Computer Restarting

OK its getting to a point now were im going to snap my monitor in half now. A few years ago I installed Windows XP , and ever since I did i have had a problem were it will randomly restart ( it is set to do this when it encounters a critical error so you dont see the blue screen ) but even if i turn the blue screen on i still have to restart because you cant just exit out of it.

The problem seems to occur when ever a new window opens, e.g. on msn, a new browser window

Has anyone got any ideas what it could be? thanks

A few years?! :eek:

Usually blue screen crashes occur with hardware problems, or badly coded drivers.

Have you tried reinstalling Windows and not installing any drivers? See if that fixes the problem. If not, it is most likely a hardware issue.

ive formatted my HDD numerous times and reinstalled XP numerous times too, but it still happens, I heard it could be something to do with my RAM?

could be, what are your system specs?

If you suspect it is RAM have you tried increasing your RAM timing?

Have you tried another RAM? Otherwise even your motherboard could be faulty.

try swaping the ram in other slots

From experience, I would say it was a hard disk problem. Try swapping it for another one (if you have one available) and see what happens.

Mine did that when the clock rate was too high.

My experience of this has been the processor overheating. It could be your processor isn't able to handle XP

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by robcarr2

OK its getting to a point now were im going to snap my monitor in half now. A few years ago I installed Windows XP , and ever since I did i have had a problem were it will randomly restart ( it is set to do this when it encounters a critical error so you dont see the blue screen ) but even if i turn the blue screen on i still have to restart because you cant just exit out of it.

The problem seems to occur when ever a new window opens, e.g. on msn, a new browser window

Has anyone got any ideas what it could be? thanks

---

It is no doubt caused by faulty drivers or hardware like already mentioned, but saying the PC is BSODing isn't of much use to us because it tells us any details.

When you see the BSOD, record the exact error code and description, such as BAD_POOL_ERROR. Then do a Google search for the error, often MS have KB articles relating specific errors which will give much more detailed explanation of why it is happening.

If you are luck you'll get the answer from that, if not, use the information you do get to try an find solutions to the problem. In a one case - I needed to unplug everything from my PC and put one piece of hardware back at a time to find out the device causing the error.

Your error is most probably caused by the graphics card, as the GFX forms part of the core system, errors will often result in a crash. If it shares some of its memory with the system, a poorly written driver could corrupt the data in the memory and cause the crash.

Check your power saving settings.

Its possibly set at something that disagrees with your hardware.

Something may be overrheating like Valleys said. Also make sure your cooling is up to the job.

As VisualAdd say's details would be very helpful. Another possibility is if your connecting directly to the internet, your being infected with a virus. I had a friend the connected directly to his DSL and he got 30+ viruses in like 5 mins.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Valleysboy1978

My experience of this has been the processor overheating. It could be your processor isn't able to handle XP

---

I am with you Valleysboy1978 .. as this problem used to be mine ... and after some time I realized that the cooler doesnt go with the requiered speed ...

Before you change the CPU .. try to change the cooler or the FAN ... this may sound stupid ... but it fixed my problem ...

As you can see by the multitude of possibilities, trying to resolve these issues is kind of tough, as it can be due to any piece of hardware with the system. Processor overheating, bad drivers, bad ram, bad hard drive, viruses. Even the blue screen errors that you get when you have this can be kind of random. The problem for me ended up being my whole motherboard. I weas getting random blue screens, with all types of different errors. For some reason, my mobo couldnt handle the stock frequencies for my chip. I had to underclock my Athlon a few megahertz and everything was flawless after that. So, its really a matter of tinkering with it to see what you can come up with...

i would suggest, you should try to get answers one at a time... meaning, you have to try one suggested solution then try another if it doesnt work...

for me, check first if the fan of the CPU is still functional... cause, i also have this problem when my fan would stop working... if it would happen again, try to peek in at your cpu fan... if it still happen, try replacing your RAM...

still, if it won't work, try to replace suspected defective hardware... if still, it won't work, its your motherboard probably...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by gigemboy

As you can see by the multitude of possibilities, trying to resolve these issues is kind of tough, as it can be due to any piece of hardware with the system. Processor overheating, bad drivers, bad ram, bad hard drive, viruses. Even the blue screen errors that you get when you have this can be kind of random. The problem for me ended up being my whole motherboard. I weas getting random blue screens, with all types of different errors. For some reason, my mobo couldnt handle the stock frequencies for my chip. I had to underclock my Athlon a few megahertz and everything was flawless after that. So, its really a matter of tinkering with it to see what you can come up with...

---

Thats exactly what I am doing :) , Its a little frustrating though having to run an underclocked machine. :(