Computer = unusable

[faek]

Sup guys,

My brother has been having this annoying problems with his computer. It started this last semester, but got progressively worse until this point. I've tried searching the forums, yet didn't find anything specifically for this problem. I'll get started:

Basically, his computer restarts on its own, quite often. It'd do it every now and then during the semester, but now it's to the point where his PC isn't even usable really. It will run for a while, then will shut down randomly. Often, it won't even get through booting windows and will repeatedly restart while the computer's trying to reload. The only way it will turn on again is if he leaves it turned off for a while. Also, every time he is able to finally start up his computer (maybe 1 in 8 tries) it gives him an error message that says "cli.exe application error 0xc0000135 . application failed to initialize properly".

Now here is what I do know:

He's almost positive the problem is related to his graphics card, Radeon 9800 PRO. He's reinstalled the driver semi-recently, but this problem is making it very difficult to reinstall again. We're still trying that primarily though. Personally, I think his graphics card is getting too hot for whatever reason and making his computer restart. It'd make sense too that when he leaves it off for a while, it's cooling down, allowing him SOME time to work before the process again repeats itself.

Additionally, he's trying to reformat for all the overall instabilities and every time it will promt him with a blue screen stop error: "IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL" . The stop error info is "STOP: 0x0000000A (0x7A820758, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x807EDFOE").

Let me know if any other info can help out. Thanks for helping - -

 

[CrazeD]

I doubt it's the graphics card. I would say either the CPU is overheating (blow dust out of it, ensure the fan is working properly), or the power supply is dying.

In fact, I (and tons others) have experienced the same symptoms from a bad power supply. My computer re-booted itself and forced me to re-install windows countless times between March and August, due to a faulty, cheap power supply that came with my case.

 

[faek]

Cool, next time it automatically shuts off, i'll check the temp. I checked it manually and the CPU was at 50C, 125F and the mobo was 29C and 84F... that was after it was running for 20 mins w/o restarting itself.

 

[Amd2800]

all i can say is format windows and start again

 

[CrazeD]

all i can say is format windows and start again

Orginially posted by faek
Additionally, he's trying to reformat for all the overall instabilities and every time it will promt him with a blue screen stop error: "IRQL NOT LESS OR EQUAL" . The stop error info is "STOP: 0x0000000A (0x7A820758, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x807EDFOE").

 

[Phrantic]

My bet is on the power supply. If nothing weird is happening on the screen like artifacts or low-res / bad colours then I doubt it's the videocard.

Check if and how much the fan is spinning because it might be overheating (hence when you leave it off for a while you can run it longer before the problem persists). Try booting the pc with both case doors open. See if that eliminates or delays the problem.

 

[bobojuice]

Are you booting to the windows install disk and getting that stop error? If so, its probably because you need to load a scsi device driver so that windows can pick up the hard disk. Sometimes if you dont install it itll get a blue screen instead of just saying no disk found. What kind of motherboard/pc is it?

 

[faek]

MOBO: ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
CPU: AMD Athalon 2800 XP

Yea, he knows it's older, but can't financially part with it yet... not enough funds for a new machine at this point. Plus it does what it needs to for him.

Bobo, yes he is trying to boot from the install disk when he gets the error. He said he'll try the driver and see if that helps. Would it prompt with that error though if this were the situation though?

 

[bobojuice]

I've had it happen to me. For some reason, xp sometimes cant find the hard drive because you didnt specify your "F6" driver and it just crashes when it tries to load "windows".