friends computer prob

elexes

well my friend has a prob wif his computer

it keeps crashing ( he says ) or restarting its self .

ive told him to try a new power supply first and fail on that i told him it could be a mobo prob .

anyone seen this or know whats going on

Typedef

If his system is rebooting it is probably one of two things
Windows sux as is the more likely or he could be having some sort of issue with APM, which if I remember my Tech Support days might just be fixable by clearing out his nvram via jumper or even easier and possibly less likely chance of ESD is he might try to default all the settings in his bios.

All so there is a utility he might be able to get, motherboard monitor 5 which if he is running windowz might just log any abbarations vis-a-vis overheating of cpu or mobo or some such non-sense, and he might then be able to look the the log file of the motherboard monitor and find out what was going on.

What might be worth your while doing is assuming you have access to a windows 95/98/Me cd is boot to dos from the CD ok? Now simply leave the system turned on for X number of hours, long enough that you would expect it to reboot, if it does, then it must be hardware right? else it must be windowz correct?

"I shave my head, so ...., it's a non-issue"

elexes

ye .... well he hasent gotton a hd pluged into it . so i can safely say windows aint fu<king up this tme

JustHalf

Assuming it's a hardware problem, what's the spec of the machine, and what wattage is the PSU? Also, what's the amperage on the lines? What's plugged into the board and power supply?

I'm thinking somethings drawing too much power.

Red Moose

Power supply would be my first theory - depends on how old the system is (i used to have one that started to rattle like hell and reboot the system after a few hours).

Another thing might be to try getting a surge protection box. Most PSUs are meant to be able to take minor variations that are normal in electricity supplies, but maybe his PSU is fried because that's happened many times over the years. They are expensive though which sucks (over £100 typically).

Is he overclocking anything? If it's a PSU problem it may also end up being the video card of RAM. How long does it stay running until it crashes (are they reproducible?) and are all the cards, etc., seated properly?

elexes

ye was thinking some of this allready and he is in a old house could be somthn about power fluctuating ( did i spell that right ) also its a 1 gig axia wif a ( i think ) 300 watt psu . and i got him to just have the hd and and the graphics card plugged into it . actually im going to ring him now c how its goin . and ill find out everythign


he says ( dono if this will help at all ) that the restart light is constantly on ( he thinks its constantly restarting )

Typedef

Oh
Bios or PSU.

I think I might actually clear the nvram via mobo jumper if I were your m8. Or at least default the bios??

When he removes the agp does he get a corresponding beep code whining about lack of agp, and similarly is he getting lack of ram beep-whine?

if the cpu is not a socket ie if it is one of the old slot based then you may get somewhere reseating the cpu itself??

I guess the only way you could be 100% is getting access to another psu and testing to c if it is cpu & mobo or psu, tho, some mobo's might not be too amenable to staying contigiously booted without ram and agp soo, tests at this level maybe highly speculative?

---

"You're a hippy so its' a non-thought"

JustHalf

It's a socket A chip.

Saruman

2 things to add to this.. if the bios has the function to check cpu temp etc check its not overheating, otherwise try the system opened up with a big room fan blowing in or by a window on a cool day and see if it does the same thing.. could be overheating.. also update the bios.. ALWAYS update the bios for things like this that are hard to figure out.. a bios itself if screwed enough can CAUSE overheating to the point where a system can start meling some of the components!!

Gerry

Tell us exactly what does happen, does it just reboot straight away, or does it POST? if it does reboot straight away, then as typedef said, try it without various components, and see does it beep. Make sure the speaker is connected correctly of course. Connect only the power switch to the motherboard for the moment, to make sure you are not shorting out the reset button by accident.

elexes

right i cant understand what my friend is trying to say to me so im collecting his computer and bringing it home 2mor to fix . ill post after

elexes

so far first looks its powering itself down once i turn it on

elexes

ok theres no ram in the computer no graphics card no hd no ram no nothn and im trying to get it to turn on for a few secs . but nothn . im getting another psu now to look at it