How might I find out which software is causing a conflict that causes reboots?

A

andrewanimation

New Member
Hello,

There’s a strong chance that there’s some kind of software-related conflict in my system that’s causing random reboots. How might I have a chance of finding out what exactly it is so I can stop it?

Any help would be great.
Thanks
 
If you are running XP there's a crash control feature that can be disabled in the system registry. When a program starts to lockup the system XP is supposed to automatically reboot the system to avoid freezeups. For isolating software problems the first method is to use the selective startup option seen in the msconfig utility. You open this up by typing msconfig at the Run prompt off of the Start menu and pressing the enter key(faster) or clicking the "OK" button.

Once you have the msconfig screen appear on the desktop the first tab will have Normal, Diagnostic, and Selective startup options. There you click on the third selective startup and go to the startup group(last tab on the right) and open that section up. You can select the "disable all" option or individually uncheck items there. In the next to last "services" section you can also disable the auto startup of antivirus and other programs. There you will want to check off the "hide all microsoft services" option to avoid disabling the essential services needed to run Windows.

Besides assuming software related problems are the cause running a few different antivirus and malware scans is one idea. Another is to go over your system temps in case of an overheating problem being seen with hardware not software. A bad bonding between cpu and the heat sink will see high temps result in sudden restarts. The board's own overheat protection found on most new boards out will kick in to prevent damage there.
 
Hello,

Thanks for your response.
How do I go to the system registry to disable the crash control feature?
OK, I disabled all the startup items in the Startup and Services lists, except for the Microsoft services. I’ll let you know if the restarts still happen after that, or if any other problem develops.
As for computer scans and temps, I already ran trusted scans, such as avast, but deleting what they found didn’t stop the restarts, and PC Wizard 2006 showed that my temps are ok, so I’m focusing on software conflicts as the cause for the reboots.

Any further help would be great.
Thanks
 
I've seen problems come up with a weak battery on the board itself after a year of use. The CR2032 lithium didn't last that long on one board. Suddenly the system wouldn't even start with nothing seen on screen. When replaced the system fired right up like nothing ever happened. Usually that will stall you at post time while not ruling it out for causing various problems.

I would have to advise still keeping a close eye on hardwares there. Some will fail without necessarily overheating. That's one thing to consider after seeing how things go with the selective startup method.
 
Hello,

I'm using the selective startup method, so I'll see how it fares. As for hardware, I'm not good with the inside of the computer, and the shop that I'm going to mail my computer off to (it's under an extended warranty) in a week from today said the first thing they'd do is wipe the data clean to see if it's a software or hardware issue, but that wiping of data is what I'm trying to avoid, by hopefully finding a software- or otherwise-related solution before mailing it off to them, as they don't deal with software issues.
Something that might matter that I almost forgot to bring up is that there's been an unusual sort of light chirping sound coming from the front of the tower ever since the rebooting issue began, kind of like a chirp you’d expect to hear right before an intentional forced restart.

Any further help would be great.
Thanks
 
Is that chirp more like the default beep heard when first powering up a system? That could be a hardware failure code if you are starting to hear any pattern like one long and two short or a steady beep sound. Since that was a prebuilt system there is only so much you can do yourself there without voiding the warranty. Any hardware problems are their's to deal with.

The best advice here at this point is to backup as much as you can if you have any important files on the drive. Clean your personal info off before shipping it out to them for service. If you have a cd or dvd burner you have the option to burn files to disk while you can and then delete data on your own. Backup your IE favorites and links to a floppy if needed for later use.
 
Hello,

Thanks for your response.
The sound actually got a lot louder overnight, and woke me up. I recorded it by mic:
http://www.filesend.net/download.php?f=411377af1905bbec7fe204a78e785a0e

I opened the case to record it, and it sounds more like it's coming from the lower back of the tower.
As for backing up my data, I recalled that there are two 200GB hard drives in the computer set up to be a mirror array of each other, so maybe I should write them a note to just remove one while deleting the data off only one of them, not to mention that I guess they could just swap a different hard drive(s) into there to accomplish the same test. Unless there’s something I don’t understand about what they have to do.
Anyway, does that noise I recorded mean anything to you?

Any further help would be great.
Thanks
 
The sound there sounds far more like a metal object bouncing while dragged across a drive platter while spinning. Namely it sounds like a read head is dangling free inside a drive rather then an audio alert pointing at something on the board as the problem. The sound was most likely reflected and not at the rear of the case but in one of the sata drives.
 
There are three main groups for drive types.(The last sentence refers to the last several years and not pre-Pentium systems going way back to first hard drives do note.)

1)The common type hard drive used as the primary host or OS drive is the Enhanced ide or ide drive connected with a flat ribbon cable unless spending more on a better for air flow round ide cable.

2) The name sata refers to the Serial ATA type as opposed to the ide ATA type drive where there are jumpers at the rear of the drive casing to assign as master, slave, or cable select depending on the one of two connectors on the common ide cable. A different and faster bus is used where the socket the drive's cable is plugged into determines if it is primary sata master or slave, or secondary master or slave.

3)The latest to the list is the self contained external hard drives connected by way of a usb port. The power is supplied usually by an ac adapter to convert ac current to the 12v standard.

The noise or distinctive sounds in the mp3 file sounds precisely like a metal object vibrating against another metal surface where there is some high speed movement. In a drive that would be a read or read/write head on a controller vibrating against one of the drive's own metal and magnetic platters used for data whether for data storage or the OS.

The only people really equipped for repairing drives generally is the drive manufacturer. If you have a Seagate you would send the drive in to Seagate for them to repair/replace parts inside under the usual limited warranty. For WD or Maxtor the same would apply there as well. If the drive has been lying around for some time most will simply buy a new one rather then fuss paying the shipping costs for sending it and then back plus any labor/parts charges tacked onto that if not covered or past the warranty time limit.
 
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