OT FOAK PC random reboots.

Wot 'e said.

And as others have suggested, get the PSU checked out, test the RAM
etc, and give the whole shebang a good vac out regardless, as if you
haven't already opened the case up, you'd be surprised at just how
much fluff can accumulate inside a PC and start insulating everything.

HP / Compaq stuff normally shows its dusty hand by way of the variable
speed fans running flatout after the machine has been on for a while
due to clogged case vents cutting down the airflow in and out of the
case.

If you can't find anything physically knackered, it may be down to
something becoming corrupted in the OS.

Are you running regular anti-malware / anti-spyware scans and keeping
any software used for both these and anti virus regularly updated?

If not, you should be anyway.

If all else fails, as in the machine appears to be healthy in a
hardware sense, you might have to consider, as recommended by others,
wiping the HD and starting again (having saved any data / docs etc you
don't want to lose, first).

I've noticed my main laptop is pretty sluggish these days, but then
given it's been hammered to death for the last two or three years,
maybe it's time to give it an OS flush... which is a good excuse to
get a shiny new bigger HD for it, meaning all the data on the
original can be kept as it is, too.


HTH

 

I'll try that if it recurs, but it's behaved itself since this time
yesterday after a bit of house cleaning and rationalisation of couple of
toolbar lurkers recently installed but not really required. Probably
coincidence, but we shall see.


--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

In communiqué

I defluffed the vents a while back, but without opening up the case. If
it happens again I'll get inside and do some spring cleaning and re-seat
the memory.

Hoh yuss. Resident Spybot, plus regular updates and scheduled full
sweeps. I had AVG on it up until last year then Avast. Running Avast 5.0
now with latest program and virus definitions and the screen saver set
to Avast. A full scan reports no problems.

Everything is backed up once a week to an external USB drive using
Bounceback. It had to have a new HD at 18 months old, so I've learned
that lesson.

It takes 90 seconds to show me a tree on first opening up a file
explorer window, but there are hundreds of just root level directories,
and thousands and thousands of files. Otherwise it runs reasonably
quickly.

I ought really to defrag the D: drive (C: has just been done), but I'm
loathe to do that if it is going to reboot in the middle of it.

A disk check (without automatic error fixing selected) on C: reports no
errors, but one on D: says "unable to complete" at the end of phase one.
That seems ominous.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

preheat the board with a hot air gun - just use a low pressure so that you
don't start shooting surface mount components around. I had a nice Weller
jobby which I mainly used for reflowing solder paste on flat quad packs
back in the day...

 

Best way is to leave memtest running overnight.
Some of the tests take over an hour, and there're quite a few different
tests it performs.

Is it possibly an overheating problem? Next time it reboots, hit the bios
and check the cpu temperature.
--
| | Windows95 (noun): 32 bit extensions and a |
| | graphical shell for a 16 bit patch to an 8 bit |
| Andrew Halliwell BSc | operating system originally coded for a 4 bit |
| in |microprocessor, written by a 2 bit company, that|
| Computer Science | can't stand 1 bit of competition. |

 

It's fucked, give you a fiver for it

In other news i've just been wrestling with my desktop after I pulled
some small RAM sticks and gave mine a boost with 3 x 1/2 Gig Kingston
DDR400 ones.

Well, bugger me wouldn't the fucker have random app crashes (but not
the OS). I knew the sticks were good ones so I blamed Ace and his flv
downloading add in for firefox, and/or Adobe flash.

Reinstalled Firefox, flash, uninstalled all the browser plugins. Still
crashing.

Turned out I had a 266 MHz RAM stick in the ones I pulled out that had
been underclocking (successfully) all of the faster RAM sticks.

Underclocked it in the BIOS from 400 down to 266, and doesn't it all
just work again :/

Weird one ...

Still i'd rather have 1.5Gb of slow RAM than 1Gb of fast. Quantity,
not quality

Paul.

 

In communiqué

Well it seems to have pulled itself together. CHKDSK reported three
corrupt attribute records on D, and I deleted the Vodafone mobile
broadband app (only put on as an experiment when Demon was down for a
while) which had been whinging at every start up.

It hasn't rebooted for over 48 hours now.

One of those unsolved mysteries of the silicon sea.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Voxan Roadster Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 Morini 350 "Forgotten Error" |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

If you need any spares give me a shout. I have a roomful.

I feel a life laundry coming on

Paul.