I am working on a friend's pc (win ME), it seems to reboot at random times. I have checked all hardware and looked at any services running in the background but I can't see anything. I don't want to reload the box, I don't think that will fix the problem. Any ideas? Other than the reboot everything seems to work fine. No conflicts, defrag and scandisk went well and in an appropriate time.
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Win ME with a random reboot
- Thread starter drcab
- Start date
When you say that you have checked all the hardware, does that mean that you have swapped out the ram, sound card, video card, cpu, NIC, modem, with known good working parts?
If not I would strip the board and just run with the basics. See if it still reboots then.
When you start the computer in safe mode does it still reboot? If so then I would say most likely a hardware problem.
How about the power supply? How many watts is it?
Are all the fans running?
There are a LOT of very smart techs around here but I am sure that they will want to know the answers to these questions.
Stealer
If not I would strip the board and just run with the basics. See if it still reboots then.
When you start the computer in safe mode does it still reboot? If so then I would say most likely a hardware problem.
How about the power supply? How many watts is it?
Are all the fans running?
There are a LOT of very smart techs around here but I am sure that they will want to know the answers to these questions.
Stealer
gargouille
IS-IT--Management
Just a gut feeling ("don't think it will fix the problem"
or based on something?
Understand entirely your reluctance to reinstall...I'd
recommend Drive Image or Ghost to your friend...makes the reinstall less painful.
Stealer's Safe Mode suggestion probably has the most merit:
but it may mean you'll decide you DO need to reinstall.
So, it's down to what you can test while it's in situ, so to speak.
What does "checked all hardware" entail?
or based on something?Understand entirely your reluctance to reinstall...I'd
recommend Drive Image or Ghost to your friend...makes the reinstall less painful.
Stealer's Safe Mode suggestion probably has the most merit:
but it may mean you'll decide you DO need to reinstall.
So, it's down to what you can test while it's in situ, so to speak.
What does "checked all hardware" entail?
- Thread starter
- #4
I went into safe mode and ran defrag and scandsk. Checked to see if the hardware was all working (no conflicts). The box did reboot in safe mode as well. From what the owner said - the reboot is random and I agree. I left the box on and it rebooted while trying to open an app then while defrag was running for about 5 min in safe mode. Looked at the bootlog to see if any drivers were failing and found none that applied. Initially I thought it was a heat issue, but after getting the box I found the fan to be working fine.
Still have yet to get into the BIOS though. It is a fairly new compaq that belonged to a college student, I was thinking it was hardware but now I have my doubts. I just want to make sure I check everything before I reload. What else can I look at? tx
Still have yet to get into the BIOS though. It is a fairly new compaq that belonged to a college student, I was thinking it was hardware but now I have my doubts. I just want to make sure I check everything before I reload. What else can I look at? tx
gargouille
IS-IT--Management
In light of this last post, I'd agree a reinstall would be for naught (and that's the worst kind of reinstall, isn't it?)
IF it does it in Safe Mode, I'd lean towards hardware being at fault.
How's about downloading one of the free memory testers from here:
Then, I'd go to the hd mfr.s site and download their diagnostics and run it...that could be an issue.
Rebooting while opening an app and while running defrag isn't really random...those are hardware-specific actions.
You do need to do a surface scan/scandisk...and it will mark and avoid bad sectors.
The command is
scandisk(space)/surface
I'm leaning towards this being the problem. Defrag will fail when bad sectors are being encountered (albeit usually with an error message) and the scandisk routine may mark them and avoid writing to them. It usually means the drive is headed south, tho, and the mfr. diagnostics will decide that.
You might locate and examine the scandisk.log (it will open with Notepad)
The not getting into the BIOS screens is maybe because of Compaq's splash screen getting in the way (hit the Tab key to see beyond it...F10 is usually the entry password.
This will give you some things to try.
IF it does it in Safe Mode, I'd lean towards hardware being at fault.
How's about downloading one of the free memory testers from here:
Then, I'd go to the hd mfr.s site and download their diagnostics and run it...that could be an issue.
Rebooting while opening an app and while running defrag isn't really random...those are hardware-specific actions.
You do need to do a surface scan/scandisk...and it will mark and avoid bad sectors.
The command is
scandisk(space)/surface
I'm leaning towards this being the problem. Defrag will fail when bad sectors are being encountered (albeit usually with an error message) and the scandisk routine may mark them and avoid writing to them. It usually means the drive is headed south, tho, and the mfr. diagnostics will decide that.
You might locate and examine the scandisk.log (it will open with Notepad)
The not getting into the BIOS screens is maybe because of Compaq's splash screen getting in the way (hit the Tab key to see beyond it...F10 is usually the entry password.
This will give you some things to try.
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- #6
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