Cold PC keeps on resetting itself 1

[Pzero1]

Hi all,

My PC is behaving in a very irritating way. When I turn on the power and start the computer, after it has shown the Bios information, the computer resets itself, restarts and then comes with the information saying that windows couldn't start properly and if I want to do a normal start or start with the previous, old settings. Whatever I choose, the computer continues restarting itself after the bios screen for about 10 minutes. Then suddenly the computer continues to start and I'm able to enter into windows. From that point on I have a working windows system, but occasionally it falls into a spontanious reset again (between 10 minutes and 1 hour intervals).
I have already reinstalled windows, replaced a harddisk, replaced a video card, replaced a (broken) memory module.
Now I'm almost on the brink of having replace the whole PC but before I rush out and replace the motherboard and CPM i'd like to know if this problem sound familiar to someone. Can it be a virus? I've got AVG antivirus program running.
Extra remark: if I boot with a floppy (for example a rescue disk of partition magic) there is no reboot (ie no problem) of the system, it presents me the program without a problem.

Thanks for any response

 

[Enkrypted]

First thing I would try is test the system with another power supply. I have had that happen to me before where the system would reboot randomly like that. I replaced the power supply and the issue was resolved. Did you make any recent hardware changes within the system that could possibly brought this about?

Enkrypted
A+

 

[rvnguy]

Pzero1,

You can/should also check for adware, malwware and others. Unfortunately there are many things out there that can cause problems, but usually not until the OS is loading/loaded.

Have you investigated the Power Supply?

Sounds as it could be flacky and intermittent.

A couple of links to Power Supply testing; you can Google for more.

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=31105&rl=1

http://www.fonerbooks.com/power.htm

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/power-supply.htm

rvnguy
"I know everything..I just can't remember it all

 

[Pzero1]

Hi guys,

Thanks for your input. A friend of mine told me to check for worms, but before I was able to check for that my computer did not allow me in anymore (needed to reactivate windows). Now I reinstalled an old backup of my system and for the moment it is running well (no resets in 2 hours!!). At this moment I'm checking for viruses, updating my security leaks and trying to recover the lost data :-(
Tomorrow I'll see if the problem is still there (as I mentioned earlier, it was only rebooting continuously when the PC had a cold start)

I'll post my findings tomorrow.

 

[tf1]

Cold start problems are indicative of a poor physical connection or a bad power supply.

Check that everything is connected securely. Then check with a different power supply. You may be able to interrupt your POST and get into BIOS setup where there should be a section showing power voltages.

I would suspect the power supply because if it is a physical connection problem, POST would probably find something amiss, but don't rule it out.


Regards: tf1

 

[Pzero1]

Thanks for the feedback sofar,

I don't have a new power supply immediately available but I'll give that a try later on. I thought that if I disconnected all unnecessary cards an drives more power should be available but also this action did not resolve it.

If you think the power is the problem, why is it no problem to start the computer using a boot floppy? To my logics this should present the same power problems?

One of the things I tried this weekend was reinstalling windows cleanly (using the windows installation cd, instead of reinstalling a workable backup) on a HD that I formatted before continuing the installation. Everything went OK up to the point (about 16 minutes of installation left) when the PC gave me again a nice reset and some error message on a blue screen about the IRQ not being OK. Restarting the setup and installation gave me the same reset (after some time) so then I gave up.

Looking at this could it be that something between motherboard and HD is not correct? (again said, booting from floppy or cd doesn't give me this cold reset).

All your feedback is greatly appreciated!

 

[paparazi]

Pzero1
As well as the power supply, memory is also going to be high on the list of possible culprits.
Try just one stick. if you have several fitted, swap around.

Also on a system more than a year old check for buldging and or leaking capacitors:

These guys describe what to look for:

http://www.badcaps.com

Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[Pzero1]

Hi Martin,

Thanks for your tip on the capacitors. As a matter of fact I have 8 leaking and blown capacitors on my motherboard. This must be the reason for the problems I have experienced. So tonight I'll go and get myself a new motherboard plus processor (it was time to replace it anyway, it is now 3 years old, this MSI K7T266 Pro).

Thanks again for your reactions.

