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Sudden reboots?

Basara

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Trying to figure out what might be causing this with my main system.

I'll be going along, playing, browsing, or nothing in particular, then -

the screen goes black, and the computer reboots. This happens perhaps 2 times a week.

I'm running XP SP3 with 1 GB RAM, an NVIDIA 8300 GS video card that is supposed to be 128MB (but insists that it is 512), and a 2.2 dual core processor (IIRC Intel Core 2).

Is this a processor issue, RAM issue, power supply issue, or something else?
 

Harlequin

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You are not going to like this, but it can be anything in the list. Can also be a lose power cable, power surge, some software isse, virus scanner hitting a a file on a bad sector etc.

Go to your events viewer and see what is the last entries just before it reboots.
 

Shamus Turlough

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To look at the event viewer, click start, click run, type 'eventvwr' and press enter. The ones we are concerned with in this case are the application log and the system log. Look for yellow or red entries right before the time the computer rebooted itself. If there are any, copy and post them here. If not, you are more than likely looking at a bad power supply.
 

Skylark SP

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I've seen sudden reboots caused by all of the following:

  • Damaged/defective power cord - any "wiggle" caused a reboot
  • Failing power supply (Note: some power supplies have a self test button, look and see if yours does. Even if it does, it may "pass" and still have a problem, but can't hurt to check for it)
  • Thermal shutdown due to completely dust blanketed internal components or malfunctioning cooling fans - easy enough to peek inside your computer's case and see if it is dust bunny heaven in there, and if the fans are all turning at normal "blur to the eye" speed when the system is under power.
  • Poorly seated internal cards and /or loose internal power connections
  • Bad capacitors on motherboard (when capacitors rupture, they may give off a strange chemical odor - to me it smells a lot like pool chemicals. You will see the dried residue of the gel around the capacitors. Other telltale visual indicator if there is no rupture is capacitors are swollen or leaning to one side instead of standing straight up).
  • Software settings, including auto shutdown utilities with battery backup systems (had a case where a site with much power fluctuation, a PC was connected to a UPS and the shutdown utility was set to a very low-tolerance voltage variance threshold. The computer was rebooting several times a day).
-Skylark
 

Setnaffa

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Your system might be rebooting because it is having a hardware or software error that it can't recover from. You may also have your system set to automatically restart on Blue Screens. If you do, you want to turn this off while you deal with the issue.

Check this:
1) From your Start Menu, Right-Click on Computer, and select Properties.
2) Choose "Advanced"
3) In the "Startup and Recovery" section, click on "Settings". The screen should resemble this:

Make sure "Automatically restart" IS NOT checked and "Write an event to the system log" IS checked.

Now when your system has a problem, you'll see the Blue Screen and you'll get a message in your system log (Event Viewer->System)

Google (or Bing :))the Stop Code and you may have the answer to your problem.
 
U

UOKaiser

Guest
Trying to figure out what might be causing this with my main system.

I'll be going along, playing, browsing, or nothing in particular, then -

the screen goes black, and the computer reboots. This happens perhaps 2 times a week.

I'm running XP SP3 with 1 GB RAM, an NVIDIA 8300 GS video card that is supposed to be 128MB (but insists that it is 512), and a 2.2 dual core processor (IIRC Intel Core 2).

Is this a processor issue, RAM issue, power supply issue, or something else?
Like everyone else said could be anything. Can you remmeber if anything changed was added etc when this started happening.
And why is that video card insisting as 512 when it's suppose to 128 that could be a potential problem now or in the future. For that video card Suggest make sure windows is reading it right and usualy windows gets this info from bios so make sure that bios is up to date and settings ok.
 

Basara

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so far, this is what I've found... I just had it happen again 30 minutes ago.

The only warning found : But it appears to be post-reboot, as it tries to initialize fax devices I don't have...

The outgoing routing rule is not valid because it cannot find a valid device. The outgoing faxes that use this rule will not be routed. Verify that the targeted device or devices (if routed to a group of devices) is connected and installed correctly, and turned on. If routed to a group, verify that the group is configured correctly. Country/region code: '*' Area code: '*'
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

I THINK I might have found a way to disable that, though (crosses fingers); after all, trying to initialize things that aren't there are a major slowdown to the boot process.

On the other hand, I found the thing Setnaffa was referring to, but it was not even remotely the path he suggested (could be because I tend to go the "classic" setup for my start menu and Control panel) the path for me was Control Panel, clicvk on "System", The Advanced Tab, and the Settings button under "Startup and Recovery".

Restart was NOT enabled, but neither was the "Write an event to the system log". I got the write an event active now.
 
U

UOKaiser

Guest
so far, this is what I've found... I just had it happen again 30 minutes ago.

The only warning found : But it appears to be post-reboot, as it tries to initialize fax devices I don't have...

The outgoing routing rule is not valid because it cannot find a valid device. The outgoing faxes that use this rule will not be routed. Verify that the targeted device or devices (if routed to a group of devices) is connected and installed correctly, and turned on. If routed to a group, verify that the group is configured correctly. Country/region code: '*' Area code: '*'
For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

I THINK I might have found a way to disable that, though (crosses fingers); after all, trying to initialize things that aren't there are a major slowdown to the boot process.

On the other hand, I found the thing Setnaffa was referring to, but it was not even remotely the path he suggested (could be because I tend to go the "classic" setup for my start menu and Control panel) the path for me was Control Panel, clicvk on "System", The Advanced Tab, and the Settings button under "Startup and Recovery".

Restart was NOT enabled, but neither was the "Write an event to the system log". I got the write an event active now.
If you want to disable that you can type msconfig in run tab check boot.ini tab and startup tab if it's there. If not it's probably in registry or autoexec file or config file though most likely in registry.

The rebooting problem check if it's a overheating problem if not then got a few more possibilities video drivers,bad dll,etc..
 
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