Constant rebooting 5

[FoxPacific]

Hi All,

I have a computer that I put together, Epox MB, AMD Athlon 1Ghz processor, 512 RAM. The problem is it keeps rebooting on it's own. The only thing that makes me suspect XP is because it didn't do it when Win2k was loaded on it. However I'm not sure what other factors could be affecting it besides the O/S. Wear and tear, increased demand on the processor and so on.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Aloha,

James

 

[DavidPaul]

It sounds like a similar trouble to what I'm having on my system. In an earlier thread I started titled ACPI error it's mentioned. If you go to Event Viewer on your system,then there's a good chance that you'll see acpi error twice at the time the reset occurred. On mine they differ very slightly:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: ACPI
Event Category: None
Event ID: 4
Date: 11/01/2002
Time: 11:31:04
User: N/A
Computer: CORUSCANT
Description:
AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to read from an illegal IO port address (0xcfc), which lies in the 0xcf8 - 0xcff protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact your system vendor for technical assistance.

and:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: ACPI
Event Category: None
Event ID: 5
Date: 11/01/2002
Time: 11:31:04
User: N/A
Computer: CORUSCANT
Description:
AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to write to an illegal IO port address (0xcf8), which lies in the 0xcf8 - 0xcff protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact your system vendor for technical assistance.



Out of curiosity is your north bridge AMD-761, and your southbridge a VT82C686B?

 

[biffo]

If your computer is restarting for no reason, is it after a certain period of time? Check you have the latest virus updates try a full system scan. It could be a virus causing the problems, it happened to me. Biffo, the Godfather of making mistakes in life. Although, his Tek-Tips answers and questions are no mistakes.

 

[FoxPacific]

DavidPaul,

I'm unfamiliar with Northbridge and Southbridge. If you tell me how to tell I can probably figure it out.

Aloha,

James

 

[varcoris]

FoxPacific, this is, unfortunately, a common problem for people with NVidia based video cards, VIA chipsets and Windows XP. It plagues me too with 512MB RAM on an ASUS A7V133 mobo and a GeForce 2MX video card. If you check the VIA forums (

http://forums.viaarena.com/categories.cfm?catid=13)

and a few other areas you will see a lot of folks having the same problems and the solutions are hit and miss for most. There is a RUMOR that NVidia's latest drivers (unreleased yet ... v26.50 ...) will correct the problem. For now though, patience or back to Win2k.

 

[Houptee]

I think thats it, the NVIDIA video card issue.

I have seen this on several PC's I built using Via chipsets and Nvidia cards.

I am having same problems on my Epox 8kt3a Mobo with XP.

Think Ill just buy a cheap video card and use this one in another pc that has a Intel chipset.

 

[Dynamo99]

You can turn off the auto reboot in the properties of "My Computer>Advanced>Startup and Recovery. De-Select Automatically Restart. Of course, then it will likely give you a BSOD instead of rebooting, but you'll be able to get the error code of the crash.
Jim

 

[Arion23]

Just thought I'd throw my 2c in here.

I had exactly the same problem with an Athlon/ASUS A7V266/Nvidia combo - frequent crashes/reboots for no apparant reason.

After searching numerous sites/forums trying to find solutions that had worked for people, and not finding anything that worked for me, I was starting to think I had made a bad investment.

On a whim, I went to Windows Update and saw a driver update for Athlon CPUs (funny, never thought CPUs had drivers) - after updating, the system has been rock-solid ever since (up and running for around 72hours straight with web-surfing, OpenGL gaming and Seti crunching...). I don't know if it will fix your problem, but might be worth a shot...

 

[MikeBlake]

I have the same sort of problem but get a blue screen saving me first (message changes but its to do with the BIOS trying to access an invaild IRQ)

The two error messages are in the log:
AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to read from an illegal IO port address (0xcfc), which lies in the 0xcf8 - 0xcff protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact your system vendor for technical assistance.

AND

AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to write to an illegal IO port address (0xcf8), which lies in the 0xcf8 - 0xcff protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact your system vendor for technical assistance.

H/W Setup: Epox 8k7a, BIOS v6 (7/11/02). AMD 1.2Mhz 256RAM, NVIDA Geforce2 MX card (with printer,network,etc)

Epox's update is (10/17/01)!!!! so there is no point updating

email me with advice please : mike@mblake.com

 

[DavidPaul]

Hmmm, I wonder if this problem will ever go away....

I've updated my BIOS to the latest version (68) and it still crashes. Though now I just don't get an error in the Event Log saying ACPI error. So when ABit said the ACPI in Event Viewer had been fixed they weren't kidding!!! Shame they didn't sort out the rebooting problem with it.

