Strange shutdown problem, self-reboot

[GiddyupGilbert]

Here's what I have. First, the monitor shuts off, or appears to. I check connections, jiggle wires etc., then the computer reboots. Another time monitor freezes, lines across the screen vertically, then the computer reboots. Many things run through my mind, monitor problem, but I switched monitors and that's not it. The case connections are good; I've undone and re-done; everythings secure. It's an ASUS MB with a built-in video and audio system. I've considered the RAM, but I don't get a hint of that actually being the problem.

I'm up for any suggestions. How can I best trouble shoot to home in on the problem? Any help appreciated.
Thanks,
Giddyup

[caperjack]

Dose the computer actually shut itself right down,or is it just going into sleep mode ,check power settings ,right click on the screen/properties/screensaver/power options ,and uncheck sleepmode if its checked .
also if by chance you have more than one stick of ram you could remove one[still the same], then remove the other one .you could also download memtest86 burn iso to cd and boot to the disk to check the ram .
http://www.memtest86.com/ check the free download link on the left,the secone on in the list will run and copy to a floppy disk and run on bootup from the floppy ,if you don't have a flpooy drive download the iso image and burn the iso to cdrom and run from the cd.

[GiddyupGilbert]

Yes, the puter re-boots itself within a minute or so of the monitor going to sleep.

I'm going to disk the Memtest86 and see it it locates a problem.

Thanks much for the input.

Giddyup

[GiddyupGilbert]

I ran a check on the memory and it checks out OK, so it has to be another problem.
BuddyB

[caperjack]

I ran a check on the memory and it checks out OK, so it has to be another problem.
BuddyB

i actually have one beside right now that belongs to someone else ,that was shutting down for no reason,i removed a lot of trojans and nasty spyware ,so far its running better now!!so maybe spybot search and destroy and AVG anti-spyware will help you too.

[GiddyupGilbert]

I have, not only run Ad-Aware and Spybot, but I've turned off the Power Mgmt; had it set for sleep mode after 1 hr. My computer appears to be clean, so we'll see if it decides to shutdown again automatically. I should know in about 24 hrs. I'll also do a Hijack log and see if anything there crops up.
BuddyB

[GiddyupGilbert]

Here's a recap:

I'm running XP Pro on an ASUS MB with 1.5 gigs of RAM on an 80gig HD. Periodically, and regularly, the monitor willl shutdown and shortly thereafter the system reboots for unexplained reasons.

I've done just about everything I know to resolve the issue. At first I thought my monitor had gone bad, and tried a different monitor. I was thinking the power controls maybe had gotten funky, so I disabled that, plus I disabled the beautiful American Flag screen saver; still Nada. My machine is clean, running Macafee anti virus only; had had it for a year or so with no probs. I'v run Ad-aware and Spybot and cleaned any possibilities there. I did a Hijack log and submitted it; haven't heard back on that yet, but I don't think the problem's there either. I've cleaned the registry and compacted it. As far as I can tell, from a software standpoint, there doesn't appear to be anything wrong.

When the problem began, the monitor appeared to go to sleep, and after a short spell the system would reboot itself. It never appeared to happen while I was working. In the last day or so I've had the screen freeze a couple of times, with vertical lines on the monitor; once when I was attempting to run a Pro Show Gold slide show, the second time with nothing special, just generic system activity.

At the moment I'm at a loss; can't tell if I've overlooked anything or not. I'm thinking of the possibility it might be hardware related. The display card and sound are built into the ASUS. I'm lost???
GiddyupGilbert

[geistmeister]

I have had that problem once with XP. Co-workers have also had the problem. In all cases the problem was a bad motherboard. So find a way to test the motherboard, or have a hardware tech do it. Good luck.

[GiddyupGilbert]

I want to thank you for the input. I've never had a motherboard go bad, then again there is a first time for everything.
Giddyup

[caperjack]

have a look at the event viewer,click on system and check if its showing the error, type this into Run, eventvwr check this site for more info
http://ask-leo.com/what_is_the_event_viewer_and_should_i_care.html

also right click on mycomputer/properties/advanced/startup and recovery/settings and uncheck if checked to automatically restart computer ,save settings ,now when it crashes it will maybe give you a blue screen error if so write it down and post it back here .

[caperjack]

I want to thank you for the input. I've never had a motherboard go bad, then again there is a first time for everything.
Giddyup

I ,as a self taught computer repair junkie have see a lot of boards go bad,but haveing said that never jump to conclusions ,you problem could be simply a problem with windows and be fixed with running CHKDSK /R in the windows recovery ,you will need to boot to the recovery from your windows disk ,choosing R for repair then pick the drive usually C:\.

[GiddyupGilbert]

OK, for two days now I've had no crashes. The other day I rebooted, the DOS splash looked fine, but when it got into windows it was a totally ghosted image, two of everything. I rebooted and when it came back up everything was alright. I'm using a VGA extension because the distance from the monitor to the case is too far. There may be a problem there; will check it out and see it this connection somehow might be iffy.
Giddyup

[GiddyupGilbert]

It is looking more like a bad MB as suggested here. Its habit is to go into the power off monitor mode after a period of time of no use. I have come into the room with the screen frozen and vertical lines where the desktop was. Twice I've gotten the dreaded blue screen, but there are blocks between the letters, so you can't read the error. A couple of times on reboot would come up with double images, and after that I'd have to reboot, maybe, three times before I come up with a good desktop ready to go to work. Is there any software out there that could check the MB? Any suggestions appreciate.
Thanks,
Giddyup

[caperjack]

i don't know of any ,did you do the chkdsk, right click on the harddrive icon and go to tools and run it from there .it could be anything ,i have knoppix linux boots and runs from a cd for checking computers that work like yours
http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

[GiddyupGilbert]

This gets more puzzling by the moment. It's getting to the point I get a freeze every little while. Control Alt Delete won't do it. I just have to shut down and reboot. Occasionally I'll get the blue screen, but the copy is separated by digits, etc. and is basically unreadable. I'm running a single HD with 2 partitions. I tried to run checkdisk on C partition without success. The D partition was a snap. When I executed chkdsk and selected both options, fix files and bad sectors, it would not even try saying it would on the next reboot. When I got to Windows. It told me C was NTFS, but couldn't access and booted into Windows. When I didn't check either of the options it went through a disk scanning process, said complete, but didn't give me any info to confirm if anything was wrong or not. When I used one or the other option it did pretty much the same thing. When I selected both options on the D drive I rebooted and upon arriving at Windows it scanned completely and gave all the info I believe it should have. There are times I can go away from the computer for the evening, come back in the AM; it will be in Power Save mode, or the Screen saver as though nothing is wrong.
Still stumped, Giddyup

[caperjack]

it is quite likely that the harddrive is getting bad

[GiddyupGilbert]

Caper,
Thanks for all the input on this thread. I went and got an AGP board this morning to see if the problem turned out to be the display or mobo. I'm pleased to say it turned out to be the display. I'm back in business as usual. Your comments and suggestions helped me down the path and have given me additional thoughts on the processes, thanks for that.

The only remaining prob I seen to have is, when I reboot I freeze at the shutdown screen and get a two-tone beep; not sure what that is a result of. When the computer reboots, just prior to going into windows I get a checkdisk attempt. It is unsuccessful, but the computer goes on into Windows and everything seems, at this point, normal. I don't know if something is looping or why I get the two-tone beep when shutting down. If you have any thoughts on this I'd appreciate any comments. I'm really good-to-go with those two tiny exceptions.

Giddyup