Computer Restarts Itself

[Cissy]

Hello
Less than a week ago, I installed a new MOBO, P5K/EPU ASUS, new DDR2 Kingston Memory (2-1G sticks. Also my previous video card, nVidea 7100 and my XP hard drive. I did all this because my computer went dead, figuring the old Asus MOBO. Ok, fine.

However, when I do a cold start (comp stays off overnight), before it gets to the sign on screen, it will restart itself anywhere from 2 - 6 times. Often, it will reach the sign on screen, but after putting in password and hitting ENTER, it will restart at that point.

Once it does get to my desktop, it works great. Even when I have to restart my computer, it boots and loads up great. This probem only happens when the machine has set OFF overnight...usually about 7-8 hours.

I also want to add that in my Tasks Running screen, I have RUNDLL32 which I understand should not be showing in Tasks Running screen. Is that correct? Also, from what I understand, RUNDLL32 may be there because of this boot up problem or it's there because of my nVidia video thingie-bob.

I should also point out that RUNDLL32 assosciated with nVidia was in my startup screen but I unchecked it NOT to be there. Disabling RUND32 in Startup does not keep it from shoing in Tasks running.
I should add that I did a virus scan using Symantec....found nothing.

Any ideas? Thanks
WinXP, Sp 3
nVidia 7100 series
Seagate SATA HD
2G Kingston DDR2 RAM

[glc]

What are you using for a power supply?

[Cissy]

Originally Posted by glc What are you using for a power supply?

glc, 500W

[glc]

Brand and model, please. Not all power supplies are created equal.

[Cissy]

Originally Posted by glc Brand and model, please. Not all power supplies are created equal.

Sorry......Antec is all I know w/o taking case apart. If you need more, I can find out tomorrow. Thank you for your time

P.S. Gunny says its a good one

[glc]

Antec is good.

Control panel, system, advanced, startup and recovery - uncheck restart on error. See if it bluescreens instead of restarting, read the bluescreen.

[minsonngo]

Did you perform a new OR repair installation of Windows XP after you installed the new components? If not, you may want to start there.

[Cissy]

Originally Posted by glc Antec is good. Control panel, system, advanced, startup and recovery - uncheck restart on error. See if it bluescreens instead of restarting, read the bluescreen.

Thanks, glc....I will do that in the morning and get back to the forum to let you know what happens.

On second thought, I'll do that right now...sort of makes me nervous but we'll see what happens.

[Cissy]

Originally Posted by minsonngo Did you perform a new OR repair installation of Windows XP after you installed the new components? If not, you may want to start there.

Used my same hard drive but new install of XP. Had to re-register it, etc.

[Cissy]

glc, oops, there is no box for 'error' for me to uncheck. Do you mean the "automatic restart" box? I will wait to see what you say before I do this. Remember tho, the machine has to be shut off for several hours before this happens.

Update: Ok, found where to uncheck. I uncheckd 3 boxes under System Failure:"Write an Event to the System Log", "Send an administrative alert" and "Automatic Restart"

I shut down computer for about 3 minutes and restarted. Booted up fine and here I am. The real test will be when I boot up in the morning and see if I get a blue screen. IF that happens, I hope I can get back to my desktop. What if I can't? Would restarting manually, as often as it takes, work?

Thanks GLC

[Cissy]

Update
Still took 6 times to restart. All 6 times it restarted on it's own and each time, the restart occured after the little blue dots go back and forth when it's says WinXP Home. Here's the sequence (one thing did happen that was different from yesterday - #3)

1. Restarted after blue dots
2. Restarted after blue dots
3. After blue dots, went to black screen, gives choice to start windows normally or Safe mode. I chose to start normally
4. Restarted afater blue dots
5. Got as far as typing in PW, hit enter, restarted
6. Got to desktop and here I am..working normally

All restarted were automatic.
Weird, huh?
Thanks

[Cissy]

Another update: I disconnected my computer to install a new DVD burner. Ok. Booted up, saw NO HARD DRIVE DETECTED!. However, it did make it all the way to the hard drive. Withn 1/2 hour, computer shut down on its own and automatically restarted. Again, I saw on the black screen No Hard drive detected! It continued on to the desktop.

Are we looking at a possible hard drive crash soon? Could that be creating this problem am having? I have my hard drive backed up.

Thanks

[glc]

That's probably because your hard drive is SATA, and your IDE controller is enabled. If your DVD burner is also SATA, disable the IDE controller in the bios.

