PC Randomly Restarting

[Chris1.4RT]

I built a pc for my sister a while back but she's always complained it keeps randomly restarting. It's still doing it. You can be sitting browsing the internet, working on a document, anything and it'll suddenly just go off and boot up again, no warning, no shutdown, no blue screen or anything.

I'm tearing my hair out over this. I've wiped the pc, reinstalled windows. No change, still restarting. All the hardware has the latest drivers.
I've used all of my components, one by one, in her pc. So I've swapped, the memory, cpu, heatsink, PSU (higher rated one), motherboard, hard drive, gfx card, even the cd/dvd/floppy. Each time I've swapped something, it'll still randomly restart. I've even thought maybe their mains electricity is dodgy but it does it at my house too. I've monitored the temperatures and they're all around about 38 degC. It will restart sometimes straight away, sometimes a bit later on say 20 minutes or so in.

Anyone offer some light into this? Pleeeeeease?

That's the trouble building pcs for people, you get all the flaming hassle afterwards.

Cheers.

 

[Darren S]

Definitely heat could be an issue - or the PSU isn't kicking out enough juice to the rest of the components.

Does she have shitloads installed? Like Office, Limewire, MSN, IE, etc? Or does it still randomly shutdown when there's just the O/S installed?

Is the clockspeed for both the CPU and the FSB set to the correct setting in BIOS?

D.

 

[Dafthead]

I'd also disable the messenger service, as this often causes problems and reboots machines, but you usually get warning (countdown) with that?

 

[biojo]

yer i had same problem ages ago , get a better quality cpu, other then that could be hardware issue with mainboard

 

[Chris1.4RT]

Cheers.

I also meant to say when it boots back up it'll say 'Windows have recovered from a serious error'.

PSU is 500W and the cpu I've tried her Sempron 2200, mams Barton 2500 and my Barton 3000. All same results. Motherboard is new too as I accidently broke her old one in the process of swapping all the components back and forth.

I've disabled the messenger, system temps are fine - sometimes it'll restart almost as soon as it gets to the desktop from a cold start. Other times it'll be fine for ages.

ARARAARRRRGH!

 

[Munson]

Could be a USB issue perhaps - something in the case like a dodgy connection. Have you set windows so it doesnt automatically restart if it crashes? That way, if there is a blue screen message you will actually see it.

 

[sneeks]

I used to have this problem with my pc. I eventually discovered that my USB modem was causing problems, replaced it and all is OK.

 

[Jonesy]

isnt there a log file that is created everytime the computer crashes?? Id check that out, as you seem to have changed every component then i aint got a clue in hell what the problem is, maybe its a faulty version of windows you are installing, try installing lynux?

Good luck

 

[Chris1.4RT]

I don't think it's USB related as it was doing it on a fresh install without any usbs plugged in. The front ones weren't connected too.

I'll try the error reporting and see what it says.

Cheers guys.

 

[Saner]

What Roy said.

Set windows to NOT restart on a system crash, that way you can see what is causeing the problem.

 

[FiDoDiDo]

I'd also disable the messenger service, as this often causes problems and reboots machines, but you usually get warning (countdown) with that?

It's not the Messenger service that does this is the restart feature built into XP. Messenger service is just for messages that appear on screen, SP2 disables this anyway.

 

[Munson]

I don't think it's USB related as it was doing it on a fresh install without any usbs plugged in. The front ones weren't connected too.

You dont need anything plugged in, to cause a USB issue. Anything connected to a hub, for example, can cause hardware issues, even if it's just a dodgy socket connected to the system. I dont know that that is your problem but it is possible I think.

Hope you solve it - keep us updated

 

[Chris1.4RT]

Well, I've tried taking both sticks of her 256 mb out before and replacing it with my 512 mb and not made any difference.

However, I tried this again yesterday and it seemed to be stable for an hour or so so I gave her it back.

Touch wood it's ok thus far but I doubt it'll stay like that.

I hate being the PC person in the family! While I was there tonight they were like 'oh the wireless keyboard has stopped working'. New batteries I ask. Yes they say, tried two lots. Hmm. Spent 30 mins faffing about before I tried new batteries myself. Bingo.

Cheers guys.

 

[Caramel]

i had this problem on an older pc, was todo with the pc overheating. you might need a new fan and or power supply box.

 

[Chris1.4RT]

Yeah I've tried that mate.

It was restarting sometimes within 5 seconds of getting to the desktop, other times not for ten minutes or so.

Cheers though.