Restarting computer

Discussion in 'The Living Room' started by Debus, Mar 28, 2007.

  1. #1
    Debus

    Debus Morbid Fascination LPA Addict

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    I seem to be posting here a lot recently

    Well, anyways, new problem! So, i got my upgrades fitted at the weekend, and everything seemed to be going swimmingly until Monday, when i began to have troubles with my computer wanting to restart itself every 15 minutes or so. Today and yesterday it appears to be doing it every hour or so, but this is just a pain in the ass

    Anyone know what could be wrong with it? I can't run a virus scan because it will just restart, and it also restarted itself in safe mode so...

    Will i have to take it back into PCworld or something to get it sorted?

    Edit: Typo on thread name, should say Restarting Computer >_>
     
    Last edited: Mar 28, 2007
  2. #2
    Phantom Duck

    Phantom Duck You are my detonator. LPA Super Member

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    Does it display the shutdown countdown window or it just reboots?
     
  3. #3
    esaul17

    esaul17 antichrist

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    Could be overheating.
     
  4. #4
    Neil

    Neil Super Duper Member LPA Super Member

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    If you have admin on the computer, after the reboot, goto

    start>>control panel>>Administrative Tools>>Event viewer

    Look under the categories on the left through the entries on the right and look for red X entries around when the time the reboot happened. This is a good tool for singling out what's screwing up, if possible.
     
  5. #5
    Debus

    Debus Morbid Fascination LPA Addict

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    It just shuts down, no logging out, no 'Windows is shutting down', just goes blank and reboots

    The only red x's are on a few Service Control Manager and System Error, but there is a long list of these on the system before the problem began.
     
  6. #6
    Neil

    Neil Super Duper Member LPA Super Member

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    Yeah all kinds of errors happen all the time. I'd look into the 'system error' entries for more clues.
     
  7. #7
    Tomi

    Tomi   LPA Addict

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    My guess is overheatting, or like the Duck guessed, a virus.

    What kind of upgrades? Possibly a driver problem.
     
  8. #8
    Debus

    Debus Morbid Fascination LPA Addict

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    Got an additional hard drive fitted, RAM replaced for a 1GB one, and a wireless card fitted.
     
  9. #9
    Phantom Duck

    Phantom Duck You are my detonator. LPA Super Member

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    OK, i have three possibilities in mind right now: overheating (mentioned), virus (unlikely) and dysfunctional RAM. The wireless card shouldn't be a problem, i guess. If you can, download memtest86 for free (link) and run it so you can see if there's a problem with the RAM. Even if it doesn't display any problems, the card could still be faulty so i suggest trying back the old card and see if the reboots continue. If not, the problem is the RAM. As far as overheating is concerned, well, maybe some tool that counts processor temperature etc. would be useful. And, yeah, a virus check would be ok. I hope that helps, i'm sure there are people with more knowledge on this stuff than me.
     
  10. #10
    Tomi

    Tomi   LPA Addict

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    Possibly your problem. Faulty RAM could very well be causing it; it's happened to me in the past.
     
  11. #11
    Debus

    Debus Morbid Fascination LPA Addict

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    Cheers for the help guys ^_^ I'm gonna try and get hold of the place who did the updates to see if they can fix whatever is wrong with it, as there doesn't appear to be anything i can do if it is a hardware issue, and i've tried everything else (no viruses, and it isn't overheating)
     
  12. #12
    Neotriple

    Neotriple LPA VIP LPA VIP

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    Could also be a power supply problem.

    Make sure the 1 GB RAM doesn't have conflicting timings with the old RAM stick you have.

    Also, for the wireless card, make sure you have updated all of the drivers, and get all of Windows updates.

    Did the guy put in a new CPU? Not sure how it would suddenly start overheating.

    How much is your Power supply? If you know how to open it up, open up your case and read the side label on the power supply.
     
  13. #13
    Debus

    Debus Morbid Fascination LPA Addict

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    It's been resolved now thanks, it was some faulty RAM. Thanks for the input though ^_^
     
  14. #14
    Phantom Duck

    Phantom Duck You are my detonator. LPA Super Member

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    No problem, twenty bucks.

    ;p
     
  15. #15
    Tomi

    Tomi   LPA Addict

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    *shakes head* If it was a good business, they should have tested your computer for stability before giving it back to you.
     
  16. #16
    Joeykat

    Joeykat Forever watching...

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    Since when has PC World been a good business??

    They just want your money *sigh*
     
  17. #17
    Neil

    Neil Super Duper Member LPA Super Member

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    My friend bought some OCZ Performance RAM and got bad ram 3 times in a row. It was hilarious, he thought everything in his computer was broken because its VERY VERY VERY VERY unlikely you'll get bad ram that many times, but it happens.
     
  18. #18
    Tomi

    Tomi   LPA Addict

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    :lol: Ouch.
     
  19. #19
    Neotriple

    Neotriple LPA VIP LPA VIP

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    That sucks. Very unlikely haha.

    Most of my problems [I build my own computers] are from motherboards.
     

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