Computer keeps shutting down, then turning back on

azibux1

azibux1

azibux1

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Joined
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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, :)
 
It's most likely RAM or PSU - possibly overheating CPU as well.

Yeah, run Memtest and see what you get - you're supposed to let it run for several hours but if the problem is happening quite often then you'll probably see errors almost immediately.

Then check the CPU fan is spinning and not totally clogged with dust. Also check nothing is touching the mobo and shorting while you're in there.

If that all looks good then it'll be the PSU.
 
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
 
Last edited:
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 :)
 
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
 
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 :)
 
Curio said:
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 :)
Click to expand...

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.
 
Idleman said:
Might want to check in the Event Viewer, aswell.
Click to expand...

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
 
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)

19Yjxl.jpg

78iQjl.jpg

Ncakdl.jpg

tYKpNl.jpg
 
Idleman said:
Have you tried updating your drivers. Particularly Lan or wireless drivers.
Click to expand...

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

Idleman said:
Found some links to the simalar problems.

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

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:
eidDYl.jpg
5HsNhl.jpg

And this was under 'Application' and the pic below is once again double clicked on both of the errors:
Oaewfl.jpg
QwGeFl.jpg
This is the one from IE crashing above and Malware bytes anti malware below:
sDL52l.jpg

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
 
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
 
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