Computer keeps shutting down, then turning back on

[azibux1]

Hi all,

My parents have a computer they use at their shop for making online orders etc, nothing that demanding just basic stuff and recently they have said that it keeps shutting down and starting up again

It is an unexpected shutdown as when it boots up again IE asks if you want to restore the last session (so I'm guessing it t didn't shut down properly). Also it doesn't say windows is shutting down, it just instantly goes.

I will try and post back with more info once I have seen the PC (Dad is bringing it home later) but in the meantime does anyone have anything I should check first or know what the problem might be? I will probably open it and dust it to begin with.

When trying to diagnose it bear in mind it is very old, maybe about ten years or more and running XP if that helps with the diagnosis.

Dad is also bringing another old PC So I might be able to swap things like PSU if they are suitable and you might need me to try anything that you might suspect is the problem.

Thanks,

 

[azibux1]

Had exact same problem. Was Dead RAM for me. Try one stick at a tie to find the culprit.

Would running Memtest 86 show up an error if I run that? Should do I'm guessing

 

[azibux1]

Just run Memtest with one stick at a time, both times the computer restarts part way through memtest, right near the beginning, don't see any red 'errors' during the short time it does run though

If it is crashing part way through memtest what does this indicate?

I don't have any of the same RAM to test it with, not sure if it is DDR2 or 1, either way I don't have any

EDIT: I have a 250W PSU (Dragon Technologies LC250 ATX) from the old PC. But the one in the broken PC is 300W so I'm not sure if it would be safe to test it with the 250W, don't want to overload that little PSU

2ND EDIT: All fans are spinning fine, nothing touching the motherboard that I can see

 

[azibux1]

You think so? I'm worried to test it lol

Also little update, just re-seated both sticks of RAM and it IS now running memtest without any issues and without restarting

Hmmm ... Could the issue have been something as simple as a loose stick of RAM? Would that cause the PC to reboot during use or not?

Thanks

 

[azibux1]

I don't think that was the issue though, because how would the ram stick move out of the way to cause the computer to restart, and then move back into place for the PC to work fine again for a little while?

Dad said it happened about 6 times today.

No blue screen though so not BSOD

 

[azibux1]

Could well have been the issue, especially with an older PC. It's called "chip creep" - the sticks can slowly work their way out as they get hot/cold, expand/contract. Many years ago I had a card in a machine that I would have to take out periodically and push all the chips back into place to make it go again

Hopefully that was the only problem then. I think I will leave it running for a while with some programs running like a virus scan and malware scan just to see if it reboots or is the issue solved.

 

[azibux1]

Might want to check in the Event Viewer, aswell.

When I first turned it on when Dad brought it home, it had one of those "System has recovered from an error, send report etc"

And I will post some screen shots of that error details later when I'm back upstairs.

I've never used event viewer I don't think (maybe once or twice) but I will have a look about it on google and post back if I find anything there. What am I looking for there?

Thanks

 

[azibux1]

Hi all,

Update: I don't think the loose RAM chip was the issue as that was sorted out and it still reboots

I woke up, started running a full virus scan and malware scan, and opened an internet explorer window and left it all running. Went away for a bit and the computer said malwarebytes had encountered an error and shut down, send error report etc etc.

Started it again and went away for about an hour or so and came back and the PC said internet explorer stopped running, send error report etc etc, I clicked don't send and it rebooted the PC.

Turned it back on and got this message (the first two are from when Dad brought me the PC), second two are after the most recent reboot. How do I find more info about this?

Thanks (see images below)

 

[azibux1]

Have you tried updating your drivers. Particularly Lan or wireless drivers.

It has no wireless card and I will reinstall the LAN driver now just to make sure that isn't the issue

Found some links to the simalar problems.

http://www.bing.com/search?q=BCCode+1000000a&form=MSNH90&qs=n&sk=&x=144&y=36

Just looked at the first 3 or 4 of those and none of them show a solution

I went into event viewer as you suggested and this is what I found, although like I said I'm not sure what I should be looking for in there. There was some errors though (see below)

This was under 'System' and the pic below is from double clicking one of the errors:



And this was under 'Application' and the pic below is once again double clicked on both of the errors:


This is the one from IE crashing above and Malware bytes anti malware below:


Do you have any ideas what the problem might be? Do you think an OS re-install is necessary since it didn't actually complete the anti virus scan (IE crashed and rebooted the system) so I don't know if there is any malware or virus

Going to open and clean it all up now, it isn't seriously dusty but needs a clean

 

[azibux1]

What version of IE are you using?

IE 8

You could also try Microsoft Fixit. Has worked for me, for various problems.

http://support.microsoft.com/fixit/

May try this if the problem is still there, see below for more info, think it might have been dust?

sudden random shutdowns/restarts usually point to memory,what motherboard/cpu/memory are you using? setting xmp for the memory or tried manually setting it up? timings/voltages/speed ect

Motherboard is an ASUS one, not sure which. Processor is an AMD Athlon XP 2000+ and the RAM says TwinMOS, there's two sticks of 512MB each. Haven't changed any of the BIOS settings so I wouldn't have thought that would be the issue as this problem only started happening recently.

