Random Restarts?

LastElement0 · 11-09-2005, 10:09 PM

hello,
im trying to help out my girlfriend with her computer problems. she has a fairly new dell running on XP. and as of late her computer has been acting up, at times getting the Blue Screen of Death and would randomly restart on her. as well as just acting sluggish. she contacted Dell and they had her do some things, she doesnt exactly remember what. one of which was disabling unecessary startup programs. any idea as to what the cause of this may be?

StrangleHold · 11-09-2005, 11:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LastElement0

hello,
im trying to help out my girlfriend with her computer problems. she has a fairly new dell running on XP. and as of late her computer has been acting up, at times getting the Blue Screen of Death and would randomly restart on her. as well as just acting sluggish. she contacted Dell and they had her do some things, she doesnt exactly remember what. one of which was disabling unecessary startup programs. any idea as to what the cause of this may be?

Is she running Anti-virus and anti-spyware programs

spazz31585 · 11-10-2005, 12:14 AM

i don't recall off the top of my head where it's located. but check in the system setup (BIOS). there is an option for automatic restart.

other then that, i'd say back up data and reinstall windows first, just in case it is a virus/spyware issue. if that still does not resolve the issue, i'd run the 32-bit diags on the whole system

if you don't know how to do that, send me a message or something and i'll give you instructions. if you gfet an error, call dell and give it to them

make sure when running the diags that you have media in all your drives. floppy, cd, etc

StrangleHold · 11-10-2005, 01:04 AM

Could be, virus, P/S, Ram, heat if a fan stop working, dont think the video card would do that,usually the video card will make it lock up instead of restart, I would run a virus and spyware scan first to rule that out

LastElement0 · 11-10-2005, 01:41 AM

IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

thats the message she got. and before our chat with dell got disconnected, it seemed as if they were acting like memory was the issue cuz we ended up going to virtual memory and stuff. so i started thinking maybe insufficient RAM was the problem. is 256 mb enough for XP home?

spamdos · 11-10-2005, 01:58 AM

has any hardware been installed recently because the blue screen can often signify a hardware problem

LastElement0 · 11-10-2005, 02:00 AM

the most recent that she said she installed was the sims 2. she had uninstalled that but the problem remained....

34erd · 11-10-2005, 02:17 AM

What model # and specs?

LastElement0 · 11-10-2005, 02:29 AM

dell dimension dim2400
intel (R) pentium (R) 4CPU 2.4 GHz
2.39 GHz 256 MB of RAM

came straight from her system properties
i assume its a RAM issue, so what kind would i need to get?

34erd · 11-10-2005, 02:58 AM

I think so to, there may be a way around it, but if your getting RAM you need to get PC2700 DDR (not DDR2) RAM. You can get PC3200 it just wont run at that speed. I recomend something like corsair value.

Dell wont replace the RAM for you?

11-09-2005, 10:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
LastElement0 Bronze Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Some Uncool Place Age: 20 Posts: 63	Random Restarts? hello, im trying to help out my girlfriend with her computer problems. she has a fairly new dell running on XP. and as of late her computer has been acting up, at times getting the Blue Screen of Death and would randomly restart on her. as well as just acting sluggish. she contacted Dell and they had her do some things, she doesnt exactly remember what. one of which was disabling unecessary startup programs. any idea as to what the cause of this may be?

11-10-2005, 01:04 AM	#4 (permalink)
StrangleHold Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: In a realm of unknown Wonders Posts: 7,552	Could be, virus, P/S, Ram, heat if a fan stop working, dont think the video card would do that,usually the video card will make it lock up instead of restart, I would run a virus and spyware scan first to rule that out __________________ NZXT Apollo Athlon 64 X2 5600-3.3ghz. Gigabyte GA MA770 DS3 G Skill DDR2 1066-944mhz. 4gbs. PNY 8800GT/VD964 Cooler W/D Sata 3.0 500gb RE2 Humans are curious creatures and by nature insane. Lock us all in a room together and within hours we're dividing into groups, creating Gods and plotting on how to kill one another.

11-10-2005, 01:58 AM	#6 (permalink)
spamdos Diamond Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Canberra Australia Age: 19 Posts: 1,107	has any hardware been installed recently because the blue screen can often signify a hardware problem __________________ "Interdum feror cupidine partium magnarum Europae vincendarum" Sometimes I get this urge to conquer large parts of Europe. Australia will rule the world one day.

11-10-2005, 02:17 AM	#8 (permalink)
34erd Diamond Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Age: 15 Posts: 2,842	What model # and specs? __________________ DFI Lanparty UT nF4 SLI DR Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1 Gig OCZ VX DDR500 DDR BFG GeForce 7800GT 160 Gig SATA HDD CD-RW DVD-ROM Antec NeoPower 480 Thermaltake Tsunami

11-10-2005, 02:58 AM	#10 (permalink)
34erd Diamond Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Age: 15 Posts: 2,842	I think so to, there may be a way around it, but if your getting RAM you need to get PC2700 DDR (not DDR2) RAM. You can get PC3200 it just wont run at that speed. I recomend something like corsair value. Dell wont replace the RAM for you? __________________ DFI Lanparty UT nF4 SLI DR Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1 Gig OCZ VX DDR500 DDR BFG GeForce 7800GT 160 Gig SATA HDD CD-RW DVD-ROM Antec NeoPower 480 Thermaltake Tsunami

11-10-2005, 12:14 AM	#3 (permalink)
spazz31585 Gold Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Age: 23 Posts: 256	i don't recall off the top of my head where it's located. but check in the system setup (BIOS). there is an option for automatic restart. other then that, i'd say back up data and reinstall windows first, just in case it is a virus/spyware issue. if that still does not resolve the issue, i'd run the 32-bit diags on the whole system if you don't know how to do that, send me a message or something and i'll give you instructions. if you gfet an error, call dell and give it to them make sure when running the diags that you have media in all your drives. floppy, cd, etc

11-10-2005, 01:41 AM	#5 (permalink)
LastElement0 Bronze Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Some Uncool Place Age: 20 Posts: 63	IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL thats the message she got. and before our chat with dell got disconnected, it seemed as if they were acting like memory was the issue cuz we ended up going to virtual memory and stuff. so i started thinking maybe insufficient RAM was the problem. is 256 mb enough for XP home?

11-10-2005, 02:00 AM	#7 (permalink)
LastElement0 Bronze Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Some Uncool Place Age: 20 Posts: 63	the most recent that she said she installed was the sims 2. she had uninstalled that but the problem remained....

11-10-2005, 02:29 AM	#9 (permalink)
LastElement0 Bronze Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Some Uncool Place Age: 20 Posts: 63	dell dimension dim2400 intel (R) pentium (R) 4CPU 2.4 GHz 2.39 GHz 256 MB of RAM came straight from her system properties i assume its a RAM issue, so what kind would i need to get?

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode