Spontaneous Reboot (Kernel Data Error): Please Help!

[Dalton]

Hi folks,

My IBM server 200x series (SCSI drive), 512RAM 40GIG Hardrive Win XP has been spontaneously rebooting.

Originally I thought this was due to a drive conflict having recently installed an internal DVD writer. However I have removed the writer and in fact all drives except the hard drive and it still spontaneous reboots. Sometimes it is a week before it does it, sometimes 10 minutes between reboots. Maybe there is still something wrong in the BIOS settings? But I would need real dumbed down instructions about how to check for that, please.

When I turned off the auto-reboot function in advanced settings, it now gives me a blue screen that provides useful info I hope: It is listed as a "Kernel Data Inpage Error."

Any ideas about the source of this problem and what to do about it? Thanks in advance!

Peter Dalton

[pam123]

Read through this and see if it helps : http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/Windows/XP/all/reskit/en-us/prmd_stp_fvlq.asp?frame=true&hidetoc=true

It talks about reinstalling drivers for SCSI after something goes wrong, which sounds like it could be your problem.
I'm only guessing though but you'll get more replies to narrow it all down.

[glc]

http://www.smartcomputing.com/techsupport/detail.aspx?guid=&ErrorID=23365

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;130801

[Dalton]

Hi folks,

I am still wrestling with the Spontaneous Reboot and without a fresh idea there is little else to do but can the whole computer and buy a new one, not exactly an appealing option. So any ideas are much appreciated.

What I get is "ATAPI CD-ROM BOOT: FAILURE" message on computer on boot up. :confused: Does that have to do with boot priority? Can I correct that in BIOS, if so how, exactly?

This is a SCSI partioned drive.

Thanks in advance!

Peter Dalton

[pam123]

You don't have to junk the computer but it sounds like you need a new drive.
For now go into the bios and check to see if you have "Halt on any error" enabled.
If that's the case disable it and put the cd-rom last in the boot order and see what happens.
I had to do something like this on a computer when the floppy drive went south but I've never tried it on one with SCSI.
If that doesn't work then remember that cd-roms are cheap.

[Dalton]

Pam123,

Thanks. Being four years old it might be getting time to retire it any. Besides I've never installed a hard drive and operating system before.

It is actually a DVD, not a CD-ROM, and I'm not sure whether it is referring to a CD-ROM that used to be there or else thinks the DVD writer is a CD-ROM. The DVD writer appears in Device Manager, but not in Devices under BIOS.

I disabled "Halt on Any Drive." I set the boot order to Hard Drive 1 first, Floppy second, CD-ROM.

And it has stopped saying "ATAPI CD-ROM BOOT: FAILURE" anyway!

Peter Dalton

[glc]

Many motherboards will give you that ATAPI CD-ROM BOOT: FAILURE mesage when the CD is before the hard drive in the boot order and there's no bootable CD in the drive. That's normal, not a failure of any sort.

I'd go to the scsi hard drive manufacturer's site and look for diagnostics that will run on a scsi drive - download them and run them.

[Dalton]

Hi again,

The system passed the diagnostic tests, which perhaps increases chance it is an incorrect setting?

It could not detect the CD-ROM/DVD disk however, although this drive appears in Windows Device Manager and functions normally. Anyway, even with that drive entirely removed the system continued to do the spontaneous rebooting.

I am running out of ideas on this one!

Peter :confused:

[pam123]

It looks like you're right about settings.
Do you have the XP cd so you can do a repair install or format if necessary?
Before you start make sure you have the SCSI drivers on a floppy disk.
A reapir install won't harm your data but you should backup just to be safe anyway.

[Dalton]

Thanks for everybody's help. Actually I noticed one other utility that I had not run when I wrote my last message--and sure enough it found a bunch of "Sector 0 Bad Address Lines" on the SCSI disc!

Guess that means a failing hard drive huh? If so the question is whether I am technologically savvy enough to install a new SCSI hard drive and operating system, and the answer is: prob'ly not!

Peter