HELP ME IM GOING CRAZY, my computer is always rebooting itself Options

[sniperclown]

this is bothering me for a year my computer is always rebooting itself when i play movies play games and sometimes even surfing the net, i showed to my friend my pc problem and he said maybe its my hard disk or video card or the memory,well i bought a motherboard its ASUS P4V8X-X X-series because my 1st motherboard is obviously broken so when i bought the new board i installed all the things i needed and when i try to play games or movies it rebooted on its own, well actually the board is the only new on my pc, my video card is kinda old its NVIDIA Tornado GeForce MX/MX 400 and my memory is 256MB and my hard disk is seagate i forgot the model and im Windows XP Service Pack2, so im thinking of buying a new hard disk and video card to solve my problem but i want to know what is causing my computer to reboot madly...


oh yeah one of my friend told me its maybe the video card because its kinda old and not compatible with the motherboard......

[j-rah]

Hi SniperClown,

Have you checked power supply? How old is it and what is the wattage? It may be its not powerfull enough to sufficiently power your entire PC. Try this Power Supply Calculator (thanks amir) to see if it's sufficient.

If it's not your PS then its possible that your CPU is overheating.

[sniperclown]

well its 5 yrs. old now and its 300W

[amir]

Because u say it started since u installed new mb, i would say that it could be related to cpu overheating, perhaps because u did not reinstall heatsink properly/ or u need to apply a very small amount of thermal paste . Check if all fans are working.

Try using Speed Fan or MBM to check fans speeds or temps.
Sometimes motherboard vendors' web sites offer some probe softwares to do the same tasks.

Also try disabling Control panel > System > Advanced > startup & recovery > Automatically restart option. Next time you may get a blue screen with some error message instead of a reboot.

[sniperclown]

yes if i disable the auto-restart option i always get a blue screen and theres a time that my pc is ok for about 3 months and it happended again when i removed my hard disk

This post has been edited by sniperclown: Jun 2 2006, 09:27 AM

[amir]

so it's most likely not an overheating problem. You were supposed to post back with the blue screen error msg. (otherwise whats the use of that screen? )

The harddisk thing could be just a coincident but also could be a sign of a piece of hardware not being seated firmly.

[sniperclown]

when the blue screen appears it says something about the video adapters

[amir]

Sorry to say that but blue screens always say some generic suggestions about graphic card as well as the exact error msg. Next time pls write down all that u think should give us some clue.

[sniperclown]

hmm ok, but there is always a number in that blue screen i think it says technical info. the a lot of number 0 like example: 00000x000x0x00 something like that and when i get the blue screen i will write down all the info. written and i will post it

This post has been edited by sniperclown: Jun 11 2006, 08:35 AM

[sniperclown]

i have copied the error message and is says.....

A problem have been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your somputer. If this screen appear again, follow these steps:

Run a system diagnostic utility supplied by your hardware manufacturer.In particular, run a memory check, and check for faulty or mismatched memory. Try changing video adapters.

Disable or remove any newly installed hardware and drivers. Disable or remove any newly installed software. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select advanced startup option, and select safe mode.

Technical Information
*** STOP: 0x0000007F (0x0000000D, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x0000000)

beginning dump of physical memory
physical memory dump complete
contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance


but sometimes the message is different in the part of "run a diagnostic", sometimes it says "disable caching or shadowing" thats what i remember from the other messages.... and by the way theres a time that my computer runs normally it stopped rebooting for about 3 months it started again when i removed the HD and put it back it started rebooting again.

This post has been edited by sniperclown: Jun 11 2006, 09:54 AM

[amir]

First check ur computer memory using MemTest86 . Read the instructions before using.
You may need a boot floppy which u can create one here . Create windows ME OEM.

As i said before, reseat all hardwares to make sure they seat firmly. Also if connectors are dirty, they don't connect properly & cause system instability.

Contacts
Cleaning the connectors and contacts in a system helps ensure a reliable connection between devices that are attached to the motherboard. On the motherboard, be sure to clean the slot connectors, power supply connectors, and keyboard connector. For the expansion cards, clean the edge connectors that plug into slots on the motherboard as well as any other connectors, such as external ones mounted on the expansion card’s bracket.

Important: Blow the dirt out of the case using compressed air or a vacuum cleaner before removing the expansion cards to make sure no dirt or debris get into the expansion slot connectors on the motherboard.

Use a contact cleaner with lubricant to clean the I/O card’s edge connector contacts. Contact cleaner is available at most electronics parts stores. To clean contacts, dip a lint-free cloth or swab in the cleaning solution, then wipe the edge connector’s contacts to remove any finger oil or debris. biliy.

from www.windowsitlibrary.com

[sniperclown]

this another blue screen error message:

A problem have been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your somputer. If this screen appear again, follow these steps:

Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified in the stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for driver updates. Try changing video adapters.

Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Disable BIOS memory option such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer press F8 to select advanced startup option, and select safe mode.

Technical Information:
*** STOP 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0xBF103007, 0xF1027B18, 0x00000000)

*** nv4_disp.dll - address BF103007 base at BF012000, DateStamp 40f32b87

beginning dump of physical memory
physical memory dump complete
contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance

umm i guess that the memory is the problem because when i view the system info it says 256MB RAM but when i run dxdiag to view the memory it is only 254MB RAM, what do you think !! and its DDR... you said in your last post that to check the memory so i remembered about my memory thing

This post has been edited by sniperclown: Jun 11 2006, 01:30 PM

[amir]

ok, so there comes another possibility that ur graphics card is faulty. That difference in memory amounts is normal, however try that memtest.