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Random Reboots...completely random...very strange...

Ive got a home built Duron 750 system, MSI KT7 Turbo2 motherboard, 512megs of ram, Asus GeForce4 64meg video card, Amertec PC110 10/100 ethernet card, LG 4x CDRW, Sony 16x DVD, Belkin Firewire Card, 60gig IBM DETHSTAR(hehe yes..its one of THOSE)...thats my system specs...running Windows XP SP2(did this before upgrading to SP2 as well).

Basically It randomly reboots for no aparent reason...ive checked in the event viewer for anything strange but at reboot time nothing is coming up it just restarts the event viewer on reboot...nothing logged as to what the problem might have been...ive monitored my voltage and temperatures and the processor doesn't get over 60degrees C. This system is almost 4yrs old now(the motherboard is newer tho about 1.5yrs old)...There is no timing to when it randomly reboots..it goes weeks sometimes...hours others...no apparent sequence to events. Any suggestions to where i might start to troubleshoot this would be appreciated :P

FlopSter

Danny Child

psu is a likely candidate - you can get hardware psu testers (just google for list), but with an older system, you may well find that you can get a 2nd hand psu from somewhere, and run that for a while as a test.
Guess the system's not overclocked at all?

Callandor

Swap the RAM out for ones that you know work. If you don't have extra RAM, try the diagnostic program at www.memtest86.com - a failure means bad RAM, but a pass may be a false positive.

massah

ASKER

nope...no overclocking...and ive ran memtest86 before...no problems...and ive swapped out ram before...same problem exists.

Callandor

Try booting to a DOS environment and run a program like memtest86. If it stays up longer than it typically does in Windows, I would suspect a Windows driver. If this is the case, you may be able to fix it with SFC /scannow, or you can do a repair install: http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_repair_install.htm

massah

ASKER

i reinstalled(fresh install) XP thinking that might have been the problem about a month and a half ago...didn't resolve the problem...also if it was a driver problem it would more than likely put an entry in the event viewer correct?

Callandor

Ok, that would point to a hardware problem, then, and if it's not memory, then it's probably the motherboard. Not all driver problems put an entry in the event viewer - it depends on how severe the reboot is.

massah

ASKER

well it seems quite severe...ill investigate overheating problems and dust here in the next couple days...

Callandor

If it overheated, I would expect a lockup, rather than a reboot. Try this:

Right-click "my computer" => "Properties" => "advanced" => "Startup and recovery" => uncheck "automatically Reboot"
You should get a Blue screen next time this happens.

Sam Cohen

it could be your mem even though it seems to work fine, have you install any new hardwares lately?

massah

ASKER

already had "automatically Reboot" unchecked btw...and no bluescreen...still reboots...so im thinking its hardware not software.

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Callandor

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Sam Cohen

actually it could be you HD,
do a scandisk , and check for any bad sectors, but even if there is none it still can be your hard drive.

and a second guess is the mem--try to check mem into another computer if ity works fine then i almost what guarenteed it your HD

massah

ASKER

finnaly located culprit...was a bad stick of ram...ran memtest86 and found lots of errors on one stick...so i contacted the company about getting a replacement and i should get an RMA anytime...thanks for the help tho :P

Sam Cohen

Thats why he's(callandor) numero uno!!
=)

massah

ASKER

i sent out the bad ram today..hopefully ill get a new stick in about 2 weeks :)

thanks for all the help!...now if only someone would respond to my IPV6 question i need answered :)

Sam Cohen

what is the link?