Thanks for the link Brennihelvete! I'll try that out soon. But defrag is a problem 'cos it (guess what! yup!) it RESTARTS!! GRRRRRRRRRR!!!
Thanks for all your help! Sorry for bumping this post, but I've not been able to post in Ironworks for a while.

EDIT: Oh, I vaccumed the PC recently, so it's clear of dust, and the rebooting problem has been going on for ages so it's not dust.

[ 03-03-2003, 04:30 AM: Message edited by: slicer15 ]

No problem. Defragmentation wont solve your problem. It will only enchance your pc performance. Unexpected reboots is most likely caused by a hardware failure. Thats why I linked you to a hardware test program which will tell you whats wrong [img]smile.gif[/img]

Okay, thanks again, I won't bother with the defrag then.

Heres something else you might want to try:

Remove all peripherals except the video card. Boot the computer. Run it to see if the problem persists. If not, shut down and add your sound card. Run it for a while again. Keep adding cards until the problem pops up again.

Doing each card individually helps eliminate the possibility that of a particular card.

Keep in mind that the more cards you have installed the more wattage they use and they also produce more heat.

If you have mounting holes for 2 or more case fans add as many fans as you can fit inside the case.

People who are really into modding their case are now saying that the best way to keep the case cool is to have 4 fans sucking air in with 2 fans blowing air out. There is also the fan on the power supply sucking air out as well. So really thats 3 fans sucking air out.

If you remove the cover from the case and it runs alright it pretty much pins it down to a heat issue.

There is the possibility that its a bad stick of RAM but more often than not if the RAM is bad the PC wont boot at all and youll hear a beep code on boot up.
If you have two sticks that make up your 256Mb then remove one and boot. Run it. If there are no troubles, switch sticks and do it again. In this way you can pinpoint which stick is bad. If you only have one stick try to borrow a stick from a friend and see how their RAM works in your box. (provided they have similar RAM to yours, DDR to DDR not SDRAM to DDR or visa versa.

As mentioned before, clean the fan and heatsink on the CPU. Dust causes heat because it blocks proper airflow and reduces conductivity.

Another cause of this type of problem is Overclocking your RAM. Set all CAS Latencies and clock speeds back to their original settings. Overclocking RAM is fun and easy but it can cause serious instability like you're describing.

I hope that helps.

I haven't modded my case since i got, i'll try the case off thing as soon as possible, the RAM I'm not sure about, the dust I cleaned out and the problem persists and removing hardware I also need to try.
Thank you for everyone's help! I'll be trying out your advice! Thanks a lot!

EDIT: Yippee! The manshoon! The next one up! At last!

[ 03-05-2003, 12:49 PM: Message edited by: slicer15 ]

Well, thats the hard way of doing it. Running the test program I linked will do the smae job and save you from allot work.

Also did you upgrade your computer or did you buy a new one? If you uppgraded, maybe you forgot to upgrade your powersupply?

No, that depends on what operative system you got. I had a faulty RAM brick running on windows XP. It would reboot regulary until after 3 weeks when it stopped completely. It would just reboot on boot until I took the HD to a friend and turned the "Reboot on system crash" option off. I then got the Blue screen which told me what was wrong(actually the fautly RAM generated thousands of different errors, I spent months on finding out what was wrong.)

Again run the test and it will tell you whats wrong. If it says it is the RAM, you can search for "RAM Test" on www.downloads.com and get some more test programs especially designed for RAM, just to be sure...

That little program might be great for checking RAM, but not necessarily.
We'll take it for granted that the program works. What if its not the RAM? What if its something else? If its not the RAM hes not going to get any results that will be helpful from that test.

Operating system doesnt have jack to do with it.

Beep codes come from BIOS. You cant get a beep code from an operating system if you havent gotten past the BIOS. Operating Systems dont GIVE beep codes. BIOS does that.

If the little program works... yayyy. If it doesnt, back to the drawing board which in this case is doing it one card at a time to eliminate each card as a possibility. My guess is that or compatriot doesn want to have to pay a computer repairman to fix his system. Thats why he asked for help here.

Quick fix: trash the computer and buy an XBox.

Not an option.

Yes the entire problem could be something as simple as OVERCLOKCING THE RAM. That can cause serious system instability.

It could be an aging or overloaded power supply. Thats why I mentioned the fact that the more cards, the more heat, the more stress ON the power supply.

how i wish i could do that :D

slicer15 you should try all the suggestions given here (except the x-box thing) :D . both heat, ram and dust can affect the computer. you should try all the possible problems your computer might have... thats the way of being a technitian :(

It will test every component. Soundcard, videocard, memory, processor, HDD etc... Once he has found something supsicious he should check that out with either more spesific test or the old fashioned way, with removing and adding components. THe first option is the easiest way though, and if you are inexperienced with Computer Hardware you may risk to damage computer more than you will likely fix it.

That depends on your motherboard of course. Usually your BIOS runs a POST check on boot. If it fails it wont boot. A faulty RAM brick can bypass the POST check only to crash your operative system later on.
Windows XP, will shut down the computer permanently to prevent damage to your computer, and wont let you in again before you have repleaced your faulty RAM with a new fully functional one. Windows 98 will only crash and reboot.

The XP part may be partially true Brenni, but not entirely. I know that for a fact. Ive seen XP boot up with bad RAM simply to lock and reboot 5 minutes later. Again and again and again. Ive seen it with my own two eyes on several different computers. Different sticks of bad RAM. Ive NEVER seen XP shut itself down permanently just because of bad RAM. Maybe youve seen it but I havent. Nor have I ever even heard such. This is the first time Ive ever heard this. News to me.

I most definitely am not inexperienced with hardware. True that Im not Microsoft Certified but I am going to uni for it. Its also true that half the time I TEACH hardware for my instructors. They know I know my stuff.

No one program is the "be all and end all" for diagnostic software. Thats why major corporations like CompUSA have a slew of diagnostic software. Even software can be wrong. Sometimes you just have to do things the old fashioned way: one card at a time.

Ive seen faulty DVD Decoder cards do the same thing hes describing. Ive seen TV tuner cards also do it. Ive seen bad RAM make the screen do crap that looked like the screens from the Matrix. XP still rebooted though.

If that program pinpoints it and lets him fix it fine. IF it doesnt he needs to know what hes got to do in case the software fails him.