Patrick

 

[boradagast]

Hi everybody,
I have the same problem with Pzero1 and read about your comments. The fact is that my problem has a slight difference than Pzero1's but it's quite confusing, so please read on:
1- I have2 operating systems installed on different hard drives. (both win xp sp1... don't ask why )From this point i'll name them OSP (OS with problem ) and OSW (working OS )
2- Whenever the OS selection screen appears i can choose both OS' and after i choose OSP the system reboots itself and as long as i keep choosing OSP, (with any option in "windows didn't start properly" screen) the problem reoccurs no matter how much time passes since the first startup.
3- Confusingly, whenever i choose the OSW the system works perfectly even for days without rebooting.
4- There has been no software or driver changes just before the first time this problem appeared.
5- BUT, i had a similar problem with OSP before: After OS selection the system were halting. But one day it suddenly started well and kept good for days until i unplugged and re-plugged some of my usb devices, monitor and keyboard (I had to use these devices on another computer) (... also, no need to mention that the system was not running doing so ). And right after re-plugging, the halting problem restarted. Than i choose "last good configuration" on startup and the problem was solved once more.
6- Right on the day this current resetting problem first showed itself; i just had to use my monitor, keyboard and mouse on another computer once again. And voila! from this point you know what the problem is.
7- There is no logical reason for any system to cause such a problem just because of unplugging keyboard and mouse i suppose! (and monitor )
8- My power supply is brand new but i didn't check for the badcaps yet. I'll do that whenever i'll be home. But if there is a mechanical or electrical problem, the OSW is not supposed to work either i assume ????

That's all folks. I'm sory about grammar mistakes and confusing phrases but English is not my native language so please excuse me

And finally,
...any suggestions??? :S

 

[boradagast]

..just wanted to indicate the importance of this OS for me:

I was working on video editing and 3d modeling softwares and i've installed so many codecs and plug-ins for these. I was a dumb for not taking an image of the system after those installations and now i need to re-run this OS to finish a project i was running. I don't want to dig into cd's or the internet to refind and reinstall all this stuff YET (Believe me it's A LOT! . I said yet, because i'm planning about buying a new computer in the next few weeks and i'll have to do these installations anyways. I just don't want to do it twice! so if there is anyway to save the old system i want to know it and use the solution (if there is any :S) as a reference for future problems

 

[garebo]

To me, it sounds like some sort of driver issue on the one drive, but its only a guess at this point.
Its just that windows reloads drivers each time it boots and since one hard drive is ok and the other isnt, then it would seem to be a driver issue.
How to fix it, though, is the real issue.

If one hard drive will boot fine and the other wont, but should, then i suppose you could rule out the motherboard, the power supply, and the power on\off switch as the source of the problem?
What makes and size are the hard drives, and, possibly, what does the bios say about the hard drives? That may give you a clue, possibly, as to the problem.
Maybe you could try booting in safe mode and see if it boots ok that way.



Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[paparazi]

boradagast
You mention that both Hard drives have XP installed, but were they both configured on this system or has one of the HDD's been imported from somewhere else?

Obviously you will be getting problems if one of the drives was configured on a completely differant system (differant hardware and driver setup)

Martin

We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[boradagast]

Hi everybody,
Thanks for the feedbacks. but...

paparazi - Yes both OS' were configured on the same system. The thing is i had to make another installation in one time: I've had a driver problem (something about display drivers) on my OS and had a project to finish for the next day. I was unable to connect to the internet and could'nt find the driver cd's. So i've just made another quick installation. (i've also tried to repair the first one but it didn't work. And did'nt want to re-install the first one cause it was just a simple problem)In the next day i've found the missing driver for my first OS and fixed it. Since that day the "emergency" OS is still standing.

garebo - As i've said the power supply is brand new and i've checked if it's ok for my system by a psu calculator on

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp

Bios values are just ok too. Both hard drives are displayed correctly with their sizes and makes (The hard drive with bad OS is 15 GB Western Digital Caviar (kinda old and the drive with working OS is 80 GB Seagate Barracuda). There is also no problem on the drive after checking it by scandisk on the running OS. I've also tried to boot it on the safe mode but that didn't work either