System resets. Why?

[marabob]

The machine
abit kt7a raid
athlon 1.2 266
3 20 gig hd - 20 gig C drive - 40 gig E drive (raid)
matrox G450 dual head
creative ensoniq pci
lite on 12x CR-R
Windows 2000

I installed a progam to produce DVD roms. When I start it the computer reboots. Whats going on? Any ideas would be appreciated.

When it hits the fan, it make a mess.

 

[jlanka]

What program?

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>

 

[marabob]

It's called Spruce Up. Good for simple DVD projects.

When it hits the fan, it make a mess.

 

[phsstpok]

How big is your power supply? How much current does it supply on the +3.3V, +5V, and +12V lines?

 

[marabob]

Don't know those values offhand. It's a 300 watt supply.

When it hits the fan, it make a mess.

 

[phsstpok]

I asked because spontaneous reboots are often due to an inadequate power supply. You are probably OK with 300 watts but you do have a lot of stuff in that system so you can't rule it out. As a minimum I like to see 20 amps capability for +3.3V, 25 amps for +5V, and 15 amps for +12V but more is better for an expanded system. With 3 hard drives yours might fall into this category. Do you just have the CD-RW or do you also have a CD or DVD player? Anyway, check your PSU specs, usually printed on it's side.

Bad memory can be a problem. Is it a quality brand and not generic? Sometimes using conservative memory settings in BIOS can alleviate memory problems.

Your problem could also be heat. Check your CPU's temperature. Use Via Hardware Monitor, supplied on the CD which came with your motherboard or get a copy of Motherboard Monitor. 40-50 degrees is good. 50-60 isn't uncommon. Over 60 is probably a warning sign for a non-overclocked Athlon.

Could be a driver problem. Load the latest 4-in-1 drivers, ver 4.32, available from <A HREF="http://www.abit-usa.com" target="_new">http://www.abit-usa.com</A> or <A HREF="http://www.viatech.com" target="_new">http://www.viatech.com</A>.

Could be other things but check these first.

Here is some good reading.

<A HREF="http://www.viahardware.com/faq/kt7/kt7faq.htm" target="_new">Paul's Unofficial Abit KT7 FAQ</A>
<A HREF="http://www1.amd.com/athlon/config" target="_new">AMD Athlon Buyer's Guide - Part 4: Power Supplies
</A>(This is a bit dated but has good general information)

 

[marabob]

The memory is crucial cas 2. I only have the CD -RW. You think maybe set the mem to cas 3. Take some load off the power supply by unpluging a couple of case fans. I know the cpu is running at 39 degrees. I have loaded latest 4 in 1 drivers. I'll check the Power Supply rating and compare them to your suggestions. Thanks

When it hits the fan, it make a mess.

 

[phsstpok]

Hmmm, everything sounds good to me. I wouldn't bother with a couple of fans they only use about 4 watts each. That's good memory you could try it at CAS3 and NORMAL timing and see if it makes any difference.

Try lowering the FSB to 100 mhz just to test. See if that makes a difference. Keep the multiplier the same or even lower it. Also reduce your BIOS settings to defaults.

Are you burning a CD when you have problems or do you have problems just starting up the application? Does your system reboot at any other times?

My system had this problem but it was very random. For me a new power supply was the solution but I have an old Geforce256 video which is very power hungry. I don't see any problem hardware in your system.

 

[dhlucke]

IF, big if, the motherboard is to blame you can try tapping it all over with the back of a pencil (the eraser) and see if you can induce a restart.

<font color=red>Yeah, I took a crap on your lawn. Whatcha gonna do about it?</font color=red>

 

[jlanka]

Is that the ONLY thing that causes it to "reboot"? And does it "reboot" IMMEDIATELY upon starting it up, or does it take a while? If it takes a while, is there any pattern to what you are doing when it "reboots"? And when you say "reboot" do you mean the screen suddenly just goes black and it starts to POST? Or do you get some kind of error message/blue screen/whatever?

Also, there are some posts on the Spruce forum like <A HREF="http://www.spruceuserforums.com/ubb/ubb/Forum26/HTML/000013.html" target="_new">This one</A> and <A HREF="http://www.spruceuserforums.com/ubb/ubb/Forum26/HTML/000034.html" target="_new">This one</A> and <A HREF="http://www.spruceuserforums.com/ubb/ubb/Forum25/HTML/000025.html" target="_new">This one</A>. You may want to e-mail some of these guys to see if they fixed it. One of them mentioned something about problems running a RAID array.

<i>It's always the one thing you never suspected.</i>