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PC reboots with memory

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I am working on a clients PC with dual cpu's pentium II,the sysem will boot up at times with memory error,after pressing F1 to reboot it will show a memory error or protection error to shut system down.

The system will bootup,after running for a period of 10 to 15 minutes it will reboot,this will happen also when the system goes into sleep mode and is awakened it will start to reboot into safe mode.

Could this be an overheating problem or cpu going bad,power supply is attached to the power switch,so trying another case may not be the answer

Thanks for the help

13 replies

by lcsystems

Some more info on type of OS and if any changes had been made prior to this problem would be helpful. I would first start by replacing the memory with some that is known good and check your cmos setting to make sure they are correct. I have seen windows give protection errors caused from bad or incompatible memory. If the error is serious some OS's will dump memory and reboot. If this doesn't clear the problem then i would trying replacing the power supply before looking any deeper. You may also want to scan for viruses. Hope the help!

by therepairshop

Has the

Has the PC ever worked correctly in this configuration ? Reset the bios to system default settings, customized as needed. Run a memory test program like memtest 86. Swap memory with known good module.
If you get memory errors on first boot its probably not a heat problem. You can check the power supply with hardware monitoring software, in the bios or with a volt meter.
If your still not getting anywhere try one CPU at a time.

by dmiles

Could nto say if it worked correctly,when contacted by client they stated that it was loading operating system,but ths cannot be confirmed,will run memory test program and also replace modules. Did not want client spend money on SIMM's
Thanks

by wcp

With the CPU being P II, it is not likely CPU got overheated unless the fan did not turn. I would also eliminate the power supply being bad.

It is most likely due to the CPU(s), RAM(s), or motherboard (MB).

To find out which one, you need a known good P II MB (single CPU) and RAM. If you do not have these, you?d better take the system to a local computer store.

In general, Intel dual CPUs are not special (I could be wrong on this). You can take individual CPU out and test it on your P II MB.
If your CPUs pass, test the RAM(s). You could test the RAM(s) first. If there?s no error message, install Windows (in a spare HD, of course) to make sure the CPUs and RAMs are OK. If they are, you conclude the problem is due to the MB by process of elimination.

by dmiles

Bothe fans on the CPU's are turning,though a hum comes from one,will check the memory and replace,did not want to have the client spend money for SIMM chips and if that was not the problem.
Thanks

by wcp

With the CPU being P II, it is not likely CPU got overheated unless the fan did not turn. I would also eliminate the power supply being bad.

It is most likely due to the CPU(s), RAM(s), or motherboard (MB).

To find out which one, you need a known good P II MB (single CPU) and RAM. If you do not have these, you?d better take the system to a local computer store.

In general, Intel dual CPUs are not special (I could be wrong on this). You can take individual CPU out and test it on your P II MB.
If your CPUs pass, test the RAM(s). You could test the RAM(s) first. If there?s no error message, install Windows (in a spare HD, of course) to make sure the CPUs and RAMs are OK. If they are, you conclude the problem is due to the MB by process of elimination.

by thechas

I would start by replacing the RAM with known good RAM.
(make sure the sockets are clean)

If the problem persists, I would suspect the motherboard itself.

It sounds like they have an AT style case and power supply.

These are still available, but are getting harder to find.

You can get an adapter to allow you to connect an ATX supply to an AT board.
Many of these motherboards had both AT and ATX power connectors on them.

Chas

by dmiles

Will replace the ram and check the results,if problem persists.
This system is being donated so I donot see putting to much into it besides time
Thanks for the answer

by w2ktechman

With the above, also look at the ram, sometimes different types of ram will appear to work together on some MB's, but then errors will occur shortly. Also see if the customer had added or replaced ram recently.
In some cases the same brand may be needed as well

by dmiles

See the above comments to other posts,will award you points because you took the time to answer

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