Computer reboots itself

[Julie]

I recently installed Win95 into an old pentium 133 to use as a backup for my main computer. It previously had Win98se in it but I thought with only 48mb ram it would run Win95 better, so I reformatted and reinstalled Win95.
Problem now is that this computer would reboot itself for no apparent reason, often when I'm downloading something. (I'm trying to keep the antivirus up to date) I thought it was the power management, so I've disabled that in Windows and in Bios. Can someone tell me what could be the cause?

[GaryRouth]

Hi Julie

Since that computer is probably getting along in years, it may also be along in dust accumulation. Just in case that dust is clogging up the cpu heatsink & fan, and perhaps the power supply and its fan too, try blowing the dust out (with the system shutdown & unplugged). Heat could cause such rebooting - especially during a long download via modem. You can try running the system with the case open to get a good idea of how well the fans are spinning, and how hot things seem in there.

You can also try booting into Safe Mode, and let the system do something that takes a long time (like defragmenting the hard drive) - see if that brings about a reboot or not. If it reboots in Safe Mode, I'd suspect a hardware problem - [heat is the leading suspect, followed by the RAM, and the power supply]

If it's completely OK, no matter how hard you push it, in Safe Mode - then you can try something like a different video driver.

Did it ever reboot like this when Win98se was on it? [you could always go "Back to the Future" ]

I'm hoping it's just dust: that way you don't have to go on that "TroubleShooter's Diet" again
. . . Gary

[james8547]

Maybe the system is getting low in resources. In my old WinME PC, the system restarts when I use all of the system memory.

[Julie]

Give me a break Gary! You're never going to let me forget about that
TroubleShooter's Diet are you? (lol).
Anyway I'll give this ancient thing a complete cleanup and let you know what happens. I don't know if the reboot happened with Win98
coz the computer was given me.

James,
Did you mean physical memory (i.e. ram) or resources? They are not the same thing are they?

[Sharpened Metal]

I'm not sure about Windows 95, but I know for a fact that 98 SE has an a bug in it that sometimes causes the computer to reboot in some cases.

I've never used 95, but I think it's a good suggestion to check into updating your OS after you do a nice cleanup job.

[GaryRouth]

Hi again

Julie - good luck with the cleanup & all. I'm curious what you'll find when you run it just after that with the case open. I wouldn't be too surprised if the cpu fan is/was having trouble. The p133s don't get as hot as fast as some of the newer chips, so the heatsinks can manage things for a while. A few months ago I came across a machine which had a fan that worked "part-time". It was failing, but sometimes it managed to spin and sometimes it didn't [I feel like this at work sometimes myself ]

While you're working on things, you might pop into the Bios Setup, just in case the aging CMOS battery isn't holding settings like it should.

---> and my guess is that James was referring to resources, rather than physical ram. If you're not running a lot of things at the same time (unlikely with a p133 and 48mb), you shouldn't be having any trouble with resources - unless you stop and start a "leaky" program over and over and over. (the "leaky" ones are the badly written ones that don't give their resources back when they close = screensavers are famous for this). You could limit the background jobs (if you haven't already) = that's helpful on older systems and is definitely a worthy point. If you've never been over to the pacs-portal site, it has a nice introduction to that whole topic, and a list of background processes with info about them... Highly recommended http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_content.htm

. . . I'm starting to type really badly, so it must be close to dreamtime. Hope to wake up & hear "all's well"
. . . Gary

[Julie]

Ok, I did the cleanup. Also checked the Bios and made sure there was nothing on this computer except Word97, AVG
and Zone Alarm. Ran this thing for 3 hours straight, including 35 mins downloading virus update. No problem. The cover was
CLOSED.
Switched off and left it for an hour then rebooted and 25 minutes later - guess what??? The cover was OFF!!
Now I'm REALLY confused.

SharpenedMetal, I'll probable put Win98 back in, but first I'll have to go get some ram.

[GaryRouth]

Just to see - if you have another power supply around (of similiar strength or better) - swap it in & see if everything is suddenly OK.

[I'll guess that temps were OK and fans were constantly spinning? And the Bios settings looked OK? (No accidental overclocking? - wierd, but it happens)]

On the software side, do you think Zone Alarm might be too much for Win95 on 48mb of RAM? [Might check over at their website and see]

If that motherboard has slots for both simms and dimms, it'd probably be cheapest to ditch the simms altogether and get one good dimm that matches the board well. A 128mb stick shouldn't cost more than $20, and Win98 will be happy.

If the computer is on a home network, was it connected the whole time you were doing your testing? Or?

. . . Gary

[james8547]

I have a P1 64mb PC. It doesn't even have enough allocated memory to boot up an old version of NAV.

Maybe the PC is at the end of its life. i think, the useful life is 4-7 yrs.

Why not get a new 1 It's quite inexpensive.

[Julie]

James,
I only set up this computer as a backup so if I can't get it working I'll just throw it out. But I would really like to know why it's doing this.

Gary,
Power supply is from another working computer, Bios and fans are OK.
But you may be right about Zone Alarm and Win95. Now that you mention it, I remember a friend had the same problem last year except one time on bootup she also got the message "No operating system present. You will have to reinstall Windows" So she reinstalled Win95 but used Tiny Firewall instead. She had no further problems.

So I'll try that and see what happens.
Will let you guys know.

[Julie]

Just to let you guys know everything worked out fine.
It must have been Zone Alarm.
Thanks for your help and suggestions.

[GaryRouth]

Glad it's Ok. Nice call, too, on the "Open Maximized" tip on the IE thread - I never remember about creating a new shortcut & setting the open screen option from there. . . [some days I'm glad I can still remember my name . . . ]
Good work
. . . Gary