Major crash problem! (Help its my mum's computer!)

[LittleAuzzie]

Ok so my mum's got her office computer, about 2 years old now, and all of a sudden when the computers been on for an extended period of time it jsut reboots itself to dos and then as its post-ing, rebots over and over again until u turn it off, leave it for like an hour, and start it up again. I'm assuming its a heat problem but not too sure cause it doesnt seem to be running too hot. I have replaced the HDD thinking it was that but have had no success... Any thoughts ass to whats wrong? E.g. PSU, actual chip, memory, ????? HELP! Mum's Spewin!

Mate these fair-dinkum contraptions are bloddy alright... Pity they can't jump as high as a kangaroo!!

 

[ChipDeath]

PSU or RAM I would guess...

Run Memtest86 to rule out RAM....

Check voltages of the PSU - 12V, 5V, 3.3V should all be within 5%, or the PSU is failing. use MBM5 or similar to log voltages every couple of seconds, then see if they drop just prior to a crash.

System specs? Temperatures? More info would be nice....

---
"Sex without love is an empty experience...
But as empty experiences go, it's one of the best" - Woody Allen

 

[peteroy]

reboot to dos?

Mind you telling us what operating system that computer is running?


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[tweebel]

Hehe, Win 3.11??

 

[LittleAuzzie]

Hehe ok, ok. P4 1.0ghz Celeron, 384mb ram, onboard video, onboard sound. It's running win xp professional, and i cant get into the bios to check these things as it was bought through a package deal and only god knows how to get into the bios...

Reboots itself as in if the computer had a reset button and someone was pressing it over and over again... Once it reboots once from windows it'll keep doing it from post/dos until u turn it off and leave it for a while...

EDIT: Ok just ran memtest 86 and came up with 4 errors in test 2, then 2% into test 3 i got an error, and the porgram just froze... Also, Its a P3 not a P4... :\

I cant see how the ram could be a problem when memory is volatile...

Mate these fair-dinkum contraptions are bloddy alright... Pity they can't jump as high as a kangaroo!!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by LittleAuzzie on 01/27/05 11:11 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[tweebel]

Did you run test when the system was warm? Could have something to do with warming up. Like someone else said, the PSU might fail when warm and give you RAM errors. Or the RAM has gone bad.. Check the RAM timings in the bios (if you can get there)

 

[ChipDeath]

Well, the RAM has errors with it's current settings, where presumably it had none before, so I'd suggest replacing it, or maybe borrowing some from another machine if you can.

How many sticks of RAM in there? If more than one try each one individually - it could be that just one stick is bad.

The RAM might be ok if you loosen the RAM timings, or give it more voltage, but if you can't get into the BIOS then those aren't options I guess .. Just for reference, here's all the key combos which I can think of to get into BIOS:
DEL
CTRL+ALT+ESC
CTRL+ALT+S
F1
F10
F2

There's probably more, but those are the ones that spring to mind, that I've seen myself....

---
"Sex without love is an empty experience...
But as empty experiences go, it's one of the best" - Woody Allen

 

[LittleAuzzie]

Ok here we go! Hehe i'm one step ahead of yas here! Ran memtest86 on a cold computer so it had nothing to do with heat, got the erros. Removed each individual rem stick, both had errors (bloddy PC133 ram - yuck!). So ive now ordered some new parts to make a new comp for her. Bearing in mind that its just an office computer, what do you guys think?

P4 2.8 Celeron-D, 512 Geil Dual channel DDR RAM (2x256), 120Gb Seagate HDD, Gigabyte GA-8IG1000MK mobo (onboard video & sound).

Mate these fair-dinkum contraptions are bloddy alright... Pity they can't jump as high as a kangaroo!!

 

[Rugger]

How much are you shelling out for the system?

"He who will not risk, cannot win"
- John Paul Jones

 

[LittleAuzzie]

$500 aus, so around $350 Us. Ive bought a case as well to go with.

Mate these fair-dinkum contraptions are bloddy alright... Pity they can't jump as high as a kangaroo!!