pc rebooting randomly?

[sandlotje89]

Oh, PC Eye, what I meant is that ending "explorer.exe" (I believe) shuts down all of the user processes. Like I said, my comp was in a similar situation to Zorro. I used to have to turn on my computer and it ctrl+alt+del AS SOON as it would let me, then I would race to the processes tab and end explorer.exe. If I could accomplish all of that within 5-10 seconds, my comp wouldn't reboot. I took it into a comp shop and the told me it was a program error, but I wasn't too interested since the entire hard drive had to be wiped anyway. Zorro's situation just seemed so similar. Plus, it can't hurt.

Zorro - If I were you, I would buy an external hard drive and load all of the documents and files you really care about onto it, then just reinstalling your OS. I got my local computer place to burn me a copy of XP for free (of course I had to use the key on the back of my comp). Reinstalling your OS would completely clean out your computer. Then you could reinstall programs as you needed them because most people have programs that they don't actually use (well at least I do, but try not to).

(PC Eye) - Anyway, I completely agree with you about the PSU requirements. I have just switched over from a BTX to an ATX along with a new case and a lot of lights and I am worried about the amount of stress placed on the system under high loads. I am waiting to get a new PSU before I begin to OC. It's killin me!

As for you, Zorro! Follow my procedures regarding the explorer.exe program just for the hell of it. It won't damage your computer and won't take any longer than 30 seconds (seeing as how you have to end the program within 5-10 if your situation is like mine). Also, take PC eye's advice seriously about the PSU -- an underpowered system is similar to working out without eating for several days -- it needs its energy! Also, be sure to check out the sites that put the PSU's through hell and give you their performance; such as "X PSU performed at Y degrees under 100% load with Z decibels." It is probably a lot smarter than guessing which one will be the best one for you.

Best of luck! I'm curious as to what it ends up being.

 

[PC eye]

It won't hurt anything by ending the explorer.exe but could see Windows stall before being able to reload the main gui. The constant restarts without one error message do point more at some type of hardware problem over software however.

The main idea behind trying a different supply is to see if the original has a bad cap or transformer and no good regulation or something on the board is giving out. A close visual inspection of the board for any bulged out or leaky caps even any discolored area would point to a factory defect.

The main problem was buying a used system on a site like EBay and not having any history on the system itself as far as how it was used and any problems that were seen by the original owner. What was ironic here was upgrading the 480w supply to a 550w model on the last build and loaning the first out to a friend who saw his 480w quit.

That one also quit sometime later and wasn't more then a year old. The 550w is still going strong however. The old case saw 4 HDs(2 ide, 2 sata) with two optical drives. The current build has an OCZ 700w supply seeing 2 newer optical drives and presently 2 sata HDs unless I add another pair in for a large storage array. The larger supply works out since it sees 6 sata power connectors for a board seeing 6 sata ports.

 

[dznutz]

i hope buying a new power supply will solve the problem. however, i still think it's caused by a virus or overheating

 

[PC eye]

Virus scans, spyware removers, hard drive diagnostics have all shown negative results at finding anything. The cpu temps are well within the normal range for a P4 while higher due to the stock hsf Sony threw on. I suspect the reason it was being sold was the first owner was seeing problems and was reluctant to spend any more time or money on it.

 

[zorro69]

sorry for taking a while to reply. called a few stores out there and no one has any idea (including a doofus at sony) about a replacement psu for this puter that will fit with the special mounting hardware. didn't get psu yet because of this. installed pc wizard and temp while running spyware never went above 50.5c. got a blue screen of death on thursday i think and the puter stayed on for almost an hour. ran adaware, spybot, avast quick scan and windows defender full scan and all came up with nothing wrong. have yet to get avast to do a full scan. the best psu i an get my hands on is a 300w with 24 pins. will that work? I have yet to try the explorer thing. thanks for all the help everyone. i will definitely post what (if anything) finally fixes it.

 

[PC eye]

The specs show a 364.7w requirement for general use while a 300w model could only be used to see if the system stays on without any restarts seen in a short time like something on the board heating up. The BSOD seen on thursday would be one thing to have taken notes on since that will provide information as to a driver or hardware problem being seen depending on the type of error.

So apparently it won't simply see a atx supply go right in without any adapter brackets? by your description there. That points to that being a proprietary AT not now typical ATX type of case. The Vaios are noted for that where you have to replace by Sony like Dell was a few years back with their own bolt pattern different from everyone else where you "had to" buy only their replacement supplies. That stunk then as well.

Besides being too reliant on Avast AVG is a great free program there. But the fact that nothing bug related is coming up suggests it's more likely a hardware or both hardware/software combination. The blue screen points to that more likely.

