Random Rebooting

[Korvan]

My girlfriend's computer is experiencing spontaneous reboots that can occur within seconds of a previous reboot to up to about 1/2 an hour. I don't have the exact specs in front of me, but it's a celeron based PC running XP with 768 MB memory and a crappy video card that is just a step above onboard video. It was basically the cheapest thing I could put together for her that would still play World of Warcraft decently (outside of the major cities at least). The computer itself is just about 3 years old.

It checks out negative for viruses and a check over of the system logs turns up no errors related to the reboots at all which seems to me to indicate a hardware problem rather than software.

I've cleaned out the fans and such of dust; that and the fact that a reboot can happen almost immediately likely mean that it's not heat related. No new hardware has been installed either.

A bit of research online seems to point to a failing power supply and that is likely my next thing to check out as it is fairly inexpensive to do so. But, before I go mucking about and spending money, I'd thought check here to see if any of you have any advice, insight, what have you.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and thanks in advance for any help.

[General Zod]

Check the ram. Swap out the chips one at a time with known good chips and see if it'll experience the same issue, which is mostly what this sounds like.

[Korvan]

Check the ram. Swap out the chips one at a time with known good chips and see if it'll experience the same issue, which is mostly what this sounds like.

I don't have any extra memory for the computer. I was planning on using a memory test program such as memtest86. Thanks for the tip though, the whole memory issue might've slipped my mind as a possible culprit.

[Braedley]

Are BSODs set to show? That could be the culprit despite the fact that the reboots seem random. If it is BSODing, then turning on the info screen (a BIOS setting if memory serves, although it may be in windows) may give you a better idea of what's not working properly.

EDIT: Did some research, and it's under the advanced tab in the system prefs.

[Lord Revan]

I'm not sure but when I had a problem like this years ago it was due a faulty memory chip.

[Edi]

Turn off automatic reboot in case of BSOD from Windows settings. That will allow you to see the error code, which might look like IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL 0X80DE or something like that. The codes look like gibberish, but they can go a long way toward solving the problem.

Once you've checked the memory, it's time to clean out temp files, run checkdisk or some other file system repair tool and defrag the machine. If that doesn't help, it's replacement time (especially if it's a laptop).

[Rye]

There's also a chance the PSU is failing. If the RAM isn't the culprit, I'd suggest trying a different power supply.

[Korvan]

Are BSODs set to show? That could be the culprit despite the fact that the reboots seem random. If it is BSODing, then turning on the info screen (a BIOS setting if memory serves, although it may be in windows) may give you a better idea of what's not working properly.

EDIT: Did some research, and it's under the advanced tab in the system prefs.

No BSODs are showing up and I did change the setting to show a BSOD rather than automatically reboot. The system logs are not showing anything either.

[Zac Naloen]

Memory usually shows a BSOD at least.

I may have to side with Zuul and suggest intermittent power.

[Braedley]

Since we're pretty sure it's not heat, bad power seems to be the next best thing. And since you don't have a lot of power intensive devices, I'm going to say that the PSU is gone instead of saying that it just doesn't have enough juice.

[Block]

It's either power supply, like people have said or a driver conflict (rare but sometimes video card drivers that aren't up to date can cause reboots).

[Braedley]

It's either power supply, like people have said or a driver conflict (rare but sometimes video card drivers that aren't up to date can cause reboots).

Nine times out of ten those cause BSODs as well. And it's a card that's half a step up from integrated video. Me thinks this is not the case.

[Karrick]

I had similar issues at the beginning of the summer. They quickly turned into the computer not being able to get to the POST after turning it on. I checked all the other hardware in the case first but got no results. I replaced the motherboard once and it worked fine for a couple days and then went back to being a gently humming and slightly warm paper weight. Then Dell decided to send a tech to figure it out (still under warranty). End result: new power supply. There was some distinct charring on a connector from the PSU to somewhere on the motherboard that I hadn't noticed the first time; I'm not sure how related that is. It's worked fine since, except for an obnoxious vibratey noise that's been there as long as I can remember. It's a Dell Dimension 9100, if you think that's relevant.

[Uraniun235]

I'm inclined to suspect a faulty power supply, but check the capacitors on the motherboard for bulging or leaking.

Also you don't happen to have any big air conditioning units or other large appliances on the same circuit as your computer, do you?

[Korvan]

Thanks for the help everyone. I just got around to buying a new power supply and have successfully installed it. I was a bit nervous, being the first time I ever hooked up internal power cables, but they've really done a good job at making the connections idiot proof. With that done, I think I've now replaced every internal part of a computer (not all from this one, but lifetime total) except the cpu and motherboard.

I'm just letting it run as a final test, so hopefully no more reboots unless its someone pressing the reset button.

Thanks again!

[Korvan]

Just a final update, its been running for quite some time now with no reboots. Looks like it was the power supply. Thanks again.