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I have been having problems over the last few months with my PC rebooting. It mainly seems to be whenever I view a high res video or browse through large photo files.

This is the event report, if it helps:

Error code 0000009c, parameter1 00000000, parameter2 8054d370, parameter3 c4104000, parameter4 00000136.

I have the following spec:

Windows XP SP2
AMD Athlon XP2800+
512MB RAM
NVIDIA Geforce FX 5200

Not sure how to find out more details about my system. Thought it might be overheating at first but it doesn't seem too hot and I don't see why it would be any different from before as nothing has changed?

Can anyone help? I'm worried it might crash one-day and not restart!

Thanks

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by jbennet

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A focused diagnostic plan will narrow this down quickly. is seeing failures when the system is under graphics or I/O load, so treat this as either a hardware problem (power delivery, GPU, CPU cooling, bad RAM or caps) or a driver/software issue that only appears under load. 's RAM/clean-install angle and 's driver-warning both make sense — run tests that separate hardware from software and collect logs so you know which side to fix.

  1. Make crashes visible: disable automatic restart so any blue screen stays on-screen and note the code. Check the System log around the crash time for hardware or driver errors.
  2. Memory: boot memtest86+ from USB and run multiple passes; test one stick at a time if errors appear.
  3. GPU/CPU stress: run a GPU stress tool and a CPU stress test while watching temperatures and voltages with a monitoring utility. An immediate power-off points at the PSU or short; slow thermal rises point at cooling.
  4. Power and board inspection: if stress triggers instant reboots, try a known-good PSU or a PSU tester, inspect motherboard/GPU caps for bulging/leakage, reseat cards and RAM, and clean/replace thermal paste on the CPU.
  5. Drivers/OS isolation: boot a Linux live USB to see if the system stays up under load outside Windows. If Linux is stable, focus on rolling back to a stable vendor GPU driver or reinstalling Windows only after hardware checks.

Back up important data early. If tests point to hardware (memtest errors, voltages out of spec, bulging caps) replace the faulty component — PSUs and RAM are common, inexpensive culprits. If unsure, bring the machine to a shop with the test results so they can act on what failed rather than guessing.

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Member Avatar for jbennet

yah overheating maybe this happens on my dell when i play bf2

is this machine a novatech?
my friend has one of thier barebones ones and it does this

Member Avatar for 3-view

tried to give the machine as much space as possible to stop it getting too hot.

trying to play Counterstrike at the moment and as soon as I try to log on to a server it reboots.

Happens even if I've just started the computer up from cold.

Is this still likely to be overheating, Ive updated drivers? If so, how can I resolve it?

Cheers

Member Avatar for SnowDog

Does it give a blue screen just before it restarts?

Will it restart immediately after shut down?

Does your BIOS have a CPU temperature monitor in it?

Can you run a RAM test to check all RAM is OK? It might be when certain memory is accessed by large applications.

The thing that points at it possibly being something else other than overheating is that it does it when you do the same thing each time (log on to a server, or play video).

Is there any reason why you can't do a clean install and then test it after that? If it still does it, it is most likely a hardware problem, but at the moment - unless you can prove it is overheating beyond doubt - it could easily be down to software issues.

They turn off for all kinds of reasons.

Unless the vents are actually blocked, given the machine space won't do that much. If the CPU is overheating for example, it is down to the seal between the heatsink and the chip, and the performance of the high-speed fan on top of it. Just wafting a bit of air on to the outside can be misleading sometimes.

Member Avatar for jbennet

this happened to my dad stupid windows update installed an incorrect driver for his gfx card causing reboots

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