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Ok, I think someone had this problem before, but now I have it and I don't know what to do about it. I checked and it's not my power chords. My PC will randomly cut out, restart, and then when Windows loads up, it says that it recovered from a "serious error." I don't know how often it does this, but at least two or three times per week. What should I do? Take it to a computer shop?

I don't know if this is related but sometimes I hear clicking noises coming from the tower.

I am using an HP pavilion with a 1.73 processor.

Memory or hard drive problems would be my first suggestions.

Heat could also be causing it; heat as in relation to the cpu...

You know, it says I only have 480 mb or RAM. Is that normal? A 256 chip and a 224?

256 and 224? I have seen some wierd RAM numbers come up in post and the general tab in system before...But the only make ram chips in 32, 64, 128, 256, 512 increments.

Sounds like something is using the last bit of memeory there. What kind of box are you running? Shared RAM with the video? Comcrap? Hewlett-Pecker?

It is an HP and it is shared video, I believe, but I also have an NVIDIA card that is 32, umm maybe it's 16... so... I don't know how much it is sharing or what.

I had this thing happen to me, then followed up with total hard drive failure.

Lately I also discovered that when my USB zip250 is plugged in at start up, it causes these errors/restarts too.

So, should I take into a PC repair shop?

What OS do you have?

possibly a the power supply its self are the problem. that is the part in your computer that works the hardest. honestly i cannot say until i physically inspect the system it self. start backing up your data and good luck to you.

This computer is brand new. It's using Windows XP. Shit. I guess I'll have someone look at it.

its not XP becuase my parents computer does the same thing and it has Windows 95 on it. Its probley the had drive since its one of the few things that has moving parts in that could make noise. So yes take it to a repair shop.

Have you got the option where the machine resets rather than show a BSOD enabled?

Superman wrote:This computer is brand new. It's using Windows XP. Shit. I guess I'll have someone look at it.

Windows XP has the option to automatically restart instead of BSODing(which is useful).

My Computer->Properties->Advanced->Startup and recovery "settings" button->System Failure->Automatically restart checkbox

256+128+64+32 = 480.... 4 RAM slots with the weirdest combination of RAM this side of the Mississippi?

Back up your data; scandisk(with surface scan) and defrag the harddrive.

You would be surprised at what can be corrected. If it is serious enough, you will know. At least you can save a few bux this way...

Check if the CPU fan's working well.

I got something similar, never quite figured out exactly what was going on with it.

It may have been a power thing, as at the time I was trying to run a Geforce and an Athlon as well as a lot of other stuff on a 200W power supply, so I replaced that with a 500W, but it still did it every now and then - upgraded to direct x 9 and moved my network card to a different slot and never heard from the problem again.

Dont know if any of that helps, but on the offchance...

ben wrote:possibly a the power supply its self are the problem. that is the part in your computer that works the hardest. honestly i cannot say until i physically inspect the system it self. start backing up your data and good luck to you.

My five year old computer has had three power supplies. One 250 watt, not enough power, not enough cooling, so, um, got a 300 watt, died a few months ago, and now have a 300 watt Antec.

My computer has also been through 3 or 4 cd-rom drives. Never buy anything made in China or Taiwan. Current Toshiba drive has lasted for awhile.

It only has 2 RAM slots. I wish I would have dropped an extra 200 dollars and bought the 2.3...

The restart function of XP doesn't help much. The computer just restarts and restarts. Since you say that there are clicking noises, it's most like the harddrive that is giving problems or the fan (unlikely since it's a new computer, it would be still oiled), and you should bring it to the shop and have it checked out.

When my harddrive started failing, I heard clicking, than eventually clacking noises.

Ravencrow wrote:When my harddrive started failing, I heard clicking, than eventually clacking noises.

That would be the heads crashing. The noises you're hearing are the heads coming into contact with the platters themselves. I suggest you get whatever data you can off of that drive ASAP.

Superman: Does it sound like this - "clink,clink,clink, CHUNK"?

I also highly recommend that you get a UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply). APC is a damn good brand. I've been using their Back-UPS Office 500VA model for a good three years now and its saved my ass on MANY occasions.

If you can afford it, getting an UPS with voltage regulation (or even undervoltage compensation) can help.

The FIRST thing you always do when you encounter random crashes and lockups is to check your fans. All of them: video card, CPU fan, power supply fan, and case fans.

Step 2: download a memory checker utility like GoldMemory and check your RAM. You'd be amazed how common flaky RAM is, and it will cause totally unpredictable crashes.

Step 3: Run a full HD filesystem check, complete with a bad-sector scan.

Step 4: Reinstall the OS.

Step 5: If all of the above fail, curl up into a fetal position under your computer desk and cry.

That would be the heads crashing. The noises you're hearing are the heads coming into contact with the platters themselves. I suggest you get whatever data you can off of that drive ASAP.

Yep that's what I did and I just got a harddrive replacement.

If the harddrive is damaged, XP will not even let you reinstall itself.