Win2k reboot & boot BSOD problem

[Dogwelder]

I've been getting occasional boot BSOD's on one of my machines that's been running a couple of years now since install, and then, just recently, the computer would spontaneously reboot every so often.

I checked the eventlog, which showed HD and atapi controller errors. I switched the CDROM and HD around (each on their own IDE) as well as tried new cables. Doing this didn't stop the reboots, but since then I haven't seen A BSOD or an error message in the eventlog after the reboots, which still keep happening.

Worried that this might be the HD failing, I put the original HD and DVDDROM together on one IDE and another HD by itself on the other, ready to backup data. This presented some weird problems. No matter how I worked the jumpers or position on the cable, the new drive kept showing up as slave in BIOS. Also, I noticed a ghost DVD ROM drive showing up in explorer. Looking in the device manager, it said it was a SCSI DVDROM drive. I have the SCSI on the Mobo, but I've never used them.

So, deciding it was that particular IDE that was the problem, I left the original HD and DVDDROM as master and slave respectively on IDE0 and started back up.

No dice, reboots still happen. I can go for hours working in MS Office or browsing the web or reading/writing email no problem, and the reboot can happen anytime. I have found 2 ways so far to make it happen: Either start a game (Enemy Territory in this instance), and it will reboot within the first 2 minutes or, going to the Logical Disk Management service,as soon as I click on the HD partition, it reboots. And still there are no more eventlog errors.

CHKdsk results for the drive are:

Checking file system on C:
The type of the file system is NTFS.

A disk check has been scheduled.
Windows will now check the disk.
Cleaning up minor inconsistencies on the drive.
Cleaning up 2 unused index entries from index $SII of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 2 unused index entries from index $SDH of file 0x9.
Cleaning up 2 unused security descriptors.
CHKDSK is verifying file data (stage 4 of 5)...
File data verification completed.
CHKDSK is verifying free space (stage 5 of 5)...
Free space verification is complete.

19543040 KB total disk space.
12329724 KB in 56087 files.
18680 KB in 2103 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
136640 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
7057996 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
4885760 total allocation units on disk.
1764499 allocation units available on disk.

The machine is a self build, with a 1.2 Celeron, 256 megs of PC100 RAM, a Voodoo 3 vidcard, all on a Delta i815-W83627 mainboard.

Which, finally, brings me to my question: Can I safely assume that the board is headed for a dirtnap and get a new one, or should I try a reinstall first (PC is up to date with SP4 and latest updates. Virus and spyware checks are negative, and I always run a firewall.)

Dogwelder

[Panama Red]

I may have missed it in your post but did you run the hard drive manufacturer's diagnostic software? That would be a good way to eliminate a hard drive as the cause of the problem. If they both check out fine and you've replaced the cable, what about the power supply? Have you tried another one of them? Another item to test is the memory using Memtest86+.

[Digitalic]

It`s very possible that the onboard IDE controller is bad due to the event log errors you posted and the fact that you can cause a reboot when trying to use Disk management. Also the fact that it reports a scsi drive when none are present.

See what the results that Panama suggested turn up and we can take it from there.

Another thought, maybe the CD DVD is the culprit. Does the CD have to be in the drive when using Enemy Territory? Try running it without a CD Rom for awhile.

edit; Just to avoid any confusion, I meant on board IDE interface, not controller.

[Dogwelder]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I ran Seagate's Seatools, and everything checked out fine. Haven't tested the PSU or the memory yet, but I'm really doubting it's either of those.

Enemy Territory doesn't require a CD, as it's a free online FPS, but it does a crapload of reading from the HD as it loads the app then then whatever map is running on the server I connect to. I'm goin to disconnect it anyway, see what it does to the phantom SCSI drive.

Dogwelder

[Dogwelder]

Well crap. I finally got round to testing the memory with memtest, and I got a spontaneous reboot when it hit about 77%. Bought another stick of memory, and away I go...or not. Still getting the reboots (including the ones I can generate, such as in the Disk management console).

This means it's the mbo for sure, right?

Dogwelder

[glc]

Not necessarily - it may be the CPU overheating or a weak power supply.

[Dogwelder]

Possibly, but, as I mentioned before, I could boot the machine after a night turned off, go staright to disk management and cause the reboot, so I'm pretty sure it's not the CPU. I suppose it could be the PSU, but I have my doubts about that. What with the string of IDE errors, the culprit seems to be the mobo.

Incidentally, this is the second time memtest has proven useless to me. Another comp I had froze up once in a while. During memtest, same freeze up occurred, But getting new RAM (Kingston no less) didn't change a thing.

Dogwelder

[macko72]

Try using Windows Memory Diagnostic tests: http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp