Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!

Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!

  • Congratulations strongm on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

Win XP Reboot

Status
Not open for further replies.

ttks

MIS
Dec 4, 2003
15
US
Hi I have problem with my PC hope that u can give me some advises to trouble shoot the problem..

The situation is:
AM having win XP pro SP2 installed last year OCT.
Since then never have any win update. (no internet connection to that PC)

However, yesterday the pc started to autoshut down and reboot by itself...
and sometimes it not finished reboot already gone down, (cant even see anything on monitor yet)
it happened very often

can anyone tell me is that because of no Win Update thingy?
if thats the case where can i find the dl..(since there is not internet connection to it)

many thanks...
 
try control panel system - Automatic Updates

Do not take life too seriously, because in the end, you won't come out alive anyway
 
Overheating? Open computer and carefully blow out the dust(they make "canned air", just for this). Make sure you hold all the fan blades with a pencil, so they don't spin, when hit by the air.
 
To get further information about any error look in your Event viewer.

Look in the System or Application folder. You can get to the Event Viewer via right click My Computer icon and select Manage.

Any errors logged in the Event Viewer can be expanded by double clicking on the error line.

Take any event error I.D. number and search for it on these sites.




Also check any "Information" line that mentions "savedump" and you should find reference to "recovered from a bug check". This is the Stop Error that caused your problem.

You can also turn off "automatically restart after an error" so it will just halt at the fault and display the full Stop Error and blue screen.

Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties .
On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery .
Click to clear the Automatically restart check box under System failure , and then click OK . The error message on a blue screen should remain on the screen so you can record the error information.


After SP2 it is also possible to turn off automatic reboot via the (F8) Safe Mode screen.

Even if you have no Internet on this machine you can use another machine to download and save updates and install them on the unconnected machine. (see the Administrator options on the Windows Updates page).

You can find out what updates you require by using this.

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) version 1.2.1 is available
 
Since you're not connected to the internet, then I would guess that your PC is free from viruses, spyware and adware, so you should be free from that worry.

For the most part, Windows runs fine without the updates. Since most of the updates address security concerns related to an internet connection, then you don't have to worry so much about that either.

Have you done a Check Disk or a Defrag on this drive since October? You should do this at least once per month, and even more frequently if the system is reading/writing lots of data. Those utilities come standard with Windows, and they fix a lot of issues automatically.

Also, ditto on the previous comments. Definitely check your application logs. Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Event Viewer -> Application or System. If you find a specific error code, then look it up on Microsoft.com and see what it says.

I hope this helps!


Jamie Aaron
 
Does sound like overheating. I wouldn't rule out a virus though, if you use floppy's on this system that also get used on other systems well then..... you get where I'm going with this right?

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein
 
hi...thankx for the posts...

jamiejamie and linnie
nothing suspicious in eventlog.(no error)

will do the defrag/chkdsk tonite....

i have antivirus s/w installed...the pc so far cleaned.

if overheating i tot it normally will hang instead of rebooting?

am not sure if thats due to power as well....

i have installed MBSA beside than it cannot read the XML reports other than that everything are fine....


 
Sorry to harp on about "Save Dump" but I feel you might be missing out on the helpful information it may be able to provide.

Just make sure that in Control Panel/ System/ Advanced/ Startup and Recovery/ Settings/ System Failure, that you have ticked "Write an event to the System Log" If you don't have this checked a lot of helpful information will be missing from the Event Viewer.

"Save Dump" is not a red error message it is an "Information" line which you must locate and click on to get to the extra information. See if you can use the Filter option in the Event Viewer under the View menu (while the System folder is highlighted) to search for the "Save Dump" events. All you have to do then is use the down arrow (in the resulting window) to select "Save Dump" in the "Event Source" box. Click Apply and OK, then you will have all the "Save Dump" Information lines in one place in the Event Viewer.

Now you can click on them and get those "Bug Check" details.


After SP2 it is also possible to turn off automatic reboot via the (F8) Safe Mode screen.

Knowing what error is half the battle.
 
if overheating i tot it normally will hang instead of rebooting?
Agreed. Malware would be the first logical guess but since your PC is isolated from the internet that shouldn't be an issue and overheating would be the next logical guess imo.

linney's suggestion is the best way to remove any guesswork and isolate the problem.

"Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy"
Albert Einstein
 
If it shuts down instantly, and then goes into the start up again, I would suspect a loose power connection on the motherboard or hard drive.

I would suggest opening the case and ensuring all power connectors, data cables, and memory are seated properly.

cheers.gif

Help! I've fallen and I can't reach my beer.
 
Hi..more updates and more headache...

1. No save dump in event system folder
2. No blue screen appear.
3. after defrag and chkdsk still the same
4. clean the fan and use the big fan to blow direct to it..not effective

however i did realised something weird..
i don know if anyone of you have this before.

the pc will rebooted by itself (anytime it likes) as long as it was connected to power.
this happened last nite. it cost my precious sleeping time apparently...=p

the scenario is the pc was rebooted so i used key board power key to turn off the pc..
however in a short while it reboot again.

then i turn off the pc at window login window..
the scenario repeated...

then i login and shutdown the pc...
and it rebooted!

my final solution is unplug the cable.




 
Is there any Bios update available for your machine's Bios?

 
hi linney


yeah i found that there is one version higher than my current using version....
am using ASUS P4P800 motherboard...
using 1018 bios....
newest version is 1019
which the changes according to ASUS are

1.Add CPU lockfree function .
2.Add item to control SATA delay time

 
I don't pretend to know whether a bios update will help you or not, I also wouldn't have a clue about those two new functions you mention. What I have seen in the past is that flashing a bios may correct any corruption in your old bios by going over it with the new update.

It is your decision as to whether you feel comfortable in flashing any bios, there is always a small risk of permanently damaging your computer if the procedure is not done correctly (not to mention power failures or spontaneous reboots during any update, which your machine seems vulnerable to).

I'd probably advise leaving it as a last option and concentrate on the other suggestions first.
 
halo everyone... =)
i have been away for few days...
anyway i wud like to share/update with you on this issue...

2 days ago i have taken out the motherboard battery (reset)..
and for these 2 days the PC is running fine
at least i have yet experiencing any reboot for the pass two day... *touch wood* and *finger cross*

stability test was run for only 2 hours last nite and still 'robust'...
where previously within 1 hour the pc crashed...

thanks...
 
Hi juz another update on this issues..
i search thru the internet didnt really find a way to solve my problem...after the last post my pc back with the same problem within a month..and it turns more severe, it could not be booted up to even bios mode sometimes...
however now it has been running fine......

anyway who has esperiencing the similar problem ..
might wanna try this....

i have switch the wire of power and reset button.
I suspect that either the reset pin is "spoilt" on the board ..
and the power on wire has some problem.
So now my pc don have reset function....

i have read a lot of suggestions for similar problem some of them after changing the board the problem solve
 
I had a co worker who had a 1.1g HP that would reboot randomly. I trying replacing ever think reloaded XP, swap HD memory Video board I finely replaced Mother board to fix it.
 
may be next time shud try to swap the wire of power on button or/and unplug the reset wire from the board.....
=))

Just some sharing...because at certain places to get motherboard replacement isnt easier.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor

Back
Top