reboot loops

I forgot to mention, we did run a virus scan and several malware scans on all the machines.

you were unable to dublicate it in the IT room, but returned to the users location the issue persists. What about power itself you mentioned that you changed cords, have you tried using a different power source maybe directly into the wall, or a known good battery backup unit? And there are no other pieces of equipemt local to this users station anything USB? that was not connected when in the IT room? But from what you are describing it's local to that users physical area.

Electrical interference?

Get a LONG power cord and try a different outlet and see if the issue is resolved.

So you changed monitors and now all issues resolved?

That's one of the wierdest things I've heard of, could it be the monitor driver? are you using all your monitors as "PNP"? Or do you actually specify the monitor inf? I or the montitor could be on it's way out and sending out electric current anyone at your company able to test the monitor?

what about changing the Automatically Restart on System Error so you can see if you get a blue screen error.
anything in the event logs?
are these pc's auto windows updating?
this used to work, we casn assume? then this cropped up?
what is a few minutes? 2? 5? 20?
any new drivers lately? new printers? new netware client updates?

There are another 2 possibilites.

The monitor may be faulty, as even an output device has return pins. There maybe a voltage problem, that with certain problems is causing it to spike on the return pin. This could crash the GFX card, and at the same time, bring down the machine. On the same theme, there may be a power problem in the sockets, depending if they are wired on a low powered (or not sufficient) breaker and the faulty monitor is drawing to much current. When the processor starts to want to run fully, and all the fans speed up, the breaker wont be able to handel it.

I think that was the suggestion about getting a long power cord, and testing the monitor, or base unit on outlets that would deffinately be on completly different breakers. Any two together, on the same breaker, may cause the same problem, when coupled with this dodgey monitor

The other thing you may have, is the good ole' Mallisa virus, which reboots the machine normally between 2 and 5 minutes after an internet connection, or DNS throughput is established. Nasty. Originally, Mallisa would give an unstopable, Windows is Shutting Down message and then 60 seconds. However, a later release of it, would give no warning, and also, in managed domain environments where the connectively is esatblished before windows loads, the virus could already have started and would therefore not show a display, as the message box, was just a message box, not a control or action box.

Hope something helped.

NC
If it helps, rate it! As the wise man once said!

We tried a new monitor, and that worked for a little while. Other things we've done:

ran a new network cable from a different jack.
New power cord and power supply.
New monitor, keyboard and mouse.
Scanned for Viruses, Malware, etc.
Unistalled Music Match and yahoo bar.

Our last thought is that the novell client is bad. Unfortunatly, that doesn't explain why it works in one place but not the other.

Any Ideas??

While you did use different power outlets did you make sure that they where on different circuits?

I've seen the opposite happen quite a few times when something is turned on anywhere in a house or business at the end of the power line the computers will start up. It was at first weird as just turning on an external modem would cause the computer to boot.

I would be measuring the actual voltage at the socket and if that still doesn't show anything try a UPS in between the Mains and computer. There is something there that is drawing too much power and causing the Power Supply to shut down momentarily and cause the problem.

By your description it sounds like it is closing down at peek loadings so I would first try a UPS and see if it still happens. If that cures the problem you're home and hosed but even something as simple as a Power Filter might cure the problem.

Col

Like Hal and I said, it is not the power OUTLET that seems liek it could be the problem, but the circuit it's self. If they are being provided by the same breaker, which in neo-modern building stardards, it isn't unusal in in a house to have only 2 or three breaker CIRCUITS in a whole house. The best bet...if you have friendly neighboroughs, or if it is in an office environment, is run a long extention cord form a seperate DEFFINATE source. Like, the office RIGHT down the hall, or the house next door, cause without a wiring diagram, those breaker boundries could be anywhere...the more seperate the better.

A UPS would test this, but I wouldn't count it as a solution as it is a bit drastic for a UPS for a monitor. A Power filter, or an amplified external breaker/extention would also do, but seriously, if you are having this problem from a maximum of like 700W, you need to be looking at your wiring, as it cant be good. Wiring, like anything living, or bio-degradable, can deteriorate and fail. Depends where your interests are vested.

Also, when testing, turn everything else off that you can....ok...you can leave the lights on.

don't rule out the hardware. If you have a Dell, HP, or IBM, they are all experiencing a motherboard issue (causing shortages at Dell, for example) where a motherboard manufacturer had a design issue with the capacitors, causing them to bulge. Look inside, if any of the capacitors are bulging at the top (and have an X design on the silver portion of the top), you have a bad capacitor. We have seen this cause infinite system reboots, along with loss of power, and other symptoms. Check for "bulging capacitors." Older IBM NetVista 6830TAU models, and Dell Optiplex GX270s are known to have this issue, perhaps even Dell Optiplex GX260. I understand that HP and other manufacturers also have this motherboard design-flaw issue. They are replacing those if under warranty. Hope this is helpful......

We have had a similar problem, we run Novell 6 and then we upgraded to 6.5, that's when we had the problem. To fix we ran the windows xp (cd)in repair mode and did the fixboot and it fixed the problem. We think that the user's profile (local) corrupted when we upgraded causing the reboot problem. Hope that helps.

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This question was closed by the author