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Boot automatically at random ???

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dkpede

Programmer
Dec 21, 2000
15
DK
What is going on ??

I have build an AMD-DURON 600Mhz with recommended motherboard - and its working fine - except that it
will occasionally boot !!
At first I thought it was a problem with power save or the
CPU-Fan overheating protection, but turning these off does not help.
It happens both when the system is idle with maybe one application running, and when I am using a simple text editor and nothing else.. Sometimes it is fine for hours or even days, but then it has a bad spell with boots every 10 min.!!
I have stripped the system to a bare minimum, with only:
CD, floppy and harddisk...

Any ideas ??
 
Some of the things to check as a basic check. Is power supply large enough to run equipment installed. When it boots is all fans running that are installed. Maybe one freezing up and causing a power drop and an end result rebooting. Is there a CD Disc in the drive at the time of reboot. If there is maybe CD drive drawing heavy current causing it to reboot. If the CD is an older one maybe problem. Even seen 3 1/2 drives do this. If computer is in an area where there is a lot of moisture, kitchen fumes (grease and etc.) this can cause such things as cd drives and etc to freeze up and therefore cause heavy load on power supply and end result reboot. Loose connections. Battery backup that is going bad if you are using one. Bad cord with loose connections to computer. Bad plug in at wall which has loose connections. Weak supply to wall plug
which can cause volt drop. A long extension cord that is too small. The biggest percentage of the time I have found the problems inside the computer but you never know but been fooled a couple of times by battery backups.
 
i work for a call in help center and have seen soemthing like this before. There are not alot of things it can be. Generally you can eliminate all software conflicts, but if you have a newer computer, you may want to check the power regulator (if there is one in the computer) or ram. If you have more than one piece of ram, you may want to swap one or the other out and test it that way. if you have a diagnostic utility, definately run it.

vctoria[PM] ~read the instructions? instructions???!? whats that?!?~
 
Had a server do this about once a month. Turned out to be the UPS. System was just a tiny bit too large for the UPS and it would take about 1 month to draw down the battery and kill the system. Since it wouldn't not re-boot after power was lost there was a whole night to re-charge the battery and it was good for another month. I'd look for power related issues like a freezer kicking in on the same circut, or a welder fighting for power with the computer.
Alacrity
 
Thankyou all,

I now have a few ideas to work on - I will
let you know when (if) I find the cause...

Best regards,
Peter :-I
 
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