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Random Restarts

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Join Date: Oct 2003

Posts: 2

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samoht442

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Re: Random Restarts

#11

Oct 29th, 2003

I have some problems that relate to those of many....I have tried everything except changing out the RAM....so that must be.....da da! get a trusted name in ram something a lot of people have had success with. I can't afford Ram replacements, so I live with the random restarts.

Specs:
Soyo Dragon Plus!
Athalon 1.4 Ghz
512 MB (nanya) 2100 DDR Ram
Ati Radeon 9200 128MB Agp
SB Live! Mp3+
Aoepn NIC Card
300Watt Antec Case/PS

I get random freezes in the darn BIOS set up screen...but only sometimes. I can't figure it out, I've turned off the automatic restart in windows and it STILL restarts...Unless someone can think of something i haven't yet...I'm going to guess its the RAM. Damn you Frys!

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Join Date: May 2003

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TallCool1

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Re: Random Restarts

#12

Oct 29th, 2003

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Originally Posted by evilmonkey29

My friend has a Compaq 5000(i know that's his problem right there). But anyway, it randomly restarts (not the right way but the double-control+alt+delete way) during any environment. Ummm...don't really know what info to include but if you guys need any more, just ask for it and I shall post.

When you say "any environment" do you mean multiple Windows versions? One likely possibility is a RAM problem. You can test for this with the free MemTest86: http://www.memtest86.com/

It's available both as a floppy-based version and as a CD-bootable ISO image. It's very effective--gross problems show up in minutes, but it can be run overnight for more subtle problems. It's a good burn-in test.

That series of Compaq PCs usually has integrated sound and video, so card seating problems are rare, but proper seating of the RAM SIMMs can be a bit tricky. If the RAM comes up "bad" check that first.

By the way it's just [Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del], not [Double-Ctrl]+[Alt]+[Del] for a reboot...

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Join Date: Nov 2003

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cmd

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Re: Random Restarts

#13

Nov 4th, 2003

Random restarts are from the power supply failing .It cant keep up the power to keep the computer running .

It was an a+ test question

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Join Date: Nov 2003

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Woobie

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Re: Random Restarts

#14

Nov 26th, 2003

One more thing to consider in these situations.....

Look in the Event Viewer - If you see an error codes 9 or 11 take a look at this knowledgebase entry from Microsoft: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=154690

This error can cause the machine to randomly reset, and fixing it generally means finding out which of your devices is bad by trial and error - remove everything possible to see if the problem goes away and add devices back one at a time.

I would agree with the post above that the power supply is the more likely culprit - this just gives you one more thing to look at.