I am getting SOOO mad at my comp!!!!

[Epona]

OK, I was having the exact same problem until a week ago when I solved it. It was caused by faulty RAM. It could be caused by overheating, but your temperatures sound in the same area as mine were, and it wasn't that with my PC - I ran it with the case off for a while to check.

Before you run out and buy more RAM, download a program called 'docmemory' which is free from Simmtester

Running that will diagnose any RAM problem you may have. Magic. I bet you that's your problem.

This is a long shot, but it could be a voltage discrepancy. If you have a motherboard manual check what voltage it is meant be be set at and then check your motherboard voltage setting. Even a 0.1 difference can cause your computer to lock up or restart for no reason. If you dont, find out what your motherboard is and look on the net.
Also 60C is pretty hot. anything up to 59 or 60 is 'meant' to be stable, but it puts strain on cpu's. mine runs at 55C without the sides of the case on, on a hot day. (you could even try pulling the case off if you havent already).

Then again, it could be something to do with memory timing or cache timing. Try running in dos and see if it restarts there. If it doesnt then it could quite well be windows. A re-install might fix it.

If nothing seems to work, you can dl a program called AMIDiag. It's a health check program for your computer and diagnoses problems with your computer.

[Grojlach]

Had this problem before as well, turned out to be a hardware problem on my system... Which is an expensive joke to repair.

[Link]

Originally posted by Epona: OK, I was having the exact same problem until a week ago when I solved it. It was caused by faulty RAM. It could be caused by overheating, but your temperatures sound in the same area as mine were, and it wasn't that with my PC - I ran it with the case off for a while to check. Before you run out and buy more RAM, download a program called 'docmemory' which is free from Simmtester Running that will diagnose any RAM problem you may have. Magic. I bet you that's your problem.

Ran your program, Epona, albeit the Quick Test (have got little time) but it found nothing. Everything passed. Thanks though!

[Seraph]

Bad RAM is the #1 cause of random reboots.
The quick docmemory is less then worthless. I tested it with a known bad stick of RAM, it found nothing wrong. Set it up some night before you go to sleep.
Also, I discovered this a few weeks ago. Any RAM in my second DIMM slot (rows 2 & 3) would cause random reboots, it was really odd, and I still do not understand it, but I now have 256megs of PC2100 with no where to go on my motherboard.

The second thing to check is your BIOS settings. Its probably not the problem, but its simple to check. In particuar make sure your bus speeds, and memory settings are correct.

The third thing to check is your PSU. Athlons HATE bad power. A good number of motherboards offer the option of reporting the CPU voltage, this can be useful for diagnosing a bad PSU. If your motherboard offers this option, take advantage of this.

[Sir Krustin]

Second that on the Athlons hating bad power. I had an Asus mobo with a power problem. No, it wasn't the PS - the hardware alarm went off continuously, reporting low power on one of the 3.3v supplies, which is regulated on the mobo AFAIK. Replacing the mobo with a new one of the same model fixed the instabilities and stopped the alarms. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[Link]

Originally posted by Seraph: Bad RAM is the #1 cause of random reboots. The quick docmemory is less then worthless. I tested it with a known bad stick of RAM, it found nothing wrong. Set it up some night before you go to sleep. Also, I discovered this a few weeks ago. Any RAM in my second DIMM slot (rows 2 & 3) would cause random reboots, it was really odd, and I still do not understand it, but I now have 256megs of PC2100 with no where to go on my motherboard. The second thing to check is your BIOS settings. Its probably not the problem, but its simple to check. In particuar make sure your bus speeds, and memory settings are correct. The third thing to check is your PSU. Athlons HATE bad power. A good number of motherboards offer the option of reporting the CPU voltage, this can be useful for diagnosing a bad PSU. If your motherboard offers this option, take advantage of this.

Thanks Seraph. I will check everything tonight. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Animal]

Originally posted by Link: This is not normal anymore (well, to be honest, it has never BEEN normal).. My computer has the most annoying glitch/bug/whatever which causes it to restart spontaneously at any given moment. When I'm watching a movie on my computer. When I'm playing a game. When I've played a game, and going back to Windows. Heck, even when I'm just typing this, I'm not quite sure how long it will last until it goes wacko again. Problem is though, that I haven't got the faintest clue what is going on. I have addressed this problem before on IW, but then the drivers were mentioned as the probable source of the problem, but as my computer restarts in any given program (be it Word, BGII, Warcraft 3, doesn't matter) I don't think that's it. Overheating could be it, but my computer now reaches a maximum of 60 degrees Celcius, and I personally don't think that's very high. I have Windows XP installed so maybe that's the problem, but I really don't know anymore, and I'm out of ideas of what to do. In desperate need of help, I ask you guys, who probably know a lot more of computers than I do, to give me a hand (or more perhaps). Thanks in advance, Cheers, Link P.S. Further info on my comp: it's a AMD Athlon 1500+, 256 MB Ram internal memory, 80 Gig Hard drive, Geforce 2 MX video card. That's about it, I guess.

First thing you need to do is disable the auto restart feature of Windows XP. Go to Control Panel > System > Advanced > Start up and Recovery Settings and uncheck the box "Automatically Restart"

At least now, you'll be able to see exactly what error is occuring if it's a software related problem, ie. drivers. Next time it happens, instead of rebooting, you'll get a blue screeen with a stop error. Write down any information related to the error. It should be a fairly long number with lots of zero's. Once your back up and running, head of to the MS knowledge base and fire the stop error in the search engine and you should receive some information as to exactly the cause of the problem.
If it just restarts, the same as before, then:
1. You didn't turn off auto restart
2. There's an auto restart feature in the BIOS for hardware failure.

I'm not sure if you're running a VIA chipset with your Athlon, but nine times out of ten, problems like this are due to bad 4 in 1 drivers for the mobo.
Oh, and by the way 60 degrees Celsuis is way to hot for Athlon XP.

[Link]

Thanks Animal! I know there's using Easy CD Creator usually makes my computer restart, so should I try deliberately? (To make sure you don't misunderstand me: it's not the only program where it restarts!! [img]smile.gif[/img] )

[Link]

Okay.. The computer has restarted, and I got the blue screen and it said:

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Technical Information:

STOP: 0x000000D1

This should be enough for you guys I guess..
There was more:

ALCXWDM.SYS

Is that something that could help? I checked the Microsoft site, which said that it was a driver problem of some sort. Problem is: as far as I could see, I couldn't find any specific information concerning the driver which is causing this problem. Maybe you guys know something, which I don't.
I must add, though, that the temperature was 62 degrees Celcius, when the computer restarted. So I don't know if that is or was somehow involved in the program.

Taking it in step by step! We WILL figure this out! I promise!!