random reboot

  • Thread starter Thread starter Julien Rossignol
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Julien Rossignol

I'v had an AMD 700MHz PC for several years now and yesterday night I started
having some problems with it. It started rebooting randomly. At first it
rebooted in windows XP at 10 minutes interval and now I can barely access
the bios (it reboots in the bios and even before accessing the bios it
seems). The problem is obviously hardware, unless the bios is somehow
corrupted on infected by a virus (if possible at all). Anyways, I am
looking for suggestions as to where to start looking to solve my
problem...power supply, memory, motherboard. Any insight is welcome.

Thanx
 
Julien said:
I'v had an AMD 700MHz PC for several years now and yesterday night I started
having some problems with it. It started rebooting randomly. At first it
rebooted in windows XP at 10 minutes interval and now I can barely access
the bios (it reboots in the bios and even before accessing the bios it
seems). The problem is obviously hardware, unless the bios is somehow
corrupted on infected by a virus (if possible at all). Anyways, I am
looking for suggestions as to where to start looking to solve my
problem...power supply, memory, motherboard. Any insight is welcome.

Thanx
Click to expand...

Another thought might be that your thermal compund on the CPU has gone
bad and is causing the self-preservation programming to kick in (aka
overheating protection). My system did this a while back. It would
randomly shut down, however, not reboot. So I'm not sure if that's it
exactly.
 
Most likely a bad power supply. Could also be a bad motherboard.
Click to expand...

I'll second that.

A visual inspection of the capacitors on the motherboard might reveal
vented, domed (split top seal) with residue around them, or a foul smell.
If a multimeter is available a measurement of power supply voltage might
be taken at the ATX connector while the system is on.

It could easily be either (motherboard OR power supply) but _IF_ the
motherboard capacitors look ok then it's more likely the power supply,
still a fair chance it's the motherboard but if you need to play the
odds...
 
"Julien Rossignol" typed:
I'v had an AMD 700MHz PC for several years now and yesterday night I
started having some problems with it. It started rebooting
randomly. At first it rebooted in windows XP at 10 minutes interval
and now I can barely access the bios (it reboots in the bios and
even before accessing the bios it seems). The problem is obviously
hardware, unless the bios is somehow corrupted on infected by a
virus (if possible at all). Anyways, I am looking for suggestions
as to where to start looking to solve my problem...power supply,
memory, motherboard. Any insight is welcome.
Click to expand...


How old is your ROM battery? Is the monitor displaying anything?
Clear the CMOS by swaping the appropriate jumper and, then, try to
access BIOS.

If I try to alter the `over-clock CPU' settings in the BIOS and reboot,
I can't even access the BIOS. The LED on the montior starts flashing
between dark and light yellow colour, and nothing appears on the
screen. In other words, the system fails to perform POST.
 
The battery is as old as the system; 4 years old and the display works fine.
I doubt that this is the problem.
 
Julien said:
I'v had an AMD 700MHz PC for several years now and yesterday night
I started having some problems with it. It started rebooting
randomly. At first it rebooted in windows XP at 10 minutes
interval and now I can barely access the bios (it reboots in the
bios and even before accessing the bios it seems). The problem is
obviously hardware, unless the bios is somehow corrupted on
infected by a virus (if possible at all). Anyways, I am looking
for suggestions as to where to start looking to solve my problem
...power supply, memory, motherboard. Any insight is welcome.
Click to expand...

Assuming nothing malignant such as a virus, check the cheap and
easy things first. Start by taking off the covers. When
anomalies show up, take appropriate action.

1. Measure voltages from PS with a multimeter.

Do the rest with power off, disconnected from the wall. One test
at a time. If the troubles go away at any stage, you have
probably found it.

2. Pull and reconnect each cable end, possibly several times.
3. Pull and reseat each card, possibly multiple times.
4. Pull and reseat each memory module, possibly multiples

If nothing happens, build the system up from an absolute minimum
until something does go wrong.

As far as memory is concerned, you should have bought ECC memory
in the first place, and you wouldn't have to worry about it. If
you didn't you didn't care about reliability, and any failures are
just what you asked for.
 
Julien said:
I'v had an AMD 700MHz PC for several years now and yesterday night I
started having some problems with it. It started rebooting randomly.
At first it rebooted in windows XP at 10 minutes interval and now I
can barely access the bios (it reboots in the bios and even before
accessing the bios it seems). The problem is obviously hardware,
unless the bios is somehow corrupted on infected by a virus (if
possible at all). Anyways, I am looking for suggestions as to where
to start looking to solve my problem...power supply, memory,
motherboard. Any insight is welcome.
Click to expand...

Clean your CPU heatsink and fan, check the fan is running.
 
I'v had an AMD 700MHz PC for several years now and yesterday night I started
having some problems with it. It started rebooting randomly. At first it
rebooted in windows XP at 10 minutes interval and now I can barely access
the bios (it reboots in the bios and even before accessing the bios it
seems). The problem is obviously hardware, unless the bios is somehow
corrupted on infected by a virus (if possible at all). Anyways, I am
looking for suggestions as to where to start looking to solve my
problem...power supply, memory, motherboard. Any insight is welcome.

Thanx
Click to expand...

First...try to determine if the problem might be because of
overheating.

Make sure the heat-sink fan (hsf) is working...and seems to be
spinning at a normal, expected speed.

Boot into the BIOS at the beginning of the day. Let the computer sit
at one of the maintenance screens...for an hour or two. See if it
will actually stay up that long.

If it doesn't reboot until its been on for awhile, it could be a heat
problem. If you have a heat detection utility in your BIOS, turn it
on.

If it reboots quickly...its rebooting when cold...I'd suspect the
power supply or mainboard. Its usually pretty easy to plug in a
different power supply temporarily...to test that aspect.

Mainboard culprit for your symptoms would be rare...but it does
happen.

Good luck...let us know.


Have a nice week...

Trent©

Follow Joan Rivers' example --- get pre-embalmed!
 
"Julien Rossignol" typed:
Ayaz Ahmed Khan said:
[...]
Click to expand...
How old is your ROM battery? Is the monitor displaying anything?
Clear the CMOS by swaping the appropriate jumper and, then, try to
access BIOS.

If I try to alter the `over-clock CPU' settings in the BIOS and
reboot, I can't even access the BIOS. The LED on the montior starts
flashing between dark and light yellow colour, and nothing appears
on the screen. In other words, the system fails to perform POST.
Click to expand...

The battery is as old as the system; 4 years old and the display
works fine. I doubt that this is the problem.
Click to expand...


My PC's battery was just as old, too, when I replaced it earlier this
week. You did say you couldn't access the BIOS. I took it to mean
that the system wasn't performing POST at all.

Search for "Sasser" worm, alternatively. It's similar to Blaster and
reboots PCs it has infected without any warnings.
 
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