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PC Rebooting

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by dana grantham 1 view

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E-machine, 1000mhz celeron, 128mb ram, 20gig hdd, Windows XP Home, keeps rebooting for no apparent reason. Does this mostly when working in Works Word Processing. We have checked the fans on both the power supply and processor (working fine). Allcards and ram seated properly. Wrote zeros to hard drive and reinstalled operating system and software and still having the same problem. Don't believe it is overheating and system is on a new surge protector.

This system belongs to a friend and started doing this two weeks after it was purchased. She sent the system back to tech support who tested everything and could find no problems. The system is not on a circuit with any major appliances.

Do you think putting the system on a battery backup would stop it from rebooting if it is a power issue?

This is a random reboot. Sometimes she works on it all day without a problem and other days she can be on it for about 20 minutes and it reboots.

Any suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance.

Dana

17 replies

by szudikar

I had exactly the same problem with my computer.
After many weeks of testing and no answers I purchased UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) and that fixed my problem.
Surge protector will NOT help with drops/rises of current, brownouts, blackouts etc.
I would suggest your friend tries running her system at few different locations if possible (friends, family,work)to see if the problem is still present there.
Is it possible for her to borrow a UPS?
Above could (possibly) verify if it's a power problem.

Also did she/you check Event Viewer?

Start>Settings>Control panel>Administrative Tools>Event Viewer

I solved many problems using it.Look for System and/or Application errors.It'll give you error ID that'll enable you to look up possible causes.

Hope that helps.
Good luck & let us know if you solved the problem.

Arek

by opatzg9

Don't forget the other possibilities of boot sector viruses. Give it a good antivirus test.

Does this machine use the internet? Does she use a peronal firewall? Is she on DSL where she is always on?? She could be having her machine hacked. She could try the different spyware/adware/zone alarm type products.
Good Luck

by mroddy

Not Postive that this is your problem but recommend checking the following;

Start>Settings>Control Panel>System>Advanced (Tab)>Startup and Recovery (section)>Settings Button>
System Failure (section) Automatically Restart (checkbox).

If this is set (check mark present) which I think is the default setting, Then when XP "crashed" or has a GPF then it will automaically reboot.

Note this won't fix anything but it might explain why the computer is rebooting.

If this is the cause of thereboot, then there is a software or hardware problem still present.

Reccomend checking error log.

Hope this helps in narrowing down the problem.

Regards

Mark

by mroddy

SInce you have already turned off the Auto-Reboot I agree with some of the other posts that next most likely cause is Power, One cheap way to help narrow the cause down would be to plug in an incasdescent lamp (not floursecent) to the same outlet (or power strip) that the computer is plugged into. If the lamp dims or goes out while the computer is in use you can safely assume that the root cause of your problem is the power source, if the computer reboots without the lamp dimming or going out then cause of problem is most likely in the computer, likely suspect would be the power supply but it could be other things.

your mileage may vary.....

Mark

by smallugly

Well... if you just want to get around the problem of rebooting and not find the root cause...

You could always turn off auto restart.

Start...right click on My Computer...select the Advanced tab...select Settings under Startup and Recovery... uncheck the Automatically Restart checkbox.

I have a system that I use at home that I've been running for about a month with auto restart disabled. I just honestly haven't had the time to troubleshoot it yet, but need to be able to get some work done. I've used it quite a bit like this, with no problems.

by dana grantham

I have already turned off the automatically reboot feature in WindowsXP and it still reboots. Strange huh....

by mrjay67

This is either a power to your pc, power supply, or possibly a switch problem. I would bet that the power supply is either flaky or under powered for the rest of PC. Ive seen emachines skimp on power supplies for no good reason. They can test finewhile operating but if it doesnt happen while a tech has it then its hard for one to diagnose. If it can be tested at different locations as someone else said do that. Do what ever is cheapest and/or easiest for you first. If it runs ok at other locations or on a UPS you may have dirty or low power comming in. Ive worked on emachines that we thought we fixed only to return later with same issues. They can be pesky sometimes.

just my thoughts
hope it adds some light.
Jason

by jboardman

dittos to the above. If you look into a UPS, be sure it's the type that has the PC running from the battery, not a pass-through with a cut-over.

by yelhsa3840

this could also be from a bad or faulty/damaged power supply. and i am not talking about the fan. pending on the power supply you have try another, they are cheep and easy to replace the reccommended wattage level is 220-230 watts, the power supplyis easy to damage if you have to many pereferial devices hooked up the supply works harder to keep up with the draw

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