Community Newsletter: Q&A: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes!
- 5/9/08 1:48 PM
Re: My PC keeps rebooting every 10-20 minutes
by faisal_mubarak - 4/26/08 12:05 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Dear Santish,
I have also experience this issue but i just need to know that before rebooting the machine is any message display on your Desktop showing your machince is going to reboot now like: The services was terminated unexpectedly, the system is reboot in few mins. If that like message appear u need to downlaod the Updates of OS from respective site. Also, which OS u are using? Other thing is to change the processor also and check your system (Use Celeron etc).
I hope this help.
Thanks
Faisal Mubarak
CPU?
by TreknologyNet - 4/26/08 12:19 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had this same problem with my first Pentium (90) machine, it would just suddenly reset, which meant while typing I had to keep saving at the end of each paragraph.
It was also increasing in frequency until one day, it wouldn't stay running long enough to get to the boot sector of the hard drive.
It turned out that the chip had previously been over-heated, and that it was known to cause a "short circuit" to slowly burn it's way through eventually rendering the chip itself useless, but the Mother Board was okay.
Most recently, I have encountered one machine that was randomly restarting because the USB scanner was faulty--even though it wasn't being used. And just today had a machine that flashed the video card on the screen, but wouldn't boot: It turned out to be a USB Hub. Removed that, and the machine works properly again.
Another machine last night wouldn't boot and the hard disc sounded like it was unable to initilize properly, and kept on clicking and grinding--the fault turned out to be in the power supply lead.
You may waste your whole weekend on this sort of problem to find that you're up for an expensive replacment, or it was just a funny connection in a plug.
What OS are you running that can be reformatted and reinstalled in this 10-20 period? I also had a machine where XP was the culprit, and would keep shutting down I.E. randomly, but if you've already done that, then it's a case of strip your machine back to bare bones, and work on each item through trial and error.
By trial and error I mean on everything.
Given my own experience with other machines, I would suspect heat "somewhere". Strip your machine back to basic motherboard, smallest memory, video card if necessary, to see if the problem still occurs.
You say you've tried alternate memory already to no effect, so if the problem manifests in this form you have one of three choices: Power Supply, Motherboard, or CPU.
If the computer sits there saying "Please insert system disk" for an hour or more (make sure to keep as many other items in place, including covers, to keep the internal heat environment accurate), then gradually reconnect one item at a time (even the keyboard) and by elimination you may track down the fault.
Try it again with the keyboard connected and go into the BIOS settings and see if it will stay like that for an hour.
Then connect the floppy drive (yes they still have their uses), and see if the machine will stay "booted" for an hour.
Remove floppy drive and reconnect hard drive. Boot on just that and see if runs for an hour.
Then trying it with the mouse plugged in.
Then strip it back to BIOS screen state again while your sound card is sitting in the machine, and so on.
I have even known video monitors to cause a reset back through the video port.
With a bit of luck on your side, you may track down the fault on the first day (e.g. sound card that you can leave out until you buy a new one), and have a chance of enjoying the rest of your weekend.
So much circuitry is being packed onto the motherboard these days
PSU
by smifo - 4/26/08 12:20 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Rebooting problems are often (nine times out of ten) PSU related. Try a different PSU if you can. Though I did have a PC recently where Norton AV caused a reboot as it tried to auto-update, the day after installing it, but not 10 mins in.
Good Luck
Regarding System - Re Booting
by xyzboys - 4/26/08 12:26 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi Friend,
Please check your 'POWER SUPPLY UNIT' and probably can change too. Some times this may cause, this kind of rebooting issue due to failure.
Thanks.
same ol problem...
by soccerzeus - 4/26/08 12:33 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
when you say 256mb ram "PC" i get the idea its an xp or lower...
"crap in pc" is the shortest way i can say... i got a stupid computer as well, amd athlon 64, 512 RAM, 80GB, cd writer... getting old fashioned these days... so check the follows...
1.virus
2.load on the RAM...
