Community Newsletter: Q&A: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes!
- 5/9/08 1:48 PM
Re:Help! My PC keeps rebooting ever
by punjsanjeev - 5/2/08 8:59 PM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Here are some steps you might want to try:-
1.Watch the temperature display and note down the temperature reached when the booting initiates. If this temperature is very close to the threshold set for thermal shutdown,then surely your CPU is initiating a thermal shutdown which could be caused by a failing fan, or insufficient cooling.
2.If above is not true, then you could check the possibility of bad sectors in your HDD's boot sector.This is a trial and error solution,you can determine bad sectors using any software provided by the HDD's manufacturer, or some free softwares which do the same thing.
3.If both the above solutions are wrong,try changing each component one by one to determine the faulty component. This can be an expensive exercise, as you will have to have two HDDs, two Mother boards,Two sets of RAM, to start with.At the end of this exercise surely you will be able to narrow down your problem area. Man I wish you quick recovery from this predicament. Cheers.
New thermal paste
by BrianC6234 - 5/2/08 10:24 PM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
My computer is a couple years old and it recently started having crash problems. The video would freeze up. I got a lot of blue screen crashes. I rebuilt the computer. I even put in a new hard drive and bought a new video card. No matter what I tried it kept crashing. Then I bought some thermal paste and pulled the heatsink off my processor. I cleaned everything up and put new paste on and since then it's run great. Have you tried that yet? It's a cheap fix.
Read the question
by tanukisoba87 - 5/3/08 5:35 AM In reply to: New thermal paste by BrianC6234Putting the thermal solution onto your CPU solves the heat issue and the bluescreen death instead of the every reboot you get.
Another detail.
by vdigital - 5/2/08 11:13 PM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
All PCs, have a code book of beeps. Each one means a error. U didn't said nothing about beeps. This is a way to eliminate a lot of possibilities...But would be great that a tecnician put the hands in your PC. But for exemple: when the memos have some erros there is a special beep...when a video board have problem(for exemple:out of slot, or full damage), special beeps. In each case, a special beeps. when the cpu is almost very hot, before de pc shut down, u hear beeps.
Nothing more I can say becouse I don't have a crystal ball. I don't have your PC in my hands and I work about 10 years with this crazy machines that make us also crasy.
PC rebooting every 10 to 20 Minutes
by kumar_6345 - 5/2/08 11:35 PM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I think that the problem is the CPU is very HOT. means overheating the CPU.Please check the CPU Fan is working and the temperature. You login to CMOS setup and check the hardware monitor and the temperature in CPU. And use small amount of cooling paste in between the CPU and CPU Fan.
All The Bust.
Rebooting problem
by tysing - 5/3/08 12:30 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Hi, it has happened to me - except the computer rebooted continously.
Therefore I was unable to control it at all - just about : I was able to interrupt a reboot and select " Boot from CD". So, I booted from my bootable "Norton Ghost" CD and recovered a backup. The problem proved to be caused by inter-action between two anti - spyware programs that were set to run continously (real-time protection), along with my Panda Internet Security software (main antivirus/firewall software) Good Luck, regards Axel.
My PC reboots every 10 to 20 minutes
by dxjanis - 5/3/08 1:15 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It is most likely a heat related issue. I once fixed a friends PC that was acting similarly by discovering that the power supply fan was broken and the PC shut-down on high temp. This was followed by a reboot when the power supply cooled. About every 20 minutes. I must also mention that my PC rebooted frequently once, also. That problem was traced to a faulty DSL modem that was connected to the PC via USB. The reboot was caused by the fact that somehow the modem allowed the 90 VDC phone ringer voltage to pass thru it to the PC. Thus, whenever the phone rang, the PC rebooted. Obviously, this didn't occur regularly like your reboot, but randomly whenever the phone rang.
re: Pc Rebooting ProbLem
by maLuser - 5/3/08 1:40 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You try to clean your CPU Fan.. its very dust.
Sounds like hardware failure
by jazzi - 5/3/08 4:35 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I've owned a good many computers over the past 25 years. It used to be that it was worthwhile to troubleshoot problems like this. Now with the costs of replacements being so low, quantum leaps in processor speed every year, and my time being valuable, I wouldn't spend very much time working on it. It sounds as if you have already expended a good bit of time on this. I would try some of the cheap and easy solutions (cleaning or replacing the fan, etc.) but unless you just enjoy fixing up tired machines, save your time and buy a new one. If you don't want Vista, you can still purchase new machines with XP on them. I just purchased 2 Dells with XP Pro at MicroCenter for less than $500 each.
Help your PC
by w1kate - 5/3/08 5:05 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
hi Santsh K I think before you spend any money. I have AMD athlon love it but mine kept staying off.leave airout in open for tower. Try running tower w/no cover to see what you can see. check out fan, processor, put hard drive to test definately more ram gl w1kate
I will say it's the Hardware
by tanukisoba87 - 5/3/08 5:30 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I can only think of 2 things only regarding your problem.
1. Motherboard, the power controller in the motherboard is not working properly(or burned) This affect to every part of your computer like your power button,Hard drive, etc
2. Hard drive. I remember my brother's hard drive is slightly bent (burned!)and it rebooted automatically at strict time like you have said and when it came to the worst case, it rebooted everytime when windows started therefore, if the machine(or say windows) can not read properly, and it attempts to read properly, it eventually restarts this is the most appropriate one I think.
3. I also remember that one of my friend had this HP laptop and I must say that it shutdown automatically with in 20 mins! Although his case, it's just Shutdown so probably a malware(since he doesn't update) I thought but Your case, I will bet on your Hard Disc.
This is my suggestion but why don't you just replace whole laptop instead of replacing every bits? because that is much more expensive I presume.
My pc keeps rebooting
by wpete574 - 5/3/08 7:09 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
It sounds like it is overheating. Clean your fan and heat sinks sfter removing the fan. Replace the grease on the chip with silver grease. I have fixed at least 50 systems with this issue.
A couple of suggestions
by jpsheridan - 5/3/08 8:04 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Santhsh,
Most everyone has already mentioned the obvious . Software, Memory, Motherboard, Video Driver, Power supply. You can test your power supply with tester. You can pick up one like this one listed below online or probably at your local computer store for about $20 to $30. The link below will give you an idea of what they look like. Since you have already reformatted your hard drive, replaced the memory, and reinstalled the software you are already on the right track. Definitely make sure you have all the latest drivers for your motherboard video card, sound card, and any other devices you have installed on your system. Realistically the problem lies between power or motherboard at this point. It could also be a grounding issue with your motherboard if you installed the motherboard yourself. Depending on where you purchased most of your stuff some do offer free testing of your system.
http://www.antec.com/us/productDetails.php?ProdID=77203 - Power Supply tester.
Good Luck!
Constant rebooting problems
by bigbobt - 5/3/08 8:26 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Anik B has set out a perfect trouble shooting solution that makes a 25 year veteran like myself so very happy to see. Follow his process and you will resolve this issue. I suggest you follow it in the exact order he has laid out the instruction.
First place to check
by davejyd - 5/3/08 8:28 AM In reply to: Help! My PC keeps rebooting every 10 to 20 minutes! by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have read all of the posts up to now, and all are correct - except, in my opinion, in the order of what to check -
I had a PC very similar to yours in setup, and had the same problem. I found the Cooling Fan on my Power Supply froze up. I replaced the fan, and this took care of the problem.
If your cooling fan(s) are all working fine, and your PC is (now) dust-free on the inside, then start checking other hardware. But first on these list should be the fans.
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