Random restarts problem

[jonnykid]

Hello,

Apologies if this has been done to death, but looking for some expert (or experienced) advice on the problem of seemingly random and unexpected restarts.

I thought at first the problem was overheating due to using Flight Sim and only having a 350W PSU (replaced it to a 500W PSU). But noticed that it would reboot without warning just when surfing the web, or copying a file or something. So I'm not sure that its a power or overheating problem.

I've looked at the bios after running for a while and it gives processor temps of about 50C, well below the cutoff of 85C. Have also tried running PC "exercise" programs to heat it up. These run fine and don't make it unstable. But then it'll happen again at some point.

I never get a blue screen, or memory location read/write error so I'm fairly certian that the RAM is stable and working correctly.

If anyone has a clue, would love to hear about it, as I'm a bit stumped and getting a little bit tired of playing the will it won't it lottery.

It has happened whilst:
Running AVG7.0 virus sweep
Deleting a file
Copying files to an external HDD under a backup utility
surfing the web
viewing Emails.

My Spec:

Acer T120T
1.8GHz Sempron
768Mb Ram
Radeon 9800Pro 128graphics
XP, SP2
Upgraded 500W PSU

Many thanks to anyone who has read this or replied. I'm not overly techie, but can handle a screwdriver and know how to swap bits in and out (oh, and how to use an ESD strap : )

Thanks,

Jon

 

[SHAWN]

How long have you had SP2 on your system?

Right click my computer>>properties>>advanced>>startup&recovery
Uncheck automatically restart.

When you blue screen, post the error

 

[jonnykid]

Will do. I've already learnt something : )

thanks.

 

[jonnykid]

Hi, following the advice given above, I've experienced a blue screen with the following error message. Not sure what is needed specifically, so this is everything:

STOP: C000021A (FATAL SYSTEM ERROR)
THE WINDOWS LOGON PROCESS SYSTEM PROCESS TERMINATED UNEXPECTEDLY WITH A STATUS OF 0xc0000005 (0x00000000 0x00000000)

Hope this sheds some light on my eeevil computers demons : )

Many thanks for any help given, it really is appreciated.

Jon

 

[SHAWN]

I hope this helps. a reload without sp2 would solve this problem. If you want to try to fix it, read this

http://win-xp-sp.blogspot.com/2004/12/windows-logon-process-system-process.html

 

[jerry5739]

i had a problem just like urs... i swapped in my friends ram and it worked fine afterward...alot of those blue screen error messages deal with ram problems

 

[splatsc300]

have you ever done a bios update?

 

[Nubius]

use memtest86+ if you want to test your RAM and get a pretty good and more definitive answer whether it's the RAM at fault or not

EDIT: BTW, even if you went from 350w to 500w, if the +12v rail has the same rating on both PSU's (meaning the amperage) and the +12v rail is causing the problem because it's not getting enough juice, then the problem would still remain. If you have for example 15a on the +12v rail, and it says that on both PSUs and the problem was your computer using more than 15a, then you might as well be using the old PSU because you'd need one with like 20a

 

[Pilotwings119]

im having a problem similar. I have not gotten a blue screen, and my computer restarts and turns off randomly. It will even do this during startup. I've called tech support for my PSU, and they said it definitely sounded like a PSU problem. My new PSU is in the mail, so i really hope the new PSU fixes it.

 

[jonnykid]

I have never ran a Bios update, but having checked with my manf (ACER) I have the latest BIOS anyway. My geekfest weekend Bank holiday treat is to upgrade to Win XP Pro which I hav e a copy of, get service pack 2 installed again (glad I ordered the disc now) and see if it makes any difference. I've also got the latest drivers for my hardware as well, so I'll throw those at it too.

And I'll run mem test too, thanks Nubius.

Jon