3.some kind of settings...(rightclick on desktop/properties/screensaver/energysavingfeatures/settings)
and if all these dont work, MAYBE,ok? MAYBE your copy of windows isnt genuine... gave me the same kind of problems... or you have auto-updates off...
Auto rebooting computer
by rdwf2000 - 4/26/08 12:35 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had a similar problem but the computer didn't wait 10 to 20 minutes. It would continuously reboot just after it went into windows. I had just upgraded from an AMD dual core to an Intel Quad core processor and a new motherboard and memory. As it turned out the problem was because the cooling fan was not properly seated and my new chip was saving itself! I was told it could also be not enough thermal grease between the heatsink and chip, but that was not the case. In your case I would investigate the thermal aspect, including checking out your processor, motherboard, and case temperatures. I would think C|net would have reviews of some utilities that monitor these parameters you could try.
Re booting
by nagoh - 4/26/08 12:36 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Sounds like a overheating problem.Maybe your fan on the CPU cooler may have quit or the fan on our power supply has quit and it could be your case fan or fans.I would start with checking them out.I removed one of the side panels on my pc when I had the same problem and the case fan had give out.
Check for overheating
by Simon Huckle - 4/26/08 12:53 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Might be worth checking whether the fan on the CPU has become blocked or is running slow. Check the CPU core temperature, to make sure that it's not the processor shutting down, through overheating.
Simon
answer the question
by waqas4allz - 4/26/08 1:11 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
your power supply cannot support your system change your power supply and attached with steplizer your will been solved
PC Shutting down after 10 mins
by gedtronics - 4/26/08 1:15 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi I had the same problem with my pc but it had a different spec, it turned out to be the cooling fan on the processer. The heat sink was clogged up with dust so the fan could not work to its full capacity therefore the processor was reaching its shut down temperature after about 10 /20 mins of being on. After giving the heat sink a good clean out the problem was solved. Its worth checking yours.
Cheers
Ged
amd
by fredom1969 - 4/26/08 1:28 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
hi sathsh
fist, verify cpu fan cooler
Answer for Santhsh --Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10-20
by paulymitch - 4/26/08 1:41 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I had a similar problem, my machine would shut down for no reason. The metal casing of my power supply was really hot, I put a small fan blowing into the case through the external air inlet of the supply where the filter is, since then no problems, (the supply fan had failed). Check the power supply for ovherheating or other faults, hope this helps bye Paul.
Rebooting problem
by subha_slg - 4/26/08 2:05 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I think there could be some bad sector formed in your harddisk or if you are using two or more ram check their compatibility.
Also i think that your pc is a bit underpowered, use 1GB ram or more.
sorry but it is almost certainly a heat problom
by pcmender - 4/26/08 2:31 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I suspect that you have a hot fault and it is mostlikly to be to do with one of two things,
1 either your fan is going slow (for what ever reason--- will likely to need a new cpu fan or
2 your motherboard/ cpu is faulty,
In this case your cpu is not being cooled properly and it is the hot cpu that is shutting down the system which then alows the cpu to cool and allows it to reboot which then heats the cpu which shuts down the system etc etc etc etc.
A few logical pointers.
by ellis feigenbaum - 4/26/08 2:41 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
These things are often software related, bad drivers, virus/malaware.
try a boot sector virus scan , or direct boot into nav virus scan if you have the disc.
if this fails and considering you have changed out you ram - it may be a cooling problem.
you may want to check the internal thermostat, it may be set at too low a temperature- I am sure amd has a utility for this.Also make sure all your fans are working, both those on the cpu and the extractor fans- it is possible that the fan on the power supply is not dong its job and thus closing down the power as soon as it over heats.
failing all of those you might try removing the cpu and replacing it making sure you use generous quantities of thermal paste.
the other thing that i would check is probably the silliest sounding, however it happened to me once and it drove me mad for a week, check to make sure that your power button is not sticking and then turning off your pcc when it releases 10-20 minutes later.
Ellis
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