 

[dznutz]

the best psu i an get my hands on is a 300w with 24 pins. will that work? I have yet to try the explorer thing. thanks for all the help everyone. i will definitely post what (if anything) finally fixes it.

yes and maybe. the yes is for the pins. the maybe is for the wattage as it's lower and may not deliver enough power. it's always better to buy one that matches or is higher in wattage.

regarding the pin adaptor it should work. nowadays the 24 pin adaptor is made from a 20 pin and a 4 pin. so if you have an older board you'll only need only the 20 pin but if you have a more recent board you'll plug in 20 + 4 to make 24.

what you should be concerned about is the size of the power supply for your computer. it's either atx or matx. the best way is to open up the pc and look for "atx" words on the sticker of your power supply.

about wattage.... i'd recommend getting one at or above your power supply wattage. this is especially true if you run a lot of hardware. check out the psu recommendation guide for good ones.

 

[PC eye]

The problem there is trying to borrow a supply larger then 300w in order to see if that is the actual problem. The 300w would only be used for a quick test and not be used as a replacement for the Sony model. Take a look at how many HPs and Dells as well as other nakes that simply toss a 300-301w supply in with the option for a 350w model.

If the board there has a hardware monitor you can also look at the main voltage for the supply. It that is showing 12.5v -13+v there the supply is working. A low 11.25v output would show the supply needs to be replaced since the output isn't enough.

As far as a 300w supply you wouldnt plug everything back in like you were going to run the system at full steam ahead. You would run only the basics like boot drive, cpu, memory, video card without running any large programs that would start placing demands on power. If everything seems to run normal without restarts you put the supply on the list. But if the restarts are still being seen at an idle desktop you then rule the supply to look for the actual problem.

 

[zorro69]

well, here goes. Last sunday I ordered a power supply (500w). Finally got it on thursday, and found out it had no P2 connector. The P2 connector is a 3 wire (blue,black and white) that plugs into the mobo right next to the 20 pin connector. I can't get an answer from sony support (except a new supply will cost me $132). Work put me on a different shift just for last week so I have had little time to work with it. Will do my best to get to it tomorrow.

 

[dznutz]

http://www.computing.net/answers/hardware/power-supply-p2-connector/46350.html

basically this guy says it's not necessary. all it does is monitor and regulate the ps fan speed and can be turned off through bios. just go into bios and disable PS fan speed monitoring. this is assuming that you plugged in the cables for all the other stuff correctly

 

[zorro69]

Here goes again, I tried the new power supply wednesday. Rebooted in the first 15 minutes. Then again in another 5. I got a new hard drive from seagate and used their program to clone the hdd already in it. Just for the heck of it I cloned another drive so I could do a system restore. I tried the explorer.exe thing and everything was running before any restarts. After the restore it ran for better than 2 hours before rebooting. Doesn't this eliminate everything except for a mobo?

 

[dznutz]

perhaps. but we still haven't totally eliminated the virus issue. i'm still thinking virus as your virus scanner may not be up to date. if you have an OS disk use it on the new seagate drive as a new installation. if the new installation doesn't reboot then it was caused by a virus. if it does then perhaps mobo. this is assuming you don't have a spare mobo on hand

 

[zorro69]

dznutz, doesn't the system restore wipe the drive clean and then reinstall everything back to factory? If not then I'll try another restore and then use the 90 day norton trial to try and check it. After norton should I try avg or something else? I've never done it but I think I could gut the computer to check for board problems and then get it back together.

 

[dznutz]

i personally never had any positive use of system restore. some examples are: removing internet explorer and not being able to get it back through it. also using system restore multiple times in one sitting somehow deactivated my system restore. i find it useless so i don't have it activated. maybe someone here knows if this "should" take care of a possible virus problem.

===
back to the situation at hand. from what you told me it possibly could be a spare mobo. but i'd like to do some tests before buying one. these tests will not cost you any money but time. the other positive is that you'll learn something new:

if you have an OS disk that came with your computer use that for your new drive. if it does restart then your problem is caused by another hardware possibly mobo. proceed to bare boot and or memtest.

if you don't have an OS disk then just use whatever scanning programs you used before but in safemode. did you try safemode?

if that fails then try bare booting your computer. for instance you remove the unecessary connections like cd drive, floppy, flash readers, an extra stick of ram, sound card (if you have one), vid card (if your mobo has vid output), etc. if going bare works then plug the others back one by one to determine the problem hardware.

bad ram can also cause this problem. download memtest and burn the iso using an image burning program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/AleGr_MEMTEST_d3257.html
it will be an iso file so you'll have to BURN THE IMAGE not a regular data burn.

however, if you have a spare mobo you can directly find out if the mobo is the cause. just know that the hd will probably need to be reformatted (maybe even give you a blue screen) as windows will detect new hardware and not boot. i'd use this as a last resort unless you have a spare mobo lying around.

if you have another pc you can try swapping hard drives. but see above for a potential problem.

sorry to not give you the direct answer but the actual "doing" is quite fast and logical. if this happened to my pc i would've: cleaned the heatsink/fan with compressed air and monitor temps and cpu frequency to see if the reboots were caused by overheating first, scanned in safemode or bios for possible viruses 2nd, look for physical damages or odd smells from the pc thirdly, memtest for bad ram fourth, and if all else fails bare boot to determine the problem.

