Author Topic: Win XP and Spontaneous Reboots (Read 681 times)

MetaTron · « **on:** September 20, 2003, 12:01:38 AM »

I just got a new system:

FIC LAN Party KT400A with an AMD XP 2600+ @ 266Mhz FSB
1 Gig PC3200 400 Mhz DDR DIMM
NVidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
Windows XP Pro

Occasionally the system takes to spontaneous reboots. Temperatures all well below what might be considered hot.

Frame rates hover around a constant 60fps?

Any suggestion as to a fix would be welcomed.

Wanker · « **Reply #1 on:** September 20, 2003, 09:49:46 AM »

Not sure about the re-booting, but if your fps in AH is hovering at 60, then you probably have your vertical refresh rate for your monitor set at 60. If I were you, I'd jack that refresh rate up as high as your monitor supports, as your system should be able to give you fps up to at least 85 on a regular basis.

Kaz · « **Reply #2 on:** September 20, 2003, 10:16:16 AM »

Have you downloaded all the critical sevice packs? Just click on windows update if it's not already set up for automatic downloads and you should see what if anything needs to be downloaded. MIght wanna try getting the recommended updates that pertain to your needs.

Reschke · « **Reply #3 on:** September 20, 2003, 10:40:52 AM »

First thing to check would be your power supply then you RAM. If you have a spare power supply around just hook it up and run it. I was having random reboots with my computer a while back and it was the power supply failing. I never lost power just kept rebooting for no reason.

MetaTron · « **Reply #4 on:** September 20, 2003, 10:48:33 AM »

It turns out the rebooting behaviour is the default for Windows XP. I have defeated it inside of control panel, but I still have to find out what is causing the problem. The event log doesn't appear to be much help, but I suspect it must be a driver that is incompatible, but I havent installed very much on the system yet and it shouldnt have this problem.

Lok, I did update everything the Windows Updater found in critical updates and still have errors occurring.

Thanks for the heads up on the refresh rate, banana. That didn't occur to me until I visited guru3d.com and checked out a few second party utilities. Good suggestion anyway.

Maybe I can stay online now.

MetaTron · « **Reply #5 on:** September 20, 2003, 10:54:15 AM »

Nope, Aces High crashes after just a few seconds to a minute.

Chairboy · « **Reply #6 on:** September 20, 2003, 03:05:03 PM »

Right click My Computer and go to properties, then open the Advanced tab. Click on 'Settings' in the Startup & Recovery section of the tab and then un-check 'Automatically restart' from the System Failure area.

If these auto reboots are happening because you're BSOD'ing (the auto behavior in XP is to autoboot so you don't see the crash), then you'll be able to see the culprit that's causing the crash and look it up on google.

Chairboy · « **Reply #7 on:** September 20, 2003, 03:07:13 PM »

One other thing, if you are using the video drivers that came on a CD with the video card, then you need to go to your video cards website and download the new drivers.

The drivers that come with the cards are usually shoved out the door as basically working, and the development crews usually improve them a lot between the time they spend in manufacturing/sitting on shelves and when you get it. Video card drivers have been responsible for more crashes since Windows 95 came out then any other reason.

MetaTron · « **Reply #8 on:** September 20, 2003, 05:58:24 PM »

Done all that Chairboy and Im still getting BSOD with different drivers named each time. Sometimes I get:

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

and sometimes not. It has to be a driver that isnt compatible but finding out which one is taking forever. If theres a shortcut or some other way to find the problem please let me know.

Chairboy · « **Reply #9 on:** September 20, 2003, 06:26:06 PM »

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;293077

MetaTron · « **Reply #10 on:** September 20, 2003, 09:43:21 PM »

I found the Windows XP information more useful, but it was actually pulling the DIMMs out one at a time that may have paid off more. I don't know for sure, as AH seems to have a problem with random crashes anyway, but it appears the center DIMM socket on my new MB may be defective.

MANDOBLE · « **Reply #11 on:** September 20, 2003, 10:10:21 PM »

MetaTron, you have several test utilities just to verify memory (only memory). Usually these programs runs booting from a floppy. Dont remember the names, but looking for them should be easy. BTW, if you have reboots only with 3D games running, then your problem my be related to your graphic card instead of your memory. Do you have a temperature sensor for your card? If not, try to open the case and run the same games. The problem may also be related to power supply or even chipset AGP driver, but rarely to graphic driver itself, AH is not so "complex" to suffer from modern driver issues.

MetaTron · « **Reply #12 on:** September 20, 2003, 10:39:46 PM »

I can tell you its not temperature and its not memory either. It may be power supply related but how would I know? The system runs fine until Im online.

mjolnir · « **Reply #13 on:** September 20, 2003, 11:52:27 PM »

I had a buddy who was having this same problem with a similar system not too long ago. He managed to fix it by going into the BIOS. He was just going to write down all the settings so he could flash it when he noticed that one of the memory settings was set to something odd. All he did was change it to automatic and he hasn't had it randomly restart on him since. I'll try to track down exactly what it was that he had to change.

Pfunk · « **Reply #14 on:** September 20, 2003, 11:57:47 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by MetaTron
I can tell you its not temperature and its not memory either. It may be power supply related but how would I know? The system runs fine until Im online.

How do you know for certain its not the memory that could have been corupted? download memtest86 and find out for CERTAIN that it is not the memory.

http://www.memtest86.com