PC crash & restart after reboot - software or hardware?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Michael 23
  • Start date Start date
M

Michael 23

I have a winxp machine that I almost never shut down.
When I do, I am having problems about 1/3 of the time.

About 2-3 minutes after the machine is started / turned on normally it will
crash as if the reset button was pushed.
This never happens any more than a few minutes after reboot - it stays on
for days at a time with no problems after that.

I suspected something at the end of the windows load-up cycle, but just now
it happened about 4 times in a row before it even got past loading windows
at all

is this a power supply? bad ram? something in the start-up routine?

without any more info to go on, where would you start to look??

thanks
 
Michael 23 said:
I have a winxp machine that I almost never shut down.
When I do, I am having problems about 1/3 of the time.

About 2-3 minutes after the machine is started / turned on normally it
will crash as if the reset button was pushed.
This never happens any more than a few minutes after reboot - it stays on
for days at a time with no problems after that.

I suspected something at the end of the windows load-up cycle, but just
now it happened about 4 times in a row before it even got past loading
windows at all

is this a power supply? bad ram? something in the start-up routine?

without any more info to go on, where would you start to look??
Click to expand...
When you first turn on your machine and do a cold boot, there's a huge
demand made on your PSU to get everything up and running. Reboots don't
require much because everything is still ready. Could be your power supply
is dying.
 
as I suspect myself... thanks for the explanation, that makes sense.

what's the best way to diagnose the psu?
and what do you - or anyone else here - recommend for a quality QUIET
replacement
(I hate this noisy one, anyway!)

thanks
 
Michael said:
as I suspect myself... thanks for the explanation, that makes sense.

what's the best way to diagnose the psu?
and what do you - or anyone else here - recommend for a quality QUIET
replacement
(I hate this noisy one, anyway!)

thanks
Click to expand...

If you're looking for a reliable PSU then you're going to have to be
prepared to spend. I have a Tagan Silent 500W which cost me £90 ($173) and
it's extremely quiet. Other brands to consider: - Antec (their TrueControl
series are excellent, though not cheap (around £100 ($192)) Enemax
NoiseTaker (again around £100) OCZ (£75 ($144) up to £160 ($308)), Yesico
(fanless) though it's low rated at 420W (£115 ($220)) and Zalman (£65
($125)).

The PSU may not be failing - it could just be a crappy 'pound store' unit.
These do *NOT* run at the marked rate - often it's half that and many do
*NOT* have a 12V rail. So if it's marked 500W you could be looking at a real
value of around 250W.

I've seen systems built with these generic supplies - and the damage they
can cause when they blow is often quite spectacular - a £15 supply can often
cause at least twenty times that in damage - maybe even thirty or forty
times depending on the price of the parts (but then, if someone uses one
with a FX-55 (around £600 ($1152)) and an X850XT Platinum Edition (£400
($768)) they deserve all they get!)
 
I have a winxp machine that I almost never shut down.
When I do, I am having problems about 1/3 of the time.

About 2-3 minutes after the machine is started / turned on normally it will
crash as if the reset button was pushed.
This never happens any more than a few minutes after reboot - it stays on
for days at a time with no problems after that.

I suspected something at the end of the windows load-up cycle, but just now
it happened about 4 times in a row before it even got past loading windows
at all

is this a power supply? bad ram? something in the start-up routine?

without any more info to go on, where would you start to look??

thanks
Click to expand...

my computer->properties->advanced->startup & recov->uncheck automatically
restart

This will allow you to see that you actually BSODed.
 
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