Download and install Whocrashed. Wait for IE to crash and restart, then open the app and see what it says. May save you a lot of unneccessary fault finding.

http://www.resplendence.com/downloads

May try this if the problem is still there, see below for more info, think it might have been dust?

Similar issues were fixed with a new psu for me.

I checked old psu later & it was very clogged up with dust, probably fine now i cleaned it out.

The PSU was very dusty, I blew it out with an air duster and a LOT of dust came out. It hasn't restarted either since rebuilding the PC and dusting it all out. Possibly it was dust?

It completed the virus scan this time too, no viruses, it didn't crash but IE was not running.

Will post back to say if the problem is still occurring or not. About to do a malware scan with IE running in the background. Someone else in the house is using the spare ethernet cable and the PC doesn't have wireless, so IE isn't actually 'doing' anything but it should help work out the issue as malware bytes crashed once too

 

[azibux1]

I thought the issue was dust and it was solved but just now IE crashed again, this time I clicked 'don't send' but the PC didn't actually restart, IE just restarted instead and recovered the tab.

Just installed and ran WhoCrashed as suggested

There was two logs there from 2011 and 3 from recently in 2012 (see below)



I can not make any sense of it though.

If I scroll further down in the conclusion it says that 5 crash dumps have been found and analysed and that 2 third part drivers are causing the crashes. They are both related to ATI and the graphics card, however they are the two that happened in 2011. It doesn't not relate to the 2012 ones

Hmmm

 

[azibux1]

If you have any corrupted files, windows repair may fix it.

Is this the same as the Microsoft Fix it you linked to? If so I will try it when I have some spare time

 

[azibux1]

Microsoft Fixit is more for individual problems. Windows repair is on your installattion disc. This will find and repair any system problems.
You mention that the crashes only started recently , have you installed any software or updated anything prior to the crashes.

No nothing has been installed on it recently.

Dad did say that once it came up with a 'Boot disk not found' message when trying to boot. Only happened once though

 

[azibux1]

Try the windows repair using your installation disc and see if that helps.

I will have to look for it. Before we started using this PC again (didn't need it for a few years) I reinstalled XP on it. But now I can't seem to find the disc

I have one that is like a 3-fold white package with Office XP Professional on it and 3 CD's inside, and I am fairly sure one of those discs had the OS one it, one had Office and one had publisher but I tried it quickly the other day and I couldn't get it to boot. Will try again

If I do find the disc, is it a good idea to just do an OS reinstall to clean up the system a bit? Make it run a bit faster? Or should I just do Windows repair only?

Thanks Hopefully I can get this sorted soon

 

[azibux1]

If you have one I'd slap a spare HDD in there and install a clean copy of Windows. It's the quickest and least disruptive way of finding out if it's a hardware or a software issue.

Or if there isn’t anything that matters on the existing drive just get it wiped and reinstalled. If you were charging by the hour you could have bought a new PC by now.

I do have a spare 80gb (will be fine to test the issue) hard drive. So you're saying remove the other one, plug that spare in and install XP on it, if problem is still there they may be something wrong with PSU etc, and if the problem is gone then it was just some piece of software?

Sounds like a very good idea but I will see tomorrow if I can find the disc and see if there is anything important on the PC or I may just reinstall it on that drive.

Not charging anything, it is Mum and Dad's PC not a customer haha

Will keep you updated

 

[azibux1]

Well I found my XP disc but it had been installed too many times as the key on the sticker on the back of the PC kept coming up as invalid. Think it has been used around 3 times already

So I got Windows 7 32 bit instead (as it can't run the 64 bit version) and that is now installing.

Thanks for your help

 

[azibux1]

Suppose I should have installed it on another hard drive as it looks like it was a hardware error and not software. Oh well, upgrading to 7 didn't do any harm

So I installed 7 and I was installing IE and then it just rebooted randomly. Went into event viewer and got this (ignore the time, think the BIOS battery needs changing):



Does it seem like a PSU error? And are you guys saying it would be okay to put that 250W PSU (Dragon Technologies LC250 ATX) from the old PC into this one? This one in the broken PC is 300W so don't want to overload it.

Thanks

 

[azibux1]

That is a cheap psu, kernel power event 41, a new psu solved that for me.

I'm thinking PSU is the issue too but don't want to spend money on a new one if it doesn't solve the problem.

By the way that Dragon Tech one isn't in this PC, I was just saying that is the only spare I have, but I think the one in this PC is a random branded one too.

Could it be RMA'd for a refund if it doesn't solve the problem? Or with RMA does it have to be unused or faulty?

Thanks everyone

 

[azibux1]

Cant hurt to try other psu, if not, great bargain...

OCZ CoreXtreme 500w '80 Plus' Power Supply [OCZ-CSX500W-UK]
This Week Only Offer
was £32.99 inc VAT
£29.99 inc VAT
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-063-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=

Isn't a bargain if it wasn't needed haha. If it is needed though, then yes it is a bargain

Do you or anyone know the answer to my RMA question above if I get it and don't need it?

Edit: Oops haha. I read that as "buy this PSU, great bargain, can't hurt to try it"... Then I realised you meant trying the other 250w Dragon Tech one. Won't it blow though if 250w isn't enough? And damage components?

 

[azibux1]

Anybody know the answer to my question in post #36?

Thanks!