 

[zorro69]

hopefully i get these in the right order,i do not have the os disk so that one is out. How do I get it to boot in safe mode? I thought of 'barebooting' it but wasn't sure if it would work.
I have a total of four sticks of ram, what does burning an iso do? does it tell me if there is a problem or just gives me a report of some kind? I will try to pull 3 in the morning and if it reboots then try a different one.
No spare mobo's either.
Lastly, no reason to be sorry, you are helping me get somewhere with this problem and learn how to do things as I go. I sincerely appreciate the help.
I blew the case out with an air compressor.
I checked temps and lately it has been rebooting at temps around 41c.
I pulled nearly everything out that i could and found no damaged parts on any boards. i couldn't get to the back side of the mobo(lack of time to take apart that far and still get back together).
I will try the bareboot in the morning.

 

[dznutz]

hopefully i get these in the right order,i do not have the os disk so that one is out. How do I get it to boot in safe mode?

2 ways. first is to tap ALT+F4 key combination when you've already loaded windows. the other is to repeatedly tap f8 right after you restart or just turn on the computer. in safe mode windows will only load the necessary programs and the screen should be much smaller. from there you can scan. there will also be an option to "load last good configuration." i'd do a scan in safe mode first and if that doesn't solve the problem try the "last good configuration."

I thought of 'barebooting' it but wasn't sure if it would work.
I have a total of four sticks of ram, what does burning an iso do? does it tell me if there is a problem or just gives me a report of some kind? I will try to pull 3 in the morning and if it reboots then try a different one.

barebooting is used to find out which is the troubled hardware. lets say a sound card is crapping out and causing weird problems. you'd be able to isolate that easily when barebooting.

yes, it would be best to pull out 3 and try to see which is bad. alternate until you find good ones. typically making a memtest disk will tell you if you have bad ram. bad ram will cause restarts but usually accompanied with a blue screen. but some people have the blue screen disabled for quick rebooting. lets hold off burning the .iso file for now and try the "1 stick at a time" techniqe.

best case scenario is the problem is either a virus or ram issue. that way you don't have to spend any money.

i'm not really sure what kind of hardware you have in your computer but try scanning in safe mode. if that doesn't solve the problem then bareboot your pc. that means taking out 3 sticks of ram (remember to turn off the power in the back of the computer and try pressing the on switch to discharge excess electricity when messing with any hardware) and unplug the power for any floppies/cd drives. perhaps a picture of your hardware can help us determine what you have. be sure to get the internal hardware and the backside of the computer (so we can see if it has the intergrated video connection).

Lastly, no reason to be sorry, you are helping me get somewhere with this problem and learn how to do things as I go. I sincerely appreciate the help.

and no probs. i'm really curious what's the true cause of this.

 

[zorro69]

Computer has not rebooted in 6 hours. I've had antivirus, spybot and adaware running at the same time. I hope all is good. As of right now the whole problem was in the ram. It came with 2g, problem was that 3 were the correct type of ddr 400 pc3200 and 1 was ddr 266. I took three of the sticks out and noticed one had a different sticker than the rest. Upon closer inspection, i saw that one was wrong. Since removing the wrong one all has run like a dream. To all of you out there that helped, THANK YOU!! I have learned a lot these past few weeks and hopefully I'll be able to help someone else sometime in the future.

 

[dznutz]

you may have removed the bad ram. however, just know that you can use ram of different frequencies together as long as they fit into the mobo. so technically your 400 and 266 can be put together. the computer will then default to the lowest frequency for each ram (in your case 266mhz). lets hope that the ram you have is the bad one. there may be other bad ones as well. if so just repeat the removal process as mentioned. also, this is a good time to run memtest for ram diagnostics on your good/working ram. but i think you've had enough headaches for now. if it works then leave it be

on the bright side......... you got a shiny new power supply

 

[zorro69]

I will try to do the memtest tonight. I think I'm going to pass on building anything around that shiny new power supply for quite some time.

 

[PC eye]

dznutz, doesn't the system restore wipe the drive clean and then reinstall everything back to factory? If not then I'll try another restore and then use the 90 day norton trial to try and check it. After norton should I try avg or something else? I've never done it but I think I could gut the computer to check for board problems and then get it back together.

The system restore feature backclocks the system registry by calendar providing a good woring restore point is available. A total wipe of the primary would entail the need for the recovery disks if available or the full system restoration to factory by a preassigned key combination at post time like many new prebuilds are seeing.

Dump the Norton 90 day blonder and go for a working program! You'll hear that fast from just about anyone here. The latest AVG 8.0 now offers an IE security toolbar for IE 7 along with replacing the previously separately installed anti-rootkit tool it seems. The download link that will bring you to download.com to lighten the load on Grisoft's servers apparently is seen at http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe