A few weeks ago, Dragonbabe’s fairly new computer started rebooting a couple times a day all by itself. Just before it restarts, the background goes blue, with low-res writing in white listing some kind of error (Windows has detected a problem and must restart now, or somesuch). It appears too briefly for her to get any more details than that.
A tech-savvy friend was kind enough to have a quick look for us, and somehow he found some kind of error listing that might be the cause, and said it’s some kind of Windows bug for which there’s no fix. FYI it’s XP 2002 SP2, running on an Intel CELERON CPU 3.06 GHz, 3.07GHz, 960MB RAM. Or something like that.
Now, there’s no guarantee that that bug is the cause, but one thing is certain: it’s pretty unacceptable to hear “this can’t be fixed”. It’s a pretty new computer, and it must either be a software problem (in which case wouldn’t reinstalling the system or changing versions help?), or a hardware problem, in which case something should be replaced. Having a computer frequently reboot while you’re in the middle of something is just not acceptable. :loco:
My desktop had a rebooting issue and the problem turned out to be a loose wire. I was minutes from reloading everything when a mate decided to have a look, just in case.
Take it to someone who knows what they’re talking about.
Believe me, the guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about … you can always ‘fix’ a computer … first look at your RAM modules, clean the contacts with an eraser than put them back in.
In this weather overheating might be the issue. You can also pop in the windows disc, reboot and click on the repair option. BACKUP BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING!
also had this problem recently with my desktop, opening it up and blowing the dust out of it, particularly getting a straw and blowing all the amazing amount of dust out of the microprocessor fan seems to have corrected it. might be worth it to look if that fan is operating normally.
The guy knows shit because this is not a Windows bug. But in a way he’s also right, because this kind of problem might be very difficult to solve. I’m not a computer repairer or hardware guru, but this might be going on:
defective memory (check that blue screen’s message closer)
overheating (does it always happen after the same amount of time?)
loose contact somewhere
defective component somewhere
Overheating can be caused when the CPU heatsink is not properly attached to the CPU.
If it’s not memory or overheating, let a repairer take a look at the whole system, unplug & plug everything to check if that fixes it, try some replacements, … etc. It might just be a loose contact.
Randomly blue screening systems are a difficult issue. Some decide to live with it… just save your stuff every 5 minutes.
Well, no need to beat up on the guy who looked at it – this was a seriously sleep-deprived friend who just had a quick look for us; he tends to know his stuff when he can keep his eyelids up. And since the problem (which had gone on for 2 weeks) hadn’t recurred in a few days before he looked at it, we didn’t pursue it in more depth at the time – but now it’s happening again, which is why I posted for ideas.
Thanks, guys – as a first step, I’ll open up the case and check that fan, and grab a can of compressed air. Might be cat hair.
After it’s been on for a while, I think, yeah – but it’s irregular, not like clockwork. As for the blue screen message, it’s only up for a second or so, so it’s pretty hard to get anything from it. Often when it happens, she’s not actively working on the computer anyway, but has it on in the background, so it’s almost impossible to read that message.
The message, should you catch it, may be absolutely useless anyway. If you do want to catch it, go into the Control Panel, double-click on the System icon, then the Advanced tab.
Now in the Startup and Recovery section, click on Settings. Now uncheck Automatically Restart. The computer will now stop on the error screen next time you have a problem and you will have to hit the reset button yourself to get out of it.
OCCASIONALLY, unchecking other options in that Startup and Recovery Settings section might help you out a bit. Basically you would be telling Windows to ignore errors. But the fact is, there is an error, and you should get to the bottom of it. It’s almost definitely a hardware problem, and it could very well be the power supply (first thing I would check), then go with re-seating the RAM, as mentioned, and then a lot of other checking of connections, clearing out dust, etc.
One thing you could try is to take the side cover off, and wiggle some wires (with Windows on) and see if that causes your computer to reboot. Just don’t stick any sweaty legs into the power supply or anything.
Don’t go touching anything on the motherboard while the computer’s plugged in, and make sure your other hand is touching a metal part of the case the whole time to cut down on static.
Thanks, mate! Now, exactly how does one “check” the power supply? Do I lean it up against the barn and throw potatoes at it to see if it falls down dead? :help:
Thanks, mate! Now, exactly how does one “check” the power supply? Do I lean it up against the barn and throw potatoes at it to see if it falls down dead? :help:[/quote]
Actually the only good way to check if that’s the problem, is to swap it with another temporarily and see if that solves your problems. My mother-in-law’s computer was doing a similar thing recently and a new power supply sorted it out.
I know this’ll sound really geeky, but it’s really useful to have a spare power supply lying around.
When you buy a computer you’re told how good the CPU and RAM and everything is, but you’re never told about the PSU that has to power the whole thing, so they put in a cheap one that can barely cope.
I agree that it could be caused by either an iffy PSU or iffy cooling, or it might be something loose. Make sure the cards and RAM are pushed in nice and firm.
could also be a device driver error.
that depends on the STOP code you get on the blue screen.
this is called BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) actually.
follow irishstu’s instruction to turn off automatic reboot and then see what STOP code you get.
that you can google or maybe post here. a lot of stop codes come from bad device drivers.
in order to determine waht might casue teh prob, also try to think if you changed anything on your PC (software/hardware) before these errors happened.
sometimes installing a bad driver can cause this mess already.
The common causes of the blue screen of death are driver problems or hardware problems. Follow irishsu’s advice about disabling auto-reboot so that you see the exact error message next time. Then try to figure out what driver or device is involved (it hopefully will have the file name of a .sys or .dll file or you can google the error message to find out. If it is consistently involving one particular driver then download the latest version of the driver and try that. If you are already at the latest version, see if a previous version is available. If the error message is always about one driver but updating it doesn’t help, then there’s likely a problem with that device.
Another way to narrow down software vs. hardware is to run memtest86. Since it boots off separate media it will not be affected by any windows driver bugs. You can download it here:
If running this diagnostic passes then it is most likely a software problem (since it doesn’t stress test all the hardware, it’s possible for it to pass and still not be a software bug). If it fails then it is almost definitely a hardware problem. Unfortunately hardware problems are often hard to find without swapping parts in and out until the problem goes away.
Does this involve a barn wall and potatoes?[/quote]
no. Visit the website of the MB manufacturer and see what the latest BIOS is. Then compare it to the one currently running.
Thanks again, all. I’ve turned off autoreboot, opened up the case and used compressed air to blast everything clean. The fan atop the CPU heatsink was running well, as was the main case fan. Now we just have to sit around and wait for it to crash.
What no has metioned so far, is that the error messages displayed by the BSOD are all to often useless in determining the cause of the problem by themselves. What you should do, is to copy the message exactly onto paper, and then after rebooting the machine, or via another machine if handy, is to do a google search using the exact wording etc as copied from the BSOD. That way you are more likely to get something you can understand.
If you really dont understand, then post the exact message on here so that we can search and come up with a more logical explanation of the cause.
[quote=“Traveller”]What you should do, is to copy the message exactly onto paper, and then after rebooting the machine, or via another machine if handy, is to do a google search using the exact wording etc as copied from the BSOD. That way you are more likely to get something you can understand.
[/quote]
And since the problem (which had gone on for 2 weeks) hadn’t recurred in a few days before he looked at it, we didn’t pursue it in more depth at the time – but now it’s happening again, which is why I posted for ideas.
I’ve turned off autoreboot, opened up the case and used compressed air to blast everything clean. The fan atop the CPU heatsink was running well, as was the main case fan. Now we just have to sit around and wait for it to crash.