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Spontaneous intermittent rebooting?

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by frankl27

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Hello all.

I've [very] recently come on as the tech at my company and I'm dealing with an interesting problem:

Four NEC Smart 350s were bought by the previous tech and installed for the workers. Since then (March) these machines will spontaneously reboot, usually right in front of the worker's eyes (even if they're not touching the system) forcing scandisk to kick in and so forth. I've tried simple cleanups (scandisk, defrag, etc..), reseated all the cards, stuck on a UPS and even replaced the PS. I'm really in doubt that it was something he may have done since it affects all the machines bought at the same time. I've already spoken with the dealer (NEC), to no avail. This happens often throughout the day, and I'm about to have a mutiny on my hands. :)

Oh, I've even reinstalled Win98SE just for the heck of it. The workers told me that this problem has always happened since the new computers were installed.
The systems are on a Novell network using client31, sync'd with an NT server, running WIN98SE, Office2000, some proprietry software and the only special cards added was a PCI 3com 3c905 and a PCI IRMA board that communicates with ALLTEL. Other computers have this same configuration (software/IRMA/NIC) with notrouble. Any suggestions? I've never seen spontaneous rebooting! (Lockups, yes, rebooting like this, no.)

Thank you, thank you!
--Frank

23 replies

by avachon

Hi Frank,
That is an odd problem! The first thing I wondered though is whether the old admin had setup some kind of scheduler that was set to reboot after it performed its service. Or could it be a batch file that runs and reboots the machine when it completes? I'd check for something like that since it doesn't appear to be a configuration problem per se (given that other machines are okay). Worth a quick search. Hope this helps.

by syscokid

Any possibility that the CPUs are overheating? Since they are all the same brand, they may have the same design flaw. Check power supply fan and CPU fan, etc.

by milleniumdesigns

hi frank, that same thing happened to me 2 times with 2 different machines,

1st was the CPU overheating, try o check the cpu fan and make sure it is not touched by any cables.

2nd was a faulty MotherBoard that overheaten one of the chips, but since all the computers on your case do the same i doub its the same problem

my recomendation , check your CPU fan

by gina0122

Hi Frank
I would agree in part with response #2. CPU overheating can be the cause. Try downloading this diagnostic software from download.com called "SANDRA".

I had the same problem with a computer a build myself. I also have ADSL service, after several test i realize that my network software was part of it " NTS Enternet". I uninstall it, use dial-up networking instead and the problem was gone.

by zephyros

Hi Frank...
I've also seen this problem in PCs with mismatched bus timing. Timing parameters in the BIOS didn't match what was required by the cards. Maybe the IRMA card in particular would be a good place to start looking, since the 3c905 is a pretty common card.

by grantcom

I have seen this in 2 situations. If this is a slot 1 system try reseating the CPU. Also, I am presently working to resolve this issue on 2 systems running the Asus CUBX motherboard with PIII's installed. Although I have not gotten to the absolute bottom of the issue I have discovered that some motherboards with the Intel BX chipset have this problem. This is confirmed in a technical document on the Adobe Website. Tech support indicated it is an issue with a certain revision of BX...but they may be finger pointing. They have issued RMA's on these boards but I have not received the new ones yet to see if this resolves the issue.

by bill cassada

How about power?? The new systems may be sucking the juice from the electric supply, causing the system to die, then restart when the load vanishes (which would appear nearly instantaneous to us mortals). If you are on a power strip with a laser printer, try pulling the printer offline (POWER OFF) for a while....or even better - put the computer on it's own circuit, isolated from the others electrically, for a while and see if it reboots.

by brianaaa12

Were there other PC's in those spots before the NEC's were put in? Did they reboot also?
I would pickup one UPS and use it as a guinea pig on one of the PC's and see if that helps. If it does, then you clearly have AC power problems. I have actually run into this problem twice myself. Both times it was the Power Supply in the PC.

brian

by dgreen03

Frank, I have seen this problem in my area and it usually is in the software. You may want to set one PC up with a very simple O.S load ((DOS ?) to see what happens. Also I have had the CPU creep loose (reset it) Occasionally a poor memory setup can cause errors. May want to check for simm mismatch. Good luck !

by vkuhl

Frank,
We have had similar problems with a few of our PC's. It turned out our 3com nic cards were causing the problem. You may want to try a different brand of nic or check for updated drives. Just a thought!
Vince

by mknoll

We have the same problem at our company. We also run in a Novell and NT environment. Any of our Laptop computers that are connected to the network (Novell) and are running Microsoft Netware Client reboot the same way .. Our fix was to install Novell Client 32 and make sure IPX/SPX is not bound to the Client for Microsoft Networks. Also make sure TCP/IP is not bound to the Client 32. If you don't need File and print sharing .. remove it .. Hope this Helps

Mike

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