 

[DavidPaul]

Hmmm, I've just remembered that 0xcf8 is the start address for the PCI Config. Wonder if there is any other common factor since the problem seems to be mostly caused by nVidia and VIA running XP. So far the only consistency I've noticed is XP since I've seen some users in other forums get the problem with ATI video cards, and some with Intel based machines using Intel's chipset.

Wonder if it's a piece of hardware that runs off the PCI like a modem, or even a TV card...

Here's the PCI devices on my system:

Conexant 56k Hardware Modem (reported as Acer under XP)
Hauppage WinTV Go!
C-Media 8738 Soundcard
3Com 3C905TX NIC Adapter


Though I've had a feeling for ages that the ACPI error on my machine was caused by bad RAM, I still haven't got round to testing that theory as I'm currently using 512Mb Registered DDR RAM, and in the UK the price has rocketed to about £175 for some decent 512Mb DDR RAM

 

[leeanator]

Well

It looks like you may have a cooling problem,

And have you converted your drive to NTFS filing system

it is really good

CLick on the command Prompt button

Then type at the C;\ prompt

help convert or convert help
one of the 2

good ;luck
LT

 

[DavidPaul]

I know my problem is not heat related as my cpu temp is around 43 degree celcius, and my GeForce doesn't really get that hot due to the exhaust fan underneath it.


I have recently converted to NTFS due to better file recovery features, but still get the same problem


At the weekend when looking up more info on this problem I ended up with at least 6 stop screens in a period of about 2 hours. These are the messages I got:

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA (related to win32k.sys)
MULTIPLE_IRP_COMPATIBLE_REQUESTS
IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN
BAD_POOL_CALLER
PFN_LIST_CORRUPT

and then to top it all I got a nv4_disp.dll error.

So now I'm suspecting something wrong with the drivers for my GeForce 2 MX, since it is a 32Mb model before they started the MX200 / 400 numbering system meaning it is a fairly old MX model.

I sure wish I could fix this problem, since it tends to happen whilst playing "Medal of Honor: Allied Assault", though sometimes that just freezes up on me so I have to reset!!!!

Don't think I ever had problems like this in the days of DOS........

 

[dieselBREATH]

Hello everyone!

I am having the same problems and it turns out that not all motherboards are the same! duh! I spoke with my wholesaler and he said that DDR MB's are funny and picky.

I am curious. Is the common factor here for all of us the DDR boards and DDR memory? Are any of you using an AMD XP processor? I will let everyone know if the new MSI board fixes my problem.

 

[varcoris]

No, in most cases this is not a motherboard problem, DDR RAM problem or Driver problem. It is a problem in Windows XP. Let me explain. I am running an ASUS A7V133 MB with 512MB SDRAM and an older Hercules Prophet GeForce 2MX card (pre- MX 200/400). This setup runs perfectly in Windows 2000 (and 98se and ME) but experiences the previously mentioned problems in Windows XP ( I DualBoot) . Given that the drivers being used are the same for Windows 2000 & XP, it leaves that the problem is with Windows XP.

 

[Osiros]

windows xp by default reboot when errors occur, theres a way to disable it but i cant remember sorry.,

 

[DavidPaul]

It is accessible by right-clicking "My Computer" and then on properties. Click on the Advance TAB, and you can turn off auto-rebooting from there.


Someting else I've noticed is that since I stopped getting ACPI errors due to the so called "ABit 68 patch that will remove ACPI errors from windows" the stop screens that I get are all related to driver/hardware problems. And suprise suprise; all the hardware that has errors is on IRQ11, the same as the ACPI.

ACPI shares it's IRQ with my modem, soundcard, display, NIC, RAID controller, and the VIA USB Controller. None of the will allow the IRQ...

So far I've managed to get three DRIVER_IRQL_LESS_THAN errors, first one was ndis.sys, and the other two were related to a Winsock error and a SCSI (it meeans the RAID) problem.

 

[linney]

From an earlier thread.
csoto2 (IS/IT--Manageme) Jan 9, 2002
This may be a long shot, and you should really consider all other options before doing this, but you can change the ACPI driver under Computer Type in Device Manager. Update the driver to Standard Computer, basically rendering the ACPI technology useless.

From Microsoft.

http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/onnow/BIOSAML.asp

 

[DavidPaul]

Heheheheheh

Tried that before, it sure did slow my system down. I've even tried reserving IRQ11 for ACPI only so the devices are reassigned but that slows my system down as well.

Thanks for the suggestion anyway

 

[Guest_imported]

I've put together a "hodge-podge" of parts in my one machine and seem to get the same results as many of you.

Athlon 1.4Ghz with ASUS KT7A (512MB SDRAM)
I'm running my old Diamond Viper TNT2 card in there.

I'm not running a DDR chipset but I seem the get the same rebooting problems.