[Cissy]

Originally Posted by glc That's probably because your hard drive is SATA, and your IDE controller is enabled. If your DVD burner is also SATA, disable the IDE controller in the bios.

Thanks glc, I'll do that. Tonight, we tried to do an XP repair, but when it came to press f8 for the agreement, it froze up. Nothing would happen when I pressed F8. I think it may be time for a hard drive. I just backed up everything. I don't trust this anymore :P

[glc]

Before you condemn the hard drive, it would be very wise to run diagnostics on the hard drive and your ram.

www.memtest.org for ram diags

seagate.com for hard drive diags

I'd download the CD .iso versions of both and burn them to CD's as images, they will be bootable.

[Cissy]

Originally Posted by glc Before you condemn the hard drive, it would be very wise to run diagnostics on the hard drive and your ram. www.memtest.org for ram diags seagate.com for hard drive diags I'd download the CD .iso versions of both and burn them to CD's as images, they will be bootable.

Ok, I will try that. Hope I can understand it. I disabled the IDE controller. Worked for that No Hard drive Detected business.

Do you have any idea why when doing a install of WinXP, pressing F8 to agree to terms won't work? Pressing F8 does nothing, it won't "agree". Also, is it possible the hard drive can be bad which causes this restart over and over? This morning, it took 9 tries

Also, my first set of DDR2 RAM was OCZ (something like that). I bought brand new Kingston to see if that made a difference. It didn't.

Anyway, I'll be back after trying what you said.
Thanks

glc, I can't determine which link at that sight to download for ram. Sorry. I am trying to do this in a hurry because I am afraid my computer is going to shut down on me before I can accomplish it. Can you tell me which links I need at that site please? I am sorry, I just can't tell which to download . I did download zip files memtest86 2.01 iso and memtest86 2.01 bin. I am feeling rather lost here. I apologize.I'll go to Seagate.com to see what I can find there for the hard drive.

[Cissy]

Originally Posted by glc Before you condemn the hard drive, it would be very wise to run diagnostics on the hard drive and your ram. www.memtest.org for ram diags seagate.com for hard drive diags I'd download the CD .iso versions of both and burn them to CD's as images, they will be bootable.

Update: I got a cup of coffee to clear the fog away, went to memtest86.com, found what you were talking about, downloaded and burned as ISO image each file. Then I booted up to Memory test...passed, no errors.

Second, I booted up to Seagate Diag....did the Long Test as recommended for Sata drives. Came up with 2 errors. I directed it to repair both. Rebooted to desktop and here I am.

The thing is I only have the restart problem when machine is cold. I may have to wait untill tomorrow morning to see if there's a difference.

Thank you glc. I look forward to more suggestion should this keep happening. BTW, any ideas on why F8 doesn't work when agreeing to agreement when doing an XP repair?

Thank you for your expertise and time

[glc]

You may have to use a true PS/2 keyboard.

If the hard drive had errors, I'd watch it very carefully. That's not a good sign.

[Cissy]

Originally Posted by glc You may have to use a true PS/2 keyboard. If the hard drive had errors, I'd watch it very carefully. That's not a good sign.

Ok, I found some articles about the F8 problem. I'll take care of that for future. I'll keep an eye on hard drive. Tomorrow after unit has cooled down, we'll see what to do. I do have an extra hard drive I may put in to test....and another power supply to test as well.

Thank you, glc, very much.

[Cissy]

Update: Apparently fixed. Changed out the power supply. For whatever reason, it was failing. For the first time since putting together this computer a week ago, it starts up normally, act normal. I am still keeping my eye on the hard drive.


Thank you, glc. I sure appreciate it.

What brand and model of psu did you replace it with?

[Cissy]

Originally Posted by usnavyretired What brand and model of psu did you replace it with?

Well, here's the thing ::::blush::: Earlier in this thread, I posted I was using Antec Sata 500W. I was wrong. My husband's computer has the Antec. Since we have so many of them (not Antec) lying around, it was a generic called Logisys Sata 500 W. Needless to say, it gets tossed.

I cannot remember for the life of me what I have in there now. Probably another generic because that is the SATA we had on hand. No doubt, eventually, it will cause a problem, but we will deal with that when/if the time comes.

[glc]

Aha! Yep, Logisys is very low quality. You might want to order a quality unit and put whatever you have now back into the spare parts pile.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371005

[Cissy]

Originally Posted by glc Aha! Yep, Logisys is very low quality. You might want to order a quality unit and put whatever you have now back into the spare parts pile. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371005

Uh, how embarrasing LOL. I'll do that, glc. Thanks so much. I am saving the link you posted