I'm looking at a friends computer and it has an issue where it starts and boots windows and turns off suddenly. It will go into safe mode but that too sometimes abruptly restarts the computer. Her previous tech was in her own words "insane" and that's why she cant take it to him again. From looking at the BIOS I've determined that the previous tech had attempted to overclock the cpu. I'm thinking this is the issue, but I've had nothing but problems trying to fix it. There are times that the computer will boot, and work perfectly (but that's 1 out of 10). Any ideas or helps will be greatly appreciated as I'm starting to lose my hair.
System reboots and reboots, works once, and starts over again.
- Thread starter estlapena
- Start date
deanj20
New Member
Well, first you should restore the BIOS to system defaults. If the problem persists, it could very likely be that the hard drive is going out - that will cause that sort of erratic hit and miss behavior. It could also be some other form of hardware failure, but I'd test the HDD first. You can download free utility ISOs from most HDD manufacturers websites.
If you're not sure how to do that, post back w/ the computer make and model, and we will assist you further.
If you're not sure how to do that, post back w/ the computer make and model, and we will assist you further.
sysengrnz
New Member
re:
Easy way to test the hard drive would be to use a docking station. Test the hard drive using a known good client to see if you can access and browse the hard drive. Also do a disk check, dskchk in command prompt *dependent on OS* to confirm that the disk isn't damaged. Flash the bios as mentioned above would definitely be the first thing I'd do especially if it has been over clocked.
If the hard drive comes back good, I'd suggest booting up using a windows disk, and run a repair on the system. If the problem still persists and the computer has 2 RAM modules, I'd remove one at a time to see if one of the RAM modules is going faulty. If the problem is still persistent, I'd then endeavor to check all PCI cards to ensure that they're seated correctly.
Easy way to test the hard drive would be to use a docking station. Test the hard drive using a known good client to see if you can access and browse the hard drive. Also do a disk check, dskchk in command prompt *dependent on OS* to confirm that the disk isn't damaged. Flash the bios as mentioned above would definitely be the first thing I'd do especially if it has been over clocked.
If the hard drive comes back good, I'd suggest booting up using a windows disk, and run a repair on the system. If the problem still persists and the computer has 2 RAM modules, I'd remove one at a time to see if one of the RAM modules is going faulty. If the problem is still persistent, I'd then endeavor to check all PCI cards to ensure that they're seated correctly.
