Sporadic PC Desktop Crashes !

[bionicfysh]

Dear all,

This is the first time I ever report a PC hardware fault on a forum, and so I apologize if my explanations are not so clear, since I do not know your level of competence yet....

My PC is a DIY box with:
- Leadtek WinFast K7N415DA motherboard
- Intel Athlon XP200+ CPU
- Leadtek WinFast A250 TD 64MB grafx card
- two internal IDE HDDs (20GB, and 80 GB)
- one philips CD write
- one toshiba DVD rom player
- 512 MB RAM (PC 2100)

The problem I have had for a while is that in windows (200 or XP) the system violently reboots very sporadically, and independently of the application that I am running...

I have then installed linux (suse 8.1), and the problem persists. I had alway believed that under linux it was not possible to have a complete reboot of the system, unless the ROO account launched it.. but then again I am able to reboot as a normal user from KDM


Anyways, I am under the impression that is something related to the hardware since it is OS independent.
however, it is not network related since it also happens when I am offline.


Please do give me some initial pointers, tests, or even tips to troubleshoot this issue. I am fairly technical, and can replace or reset hardware if required...


Many thanks

N.B Please not that I will bear responsibility if I have followed an advice, and it ended-up dammaging my computer.

I just really need some help, cuz I don't want to have to buy another computer


Many thanks in advance

 

[xomcat]

My first guess is that your drives are competing for dominance.How do you have them configured ?

 

[bionicfysh]

Hello xomcat.

Thanks for your fast response. I do not know what you mean by my drives are competing ? Is it possible that if both HDDs and both CDROMs are competing for BUS coverage, then it could happen that the whole system would simply give up and reboot ?
I have never actually come across anything like this, and I open to suggestions...

the two HDDs are masters and slaves on the same IDE port
the same applies for the CDROMS.

Previously I have one HDD as master, and one CDROM as slave.


Does this help ?

thanks in advance

 

[xomcat]

Try switching the master and slave modes on CDROM/DVD channel. If that doesn't work, try them separately as masters- no slave.

 

[bionicfysh]

Hi again,

all drives are configured according to their place on the IDE BUS, namely one CDROM drive is set to master and the other one to slave, the same applies to the HDDs.

Thanks again

 

[xomcat]

Try switching the master and slave modes on CDROM/DVD channel. If that doesn't work, try them separately as masters- no slave.

 

[Mshen]

do some simple test first,

0. DVD as master, and cd-writer as slave.

1. download memtest86 to test memory,

2. enter the bios to check temperature and votage levels.

3. try another power supply.
(if you dont have spare parts, you have to take it to a local computer shop)

3.5 try another video card.

4. try to upgrade mainboard and video card bios if possible

5. contact winfast tech support

It maybe cpu, motherboard and video card

good luck

 

[bionicfysh]

many thanks mshen,

actually as we speak my PC has finally given up its last breath and would simply not start again.... PWR ok but nothing on screen...

I should be able to fix this and then will try your suggestions.

thanks again