Computer reboots for no reason

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Syd
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Computer reboots for no reason

Post by Syd »

This has been happening for a couple weeks at least now and it's really pissing me off. For absolutely no reason, my computer reboots after I have it on for a while. Sometimes I'm downloading something, sometimes I'm watching a movie, and sometimes I'm not doing anything. I recently had a new dvd burner installed along with an extra stick of RAM. As well, the machine makes a bit more noise than it used it. The noise thing has been happening for at least a few months though.

I don't think it's a high temperature in the case since I ran ASUS Probe and everything seems to be fine. My guess is it's the power supply. Anyone have any thoughts? I'd like to have a second opinion before I go and spend almost $100 on a new power supply! :?
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Post by ian »

virus???
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Post by mikozero »

have you tested the ram ?
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Post by Raijin Z »

It's almost never the power supply. Check the capacitors on your motherboard for bulging or leaking. That was the cause of death of my Pentium 3 system. Fucking IBM and their shitty hardware...
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Post by |darc| »

hard or soft reboot?
It's thinking...
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Post by bizzle »

|darc| wrote:hard or soft reboot?
I was wondering the same thing.
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Post by Syd »

Xylene wrote:
|darc| wrote:hard or soft reboot?
I was wondering the same thing.
Do you mean does it reset the entire computer or just Windows? Because in that case it resets the entire computer.
mikezero wrote:have you tested the ram ?
Nope I haven't. The RAM could be the problem. How would I go about testing it?
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Post by Vchat20 »

to elaborate a bit more, does it go through the normal windows shutdown/restart process or is it an abrubt restart back to POST?

check some recent software you may have installed such as shareware and whatnot. my last problem which is similar to yours (computer kept restarting after logging in) ended up being caused by a program called "freeram xp" which after it was uninstalled, everything was back to normal.
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Post by Stormwatch »

Bad RAM is the #2 most common computer problem.

Windows is the #1. :lol:
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Post by Roofus »

Random resets sounds like a bad power supply.
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Post by hearld500 »

One of my computers does that too. It's happened before when I've bumped the desk or ejected a floppy. Sometime It does it for not reason at all. I'm guessing its the PSU
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Post by mikozero »

Syd wrote:
mikezero wrote:have you tested the ram ?
Nope I haven't. The RAM could be the problem. How would I go about testing it?
http://www.memtest86.com/
is all i know,
maybe someone techy can elaborate more...
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Post by Tyne »

It's most likely one of these two:

1. The PSU
2. Bad RAM
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Post by Vchat20 »

simple enough. go to memtest86.com, download the iso, burn it, and boot it. let it run a few cycles and see if it shows any errors.
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Post by Raijin Z »

Out of the hundred or so systems I've worked on since January, it has never been the PSU, nor in any of my own systems, although in my former ignorance, I wasted money replacing several, throwing out perfectly good ones that I need now.

See, in my P3 system, IBM got a bunch of fuxxed up capacitors from some Taiwanese company who had gotten the formula from that dude who stole a botched recipe from a Japanese company. All the capacitors on the board are leaking. The system will function in bios, dos, Windows setup text menu, but as soon as anything other than the Windows loading screen would appear, REBOOT. Before that, it would just reboot whenever it felt like it, sometimes not for days on end, though, so it made it really difficult to troubleshoot.
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Post by Georgie »

What kind of noise?
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Post by btm4k »

ian wrote:virus???
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Post by Disheveled DrFreeze »

ram isnt very likely, i think ram will only cause your system to freeze up, not to reboot

i had a bad stick of ram once, my system froze on everything, windows setup, gnoppix bootdisk, in windows, it forgot my drivers after a reboot etc..

id say check your PSU, see if the power regulators on the mobo are all OK
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Post by Raijin Z »

Sometimes ram will prevent booting at all... but oddly enough, reseating it usually fixes this.
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Post by bizzle »

A friend's box had a similiar problem, it was the power supply.
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