Spontaneous Rebooting of Win98 Workstations

[Jim318]

For some reason, over the last month or so, all of our Win98 machines have started spontaneously rebooting for no reason at all. Sometimes, the user will be working on the machine for 5 minutes and it reboots other times the machine will be running for 6 hours and then reboots. Sometimes the machines will reboot over the person's lunch break.

Any suggestions on what might be causing this?

Thanks,
Jim

 

[ski]

Update the AV program with the latest files, and do a virus search.
Also, remove any spyware with either Ad-aware or Spybot.

Rebooting can also be caused by the following, but it would be extremely circumstantial if the same thing happened to a large number of units all at the same time:

-Everything not completely seated on the motherboard.
Reseat everything.

-Overheating
Check the system and CPU's temps either in BIOS or with temperature monitoring software.
If the system temp gets over 45 deg. C, then remove the computer's cover, and run an external fan. If this fixes things, then install additional case fans. Recommended locations are lower front and upper rear of the case.
If the CPU gets over 60 deg. C, then make sure there is thermal compound between it and the heat sink. If that's ok, then replace the compound with Arctic Silver3.
If no luck, then install a higher capacity heat sink fan.
If still no luck, then replace the heatsink with a more efficient unit.
Also, make sure the computer's fans are running, the vents are open, the computer is not located in an enclosed space, and there is no internal dust build up.

-Overtaxed or bad power supply
Swap it out with a different(preferably higher wattage) unit.

-Bad memory
Remove and reinsert the memory a few times, try it in different slots, do not use any optimal settings for the memory in BIOS, increase the memory's voltage a notch in BIOS, and swap it out with known good memory.
Also, do not mix parity and non-parity memory.

-Bad video card.
Swap it out with a known good card.

-Bad MB.
Swap it out with a known good MB.

-IRQ conflict with a network card.
If no problems show up for the NIC in Device Manager, then remove it from DM, shut down, uninstall the card, and restart.