off the temp related stuff in the BIOS ....

Is it standard for a CPU running hot to reboot, or will it just freeze ?

Re. Bad memory, I would have though that would just cause applications to crash rather than a re-boot ?

Keep the ideas coming !

[Voidhawk]

Have had the same problem twice. First time was due to an overheating CPU during a hot Summer. A better CPU cooler sorted that out.

Second time around, it was the graphics card that was overheating, due to me placing a new network card too close to it. Moving the network card down a slot sorted that one out.

[ratsarrse]

Re. Bad memory, I would have though that would just cause applications to crash rather than a re-boot ?

Yes, you quite often get blue screen stop errors with bad memory. You quite often get a reboot. Also, buried somewhere in XP's settings (I'm going to have to go and find it now!) is an option to 'reboot after stop error.'

Fast processor, fast graphics card, more than 1 HD - all these things consume more power and generate more heat. If your power supply is less than 400W you may get problems these days.

Just throwing a few ideas in the pot - if you have a few things to try in a methodical way it's a start!

Edit: The 'reboot on failure option' = System properties, Advanced tab, settings button

[Background Noise]

Mine does this a lot - every couple of days. Always when closing something like IE or Word. Click on the cross and the whole thing reboots. Did it every time I closed Pinnacle Studio 8. Sometimes there's only one thing running.

AMD Athlon, 256mb, Win XP Home.

[Mac the Knife]

Noblues: I suspect PS - I had one machine that did that intermittently until I got a new PS.

Otherwise - is there a pattern? Same time of day or something? This can happen if your neigbour turns on his/her 2000 watt Soopa Doopa vaccuum cleaner or heater or whatever (or something powerhungry in your own house coming on or off). A better power supply might well sort that out too.

[BRL]

Mine does this too. Its a few years old now and its been doing it from day one. Just restarts itself at random. Could be anytime, a day or two or a few minuits even between restarts, It could happen anytime. Really frustrating if working on something big. I havn't tried to get to the bottom of it. It really could be anything. I recently put winXP back on and have noticed that when it restarts it shows a blue screen with some writing on it but it only stays on screen for a milisecond before it goes so can't really make out what it all says..!! Just get used to it or send the pc back. Its harsh but there is very little one can do. :(

[noblues]

ratsarsse & Mac the Knife - Yeah, I am begining to think its the PSU ... The current one is a 300W unit, maybe its being overloaded, probably the cheapest component to eliminate before moving onto things like CPU etc ... ...
(I have heard that for a >1.7Ghz CPU + a 7200 RPM HD a 400W PSU is recommended ?)

I installed some monitoring software supplied with my Asus motherboard, it draws a real time graph of core voltage, CPU temp, and 12 volt supply etc ... useful info ....
The CPU seems to be running cool, and the 12 volt supply is steady.

But maybe the load is too much for the PSU and drawing too much current that the PSU resets automatically ? (even though its supplying steady at 12V). Do the PSU have auto resets when the load gets too high ?

One other thing, my speakers run off an inline socket on the back of my PSU mains socket, I wonder if this is not a good setup, or their is a flaw in that connection .......

Thanks to all for the advice

Juts found these very useful links on Power Supply problems :

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/index.html

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20021021/powersupplies-02.html

[Spitoon]

I'd put money on the PS - I noticed the other day that ebuyer is listing a bargain at the moment.

550w PSU for less than £25 (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=34825).

[noblues]

Spitoon - Thanks for that.

Does seem cheap, PC World (never the cheapest ! want £40 for a 400w unit .....).

With these daul fan PSU's I presume I need a vent in the top of my case for the 'top' fan ?

[Mac the Knife]

"With these daul fan PSU's I presume I need a vent in the top of my case for the 'top' fan ?"

Probably not - check your case.

"....monitoring software....real time graph...12 volt supply is steady."

It probably will be, until the PSU can't cope with the blips/loads anymore and the "power good" line is pulled low triggering a reset.

Keep us informed of developments pls.

[UK-Kiwi]

I suspect similar to what ratsarsse has said.

XP now by default allows you to restart after stop error, where as before (in NT) you would just have the blue screen of death. The only way around this was to restart manually.
In this situation the power supply was not a suspect as you would see it all happen and know the software crashed (yes maybe because of faulty memory).
However, with auto reboot it looks like it could be a power problem...

Before replacing the power supply, find the option and switch of auto reboot, if you start getting blue screens then it's software.

I have this very problem on a 2 month old laptop, it still has the suppliers software build on it which normally I never leave, I like to wipe the disk and install everything myself, that way I know it's good, and what's on it.
However, I know it's software because when I run a little app at start up to shut down all the background processes, the problem never occurs, when I don't I'm restarting 1-2 times every hour!

There's a couple of free apps, kill it all, or the one I use End It All (recommended as a way to speed up flight sim performance). It's great, no more re-starts! I have about 22 processes running of which I only keep about 5 up after I run it. I don't notice a performance increase but then it's a good spec laptop that I don't challenge too much.
Just rememeber to not allow it to close your anti virus or firewall software.

Hope this helps
Cheers

[noblues]

Thanks UK-Kiwi -

Found the reboot on error option under :

'control panel' - 'advanced' - 'startup and recovery' - 'system reboot'

Have switched this off and will see what happens before buying a new PSU ......

Cheers

[noblues]

The end of this tale is -

after setting the Win XP 'reboot on error' to off seems to have solved the problem.

Touch wood !