Computer frequently reboots - please help with troubleshooting

ScoobieGirl

Hi,

Please can anyone help with further suggestions on troubleshooting my shuttle?

It frequently reboots, most often on start-up, but more often now when I am using it. There is no pattern to when it does it, there are no error messages on screen and the event log doesn't show anything. I've checked & re-seated all the connections, especially those from the power supply & power & reboot switches.

Is it time for a replacement power supply or shall I try a (cheaper) replacement switch first? It's running XP. When it feels like it.

LazyD

Dunno what a shuttle is (apart from those things that go into space) but I assume it's some kind of pc?

From what you have said I think your problem could be due to one of two different problems. You could have a problem with your windows installation or a hardware component might be overheating or dead.

Try hardware first, could the graphics card be overheating? What type of graphics do you have? If you have a card in a slot and then you have vga graphics on the motherboard, take the card out of the slot and use the on board graphics to test and see if it still happens.

Your memory could be dead or dieing, take it out and rub the gold connectors carefully with a pencil eraser until you take all the dull coloured oxidisation off them, then reseat them one at a time if you have more than one stick of memory (ie put only stick 1 in and check to see if it still happens, then put only stick 2 in and check to see if it still happens, then put stick 1 in another slot on its own and check to see if it still happens and so on, if it always crashes with a certain stick you know its that stick of ram, if it always crashes with a certain slot of the board you know its the board). Go to ubuntu.com, download unbuntu (its a free type of linux operating system) and then burn the image to a cd, boot to the cd and run the memory tester for about 10 passes, post the results back here. Also with that ubuntu cd, boot to it (start ubuntu) and see if the system still crashes and stuff, you should be able to surf the net as normal so test it a bit.

You motherboard or cpu maybe dead, do you have the system speaker plugged into the motherboard (little speaker plugged into the connections on the board where power button etc is...?), if so are you getting any beeps at start up? Check the capacitors on your mboard (upright standing cylinders with silver tops), are any of them domed upwards (blown)? Are all your fans running? Is your cpu fan running? Could it be possible that a dropped screw or some other metallic item is bridging the mboard to the case and causing a short circuit?

When you get the opportunity in windows, hold the windows key and press pause/break, go to advanced and then to startup and recovery settings. If the box for "automatic restart" is checked, uncheck it. Next time it restarts it might give you a blue screen with error code, if so post it here. Turn the pc on from fresh with the windows cd in and boot to the cd (press ley when prompted), when you ge the chance type R for recovery console, it may ask which installation you want to work with, type 1 and enter (assuming you have one installation of windows). At the prompt type:

chkdsk c: /p /r

After that does its thing see if the problem remains. From windows hold the windows key and press R, type sfc.exe and hit enter, make sure you have the windows cd in.

Plenty to get on with!

MercilessKiller

A shuttle is a mini-atx machine. Tiny pc

I don't think this is windows as there are no errors/warnings in event viewer. Saying that I would always advise formatting and reinstalling windows before investing in new hardware, just in case

The problem is as LazyD suggests it could a number of things.

Luckily with mem and hard drives especially you'd get blue screens of death so I personally would count them out.

It is very possible the CPU is getting too hot, though the motherboard would shut the pc down rather than just reset it, so I'd count out the PSU as well...

I think the cheapest thing to replace first is the PSU, and it is the most likely cause. Either that or the motherboard! It would explain why power seems to be dropping for a second before turning back on again. I dont believe CPU, Mem, Hard Drive or software could cause that without other errors.

Make sure you turn on the blue screen of death error reporting in your error settings (right click on my computer and somewhere in the advanced tab...)

Good luck! HTH

EDIT: Try keeping the mini-atx machine plugged directly into a wall socket rather than adapters and switches. Could be a hidden problem that's not visible

ScoobieGirl

Many thanks for all the suggestions. Glad to hear there are still things to try before spending money! I'll start with plugging it directly into a socket - I changed the power lead, but didn't even suspect the extension lead as other things are running of it - much less sensitive things come to think of it.

Motherboard and inside of PSU are all clean - free of dust (now!) and free of damage/obvious shorts. The motherboard LED in on constantly & brightly.

Will report back when I know what it was.

Thanks again for your suggestions.

iviv

free of dust (now!)

You didn't poke a vacuum inside it, did you? Vacuum = fast moving air = static = possible damage to components.
As for the rebooting, if you can get it into windows, can you install a program such as [url=https://www.almico.com/speedfan.php]Speedfan[/url] which will tell you how hot your PC is running. This should help rule-out overheating. Alternatively, if you know how to get into the BIOS, check the temps in there.

ScoobieGirl

iviv wrote: »

You didn't poke a vacuum inside it, did you? Vacuum = fast moving air = static = possible damage to components.

Dust off gun. VERY gently

iviv wrote: »

As for the rebooting, if you can get it into windows, can you install a program such as speedfan[/b].php]Speedfan which will tell you how hot your PC is running. This should help rule-out overheating. Alternatively, if you know how to get into the BIOS, check the temps in there.

I don't think it's overheating - it seems to get better the longer it's on, but will add this to the things to try - thank you .

Thanks MercilessKiller & LazyD. I've discovered that the lack of the Blue Screen of Death was due to the reporting being turned off / auto restart selected - not because of a power problem. Time to dig out the windows cd.

Thanks again for your help everyone. I feel like I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

fwor

One other thing to check (if you haven't already) is that both your Shuttle and graphics card (if you have a separate one) drivers are up to date.

For some reason, Windows updates can occasionally break your existing drivers.