MadMark
asked on
Irregular & Unexpected Rebooting
Basically my system will just spontaneously reboot for no apparent reason. It is not occurring after or because of anything noticeable.
A common thread seems to be that it often happens when I have a CD-ROM in my Plextor 12/10/32A. No matter what I do, nothing seems to fix the problem. I can't tell if what I've done has fixed it because the reboot happens so rarely. I think it has and then some time next week it will just reboot.
One last thing, once the system reboots, it will often reboot again before or during my login. My system never has a problem booting up otherwise. That makes me think it may be a heat issue, but I have two fans on the CPU and three on the case. If you think this could be the culprit, what would be a good way to monitor CPU temp?
I realize this is a long shot, but would appreciate any suggestions. I'm running Windows 2000 SP2, with all of the recent updates, on an ASUS-K7V w/ an Athlon-700. If you want more details, I can provide them.
A common thread seems to be that it often happens when I have a CD-ROM in my Plextor 12/10/32A. No matter what I do, nothing seems to fix the problem. I can't tell if what I've done has fixed it because the reboot happens so rarely. I think it has and then some time next week it will just reboot.
One last thing, once the system reboots, it will often reboot again before or during my login. My system never has a problem booting up otherwise. That makes me think it may be a heat issue, but I have two fans on the CPU and three on the case. If you think this could be the culprit, what would be a good way to monitor CPU temp?
I realize this is a long shot, but would appreciate any suggestions. I'm running Windows 2000 SP2, with all of the recent updates, on an ASUS-K7V w/ an Athlon-700. If you want more details, I can provide them.
What type of Power Supply do you have? I am guessing that you are short on power.
ASKER
300W running:
2 HD's
1 CD-RW
2 PCI Devices
1 AGP Video Card
It seems like it should be enough, even with the Athlon's elevated needs.
2 HD's
1 CD-RW
2 PCI Devices
1 AGP Video Card
It seems like it should be enough, even with the Athlon's elevated needs.
I believe it should be enough. The next culprits to check are memory and video. You may want to try a standard PCI video in place of the AGP and see if the problem reoccurs. Is the PCI slot beside the AGP slot being used? If so, that could be the source of the problem.
You may also want to try removing the other PCI devices when you try a PCI video. These two devices may be conflicting.
You may also want to try removing the other PCI devices when you try a PCI video. These two devices may be conflicting.
It's enough if the power supply is a good brand and is in good condition, I've recently had some fights with PSUs on athlon systems. For instance a system with 1 AGP card, 1 HDD and 1 CDROM spontaneously rebooting under load on a 300w supply, watching the voltage monitor carefully and having a DMM hooked up to a spare drive cable while performing carefully controlled loading experiments with programs like toast etc, soon showed the 5V line was dropping like a stone under load. This was somewhat heat related too, the system performing fine on cooler days, the PSU was just way too inadequately cooled when the temperature topped 25C indoors though.
So I'm saying it could be your PSU, and it could be brought on by heat in your PSU.
Unfortunately since you say the problem is very infrequent I can't think of a good test to see if this supposition is the case. You could try hanging a couple of spare hdds off spare drive connectors to see if that brings on the problem more often I guess. Or deliberately use it in a warm room while monitoring CPU and system board temp.
regards,
Road Warrior
So I'm saying it could be your PSU, and it could be brought on by heat in your PSU.
Unfortunately since you say the problem is very infrequent I can't think of a good test to see if this supposition is the case. You could try hanging a couple of spare hdds off spare drive connectors to see if that brings on the problem more often I guess. Or deliberately use it in a warm room while monitoring CPU and system board temp.
regards,
Road Warrior
To monitor the voltages, etc, try Motherboard Monitor (http://mbm.livewiredev.com) This will display the CPU temp and various voltages provided by the PSU.
Have you tried loading the BIOS defaults in BIOS setup, then reconfigure customized settings?
-dog*
Have you tried loading the BIOS defaults in BIOS setup, then reconfigure customized settings?
-dog*
ASKER
I think RoadWarrior is correct, after what he said I started paying attention to the ambient room temp. I found that the system would restart on days when the room was warmer. But the restart seemed to be triggered when some thing happened to the hardware: CD turns on, new USB device, ect.
