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Random reboots

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PIII 550 has ran fine for years, nt 4.0 sp 5
Lately it reboots in AM, not on long enough for "heat" problem. Humid in florida, very
little static problems. Replaced power supply already.

20 replies

by dmiles

Ruling out the other possible causes of heat and power supply,has their been a time whereas the computer has been spiked by lighting which would show no immediate effects,which may have caused a problem to the cpu,or the motherboard has a problem.
Check the power switch
Check for virus
disable the power management,and see if this has any effect

by joy

Power switch replaced, still happens.No virus found. Disabled power management still did it.
Another recommended hdd replacement if older than three yrs, and this seems to have worked (4 days so far)

by geek2d

If you don't already, you need a battery backup system APC makes some nice ones. The problem could likely not even be the PC, yet. In home power is not always the most stable supply for your PC, spikes and drops can both cause what you are describing and can eventualy kill your PC. Since you have had to replace the power supply once already, I would spend the extra money to protect it.

by joy

PC has APC power protection on it, the building has grounded outlets especially for computers. We also have a generator so machines are not constantly switching on to APC during storms.

by ann777

Check you hdd for errors. This computer is 3+ years old... and if your hdd has never been replaced (and it is used constantly) you may be experiencing power spin down issues with the hdd.

A "spin down" is a slowdown of the motor on the hdd... it can and does cause intermittant reboots (usually you can hear the slowdown). Check for loose power cables connected to the hdd; make sure that all cables are secure.

You might consider backing up and replacing that hdd (they are rather inexpensive now) and seeing if that resolves the entire problem.

by rsnod649

Another possible cause is having the wake-on LAN enable. I have seen this in people having it enabled and being connected on the Inet through either cable, DSL, or network. The computer receives erroneous signals that is interpreted as a signal for the wake-on LAN.

by dcosgrove

I don't believe this suits your condition precisely, but a PIII 550 is likely a slot 1, often they become unstable in there sockets. This will, however, cause more random reboots, not just once in the morning. But it may be worth removing the chip, cleaning the contact with trichlorethane or the like, brushing out the slot and reinserting the chip.

by mike (from canada)

try disabling any timer-related programs such as task scheduler. This might trigger an event in your system that causes the reboot.

by joy

replacing three yr hdd worked.
Your response was excellent something I did not think of , but did not help here.

by tjc

Have you installed anything new right before this happened? What tasks/services are running? Is this a server that is always turned on? Is the random reboots happening early in the week (monday/tuesday) more often than in late week (firday)? Or doesit happen any day at any time and you just noticed it is happening in the morning? and how long between the "random reboots" Days or every day or does a week sometimes go buy?

If the comptuer is on for extended times weeks before the random reboot then I would suggest checking what services are going off in the log files to see what is happening at that moment. Also what is the primary use of the computer, server, print server, user workstation (is so then what are they running right before the reboot, corrupted executable on the hard drive, perhaps)....

Hope this gives you at least some thoughts, that you may not have had.

by joy

We make all our users reboot weekly.
No tasks scheduled. Not a server.

Replaced hdd (3 yr old) per another suggestion and this worked for now, only 4 days into it.

by purple713

Ramdom reboots could be caused by either the memory chips buring out or the Processor buring out. Processors only last for a certain number of years before having problems. Replace memory with know good chips and try that out. Replace the processor with a know good one as well and see if you get the same thing. Hope this helps.

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