Random Crashing / Reboot

[ckoonyin]

My pc keeps shutting down randomly but it does not go the the normal shut down procedure, instead it just crashes like someone switches off the power or something. Other times, it just restarts. I just left my pc on the whole night last night without running any apps and it was fine, however when i started to open IE and Norton Liveupdate, it just crashed!

I have unchecked the option to restart when there is an error but still the same problem, i have switched HDD, switched ram but still the same problem. I have also done the patch and removal for blaster worm but still the same. Have also updated the drivers for my hardware.

My specs is as follows:

P2 333, Intel SE440Bx-2, 348M Ram, Voodoo video card, Quantum Fireball HDD

[The Tool]

Are you using Windows XP or Windows 95/98/ME?

You also made a post at: http://www.softwaretipsandtricks.com...?threadid=5188 Please don't make multiple posts.

Without posting error message its impossible to find out why your computer is randomly crashing or rebooting. There can be 100's of reasons.

Go to System Properties > Under Startup and Recovery Settings > Un-tick Automatically restart under System failure.

Then when you computer crashes or reboots go to Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > Administrative Tools > Event Viewer then copy & paste the error message here.

[ckoonyin]

Sorry abt the double post. The thing i that i have actually 2 OS, namely Win XP and 98SE which is giving me the same problem. So i would like to seek your help over here to help me with the problem. So can you help me pls?

[daveyb]

I have the same thing with win 98, but it doesn't seem to happen in xp. In win 98 if i run certain games or applications like c&c generals or playing mp3's the computer starts accessing the hard drive a lot and then restarts. In xp it doesn't do this but games like generals don't work at all

[kuna]

Most of the times I have seen rebooting comes from power supply. Also memory can do this job. so try to change one at a time to find out any change.

Good Luck.

Kuna

[Psychtrip]

Could be an overheating problem too.

[pcfanatic2]

Hi,I think it is definitely an over heating problem.With a p2 333 you are pushing your luck trying to run xp alongside win 98 se.How much ram do you have installed?

[kuna]

Yes, I agree with overheating problem.Make sure the cpu fan is working.

[Play_The_0dds]

via chipset? did you get the new via areana drivers on 98? go back to a older version, they are on the site 4.49 dont play well with 98.

[jasond79]

My Windows XP machine also crashes with the following output:

BCCode : 10000050 BCP1 : FFFFFFFF BCP2 : 00000001 BCP3 : 00000002
BCP4 : 00000000 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 1_0 Product : 256_1


Error code 10000050, parameter1 ffffffff, parameter2 00000001, parameter3 00000002,
parameter4 00000000.

Any ideas anyone ?

Cheers

Jay

[forznoles]

Yeah, two main ideas are memory problems (run memtest86 from memtest86.com or the one off the Microsoft website, under online crash analysis), and power supply problems. Perhaps your power supply is either going, or you're underpowered to start with. If I were you I'd do a google - there are websites that list how much power the motherboard, RAM and various devices use up. Compare that to how your power supply. I had a company do a build on a computer, and had them put a lot of "stuff" in it (GeForce 5600 vid card, 2 HDs, both a CDRW and DVDRW, modem, extra USB card, 1 gig memory, etc.) and they used only a 300w power supply. After research, conservatively my computer was using 330w power. I also detected memory problems, which could be the result of the underpowered system, or bad memory to start with. When it comes to random reboots you can't really specify to a driver, my advice is: (1) power supply, and (2) memory. Then go from there. Good luck with it.

[John A Stephens]

When my computer started randomly rebooting about a week ago I started looking through forum posts and decided that when I solved the problem I would let others know what I found out.

First of all my computer has always been set not to shut down on system failure or error.Their was no blue screen or error message, it just shut down and rebooted.

I ran memtest86 and 1 bank of memory had errors but that wasn't the problem. The computer just shutoff like the plug was pulled. I figured that if it acted like a power failure it probably was. I swapped out the power supply and the problem was solved.

John

[harry12]

Overheating?
Sure if the fan is blocked, or it's in the sun, during summer etc.
But IMHO running a fancy program (or OS as suggested) will not "force" a cpu to overheat.
The CPU runs at a speed determined by the crystal - no OS (or prog) can add extra "cycles".....so the notion that some programs work it harder (which causes so-called heating) is wrong.......prove me wrong!
What ought to happen (my logic), is that if your program is very demanding then it will slow down, compared with a PC using a faster chip, or one with more Umph (such as Dual-core where some of the bottleneck is removed by "better processing")

Back to the Issue in hand:

Two posts indicate it's the psu......have you increased the load (added more stuff etc?).....or is the PSU fan not working.....changes internall to ribbon-cable routes can obstruct the air.......the PSU will have temperature-protection (I hope!) anyone know if this is reported to the PC ....it would seem logical.
Alternatively it may be the processor is gettiing hot - poor circultaion, fan failue....if it's like my Intel SE440BX-2 motherboard you have one of those large upright CPU's - worth checking it's firmly seated in the socket. Have you suffered Parallel Port failure? (see my LPT1-post elsewhere)...

But in reality there is insufficient iinfo - ambient temp etc - the clue may be in running overnight - cooler then.

[m11007]

>The CPU runs at a speed determined by the crystal - no OS (or prog) can >add extra "cycles".....so the notion that some programs work it harder >(which causes so-called heating) is wrong.......prove me wrong!


Actually I think you are ... not quite right.. on that.
The CPU has all kinds of modules inside of it: Regular Registers, 64-Bit Registers, SSE registers, Integer Units, Floating Point Units, Caches... all kinds of stuff.

Any program you run will hit these modules in different proportions, which determines how many transistors are switching per clock. On top of that, most modern CPU's come with a NOP(no operation) or IDLE instruction. Programs that are idling issue streams of these instructions to tell the CPU not to do anything for that clock cycle. Hence the NOP instruction stands down most of those other modules in the CPU for that clock cycle.

The difference can be seen in a simple psuedo-code example:

while(1) 1+1; // Will run HOT

while(1) sqrt(rand()); //Will run hotter

while(1) NOP; // Will run cool

while(1) idle(1000); // Will run cooler

[raygun]

SE440BX is pretty old. I'd be wondering when the last time the CMOS coin was replaced.