Thanks to dogztar I was able to make sure that none of my MOBO temp's got above 80 degrees, so it must be the PSU.
So now what do I do? Should I just replace it, and if so should I get a higher wattage? Or do I just need to make sure the room stays cooler? Thanks for figuring out the problem RoadWarrior, now what?
Thanks to dogztar I was able to make sure that none of my MOBO temp's got above 80 degrees, so it must be the PSU.
So now what do I do? Should I just replace it, and if so should I get a higher wattage? Or do I just need to make sure the room stays cooler? Thanks for figuring out the problem RoadWarrior, now what?
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It could also be that ASUS K7V...it seems to be Asus' "black sheep" of motherboards, you can't hardly find it on their website. It was Asus' first Athlon motherboard (they had historically been an Intel-based company). You might need to update the BIOS:
ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/slota/k7v/k7v1007.zip
You'll also need the AFLASH.exe utility:
ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/flash/aflash.exe
Basically you'll need a bootable Win9x floppy with no drivers on it (just command.com, msdos.sys, io.sys) and the .awd file from the first .ZIP file above, and the aflash.exe file. Boot from the floppy and type:
aflash k7v1007.awd
After the flash completes, restart (if it doesn't go automatically) then hit DEL to go to BIOS setup and "Load Setup/BIOS Defaults", then adjust any options you may have tweaked. I had a similar problem on my Abit KA7, and loading the BIOS defaults helped to correct it.
You might need the AMD AGP patch:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/utilities/largePageMinimum.reg
And the VIA 4in1 driver set:
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2#4in1
If you're using the K7V's onboard audio:
http://downloads.viaarena.com/drivers/audio/ComboAudio_a1u300a.zip
As far as the powersupply, what did MBM report for the voltages? Were they fairly close (within .20) of the rated power (i.e. the +12V should be between 12.25 and 11.75V). If these are dropping outside of tolerances, you could have this sort of problem. AMD has some guidelines about these power levels, but I can't find them at the minute...
-dog*
ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/slota/k7v/k7v1007.zip
You'll also need the AFLASH.exe utility:
ftp://ftp.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/flash/aflash.exe
Basically you'll need a bootable Win9x floppy with no drivers on it (just command.com, msdos.sys, io.sys) and the .awd file from the first .ZIP file above, and the aflash.exe file. Boot from the floppy and type:
aflash k7v1007.awd
After the flash completes, restart (if it doesn't go automatically) then hit DEL to go to BIOS setup and "Load Setup/BIOS Defaults", then adjust any options you may have tweaked. I had a similar problem on my Abit KA7, and loading the BIOS defaults helped to correct it.
You might need the AMD AGP patch:
http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/utilities/largePageMinimum.reg
And the VIA 4in1 driver set:
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2#4in1
If you're using the K7V's onboard audio:
http://downloads.viaarena.com/drivers/audio/ComboAudio_a1u300a.zip
As far as the powersupply, what did MBM report for the voltages? Were they fairly close (within .20) of the rated power (i.e. the +12V should be between 12.25 and 11.75V). If these are dropping outside of tolerances, you could have this sort of problem. AMD has some guidelines about these power levels, but I can't find them at the minute...
-dog*
ASKER
I have recently installed all of the updates that are availible.
The voltage levels seem to fall within those paramaters.
I've never had any problems with this system before say 6 months ago, so I think it more likely a hardware breakdown, than a software malfunction, but who knows?
The voltage levels seem to fall within those paramaters.
I've never had any problems with this system before say 6 months ago, so I think it more likely a hardware breakdown, than a software malfunction, but who knows?
I don't know if I mentioned it above, but have you tried entering the BIOS setup and choosing "LOAD SETUP DEFAULTS" OR "LOAD BIOS DEFAULTS" then adjust settings? This fixed my Abit KA7 (also a KX133 based board) when it was locking up constantly.
-dog*
-dog*
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dogztar: points for you at https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/20560191/For-dogztar-re-various.html
slink9: points for you at https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/20560194/For-slink9-re-various.html
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dogztar: points for you at https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/20560191/For-dogztar-re-various.html
slink9: points for you at https://www.experts-exchange.com/questions/20560194/For-slink9-re-various.html