Computer randomly reboots

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ckeanie

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I bought a computer a couple years ago and I've been having a lot of problems with it. The most recent problem is that the computer will randomly restart while I am using it. Sometimes the computer won't boot either - it will get to the Windows XP loading screen and then it will reboot again (sometimes it will do this many times before finally working). I was having problems booting before and I took it into the shop and they said it was the power supply, so I got a new 350 watt power supply (my old power supply was also 350 watts). This seemed to fix the problem but now I am having more problems. Does anyone have any insight into what the problem could be, or have any idea how I can isolate the malfunctioning hardware?

My computer has a 3200+ AMD Athlon processor, an ASRock 939 Dual Sata motherboard, an EVGA 6600+ PCI video card, a 250gb Seagate hard-drive, and 2x512gb generic samsung ram.
 
It might also be that your CPU is overheating and causing the system to restart. You could try applying a new layer of thermal paste in between your CPU and heatsink. Another thing which will cause intermittent blue screens and general faults across a variety of programs is BAD MEMORY. If your Windows XP startup & recovery options are set to "automatic startup" on system failure, this may be an area to investigate.

Make sure the memory you have installed fits the precise specs which your m/b requires. Especially don't use high density modules if your board only supports low density.
 
^ This would be my guess as well. Try taking the cover off and put a small fan next to it blowing inside and see if it stays on longer. Be sure the fans that are inside the computer are spinning and free of dust. Get a can of compressed air and blow the thing out while you are in there.
 
The power supply is a 350W Enermax, which I read is a good power supply brand. I tried taking out one memory module and booting the computer and then putting it back in and taking out the other and the problem persisted. I don't think the computer is overheating either, the temperatures seem to be normal.
 
It could caused by almost anything. Its a very general problem. When you do get it working, right click my computer>Properties. Navigate to the advanced tab and click on Startup and Recovery. Under the System failure make sure that the Automatically restart box is unchecked. That way next time it crashed you will get the blue screen, memory addresses and it will write a dump. Under Write debugging information, change it to Kernel memory dump so in when you run a debug utility (if you don't find any solutions when you research the stop message it gives you) it can pinpoint exactly what is causing your problems.
 
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