Hi, I'm working on a desktop that just inadvertently reboots or shuts off, no blue screen, just sudden shut down. The first day I had it it did it immediately on start up, I ran a complete system diagnostics cd on it (CPU,memory,HD,video) for over an hour and it came back clean. I then went through and optimized start ups, checked for viruses, etc. It was running great when I finished. Now the customer calls back and second day she was using it it starts rebooting again. The only thing she did after she got it was install a palm pilot prgm and ie8. I'm suspicious of the palm pilot program. Could this just be the power supply? Whats a good way to test?
random shut downs & reboots
- Thread starter ell
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good idea, i forgot that one. It was running hard when I got it the first time, after my fixes it was very quiet. He actually did replace the fan thinking it would fix it.
studiot
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Check the capacitors this is a typical badcaps symptom.
the hd temp with speedfan is 28c, you mean just visually look for swollen caps? Any particular area?
studiot
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http://www.badcaps.net/
Could also be poorly seated memory or lts of things like that if it's truly random and can't be provoked by a specific sequence of events or programs
Could also be poorly seated memory or lts of things like that if it's truly random and can't be provoked by a specific sequence of events or programs
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Ha! I was just reading that site, this thing is very clean, caps look fine, spotless inside, its got to be her power strip or something, I'm running a virus scan again just trying to get it to shut down on me, its running great.
are you charging this person?????
1. Most importantly, what are the specs? what windows version is it? vista?, xp? windows 7? If you don't know, go to start > run > winver
2. Does it work in safe mode?
3. One major cause is bad drivers, video drivers, etc.. make sure you have the right drivers.
4. Check the core temperature with a IR temp gun if you have one, if not get one they are handy
5. If the temperature is good, anything < 45c idle then try replacing the power supply with your 'known good' bench PSU.
6. Does it only reboot randomly while in windows?
7. Try a live cd, see if it reboots randomly there, if so, its most definitely a hardware issue.
this is a dimension e310, pentium 4, 2 gb ram, 2.79 ghz, xp home, I just upgraded now it to sp3, memory, cpu, hd, video are all fine, works fine with ubcd, power supply is fine, capacitors look fine, no viruses, runs fast. I had it running with a system test cd in it for over 2 hrs.
If anything I would have to say bad drivers
What are you doing/using to determine the "fineness" of the power supply
She went and bought a new power strip and a power supply cable, its still rebooting!!? I looked in device manager, no yellow !, it HAS to be the power supply, but then why would it run all day for me, scanning, stress test, no prob? Too weird, think I should just pop one of my power supplies in and let her use it a couple days, I know she doesn't want to put any more $$ into it anyways, I feel I should give her her $85 back and just charge her the $30 diagnostic? What else could I test?
Well, heres another thing, the left front usb port is toast, I put my flash drive in it and it immediately shut down. However, the mobo scan came out clean. I noticed my usb wifi adapter got pretty warm in the port next to it, but speedfan checked out fine with temp <38
you could use a site like drivermax, or whatever your flavor of choice is to check the drivers all at once. I would HIGHLY recommend that, as if it is a outdated driver, it will not show yellow in DM.
Most techs have Power supplies on hand as they go bad quite often, if you do, just swap it out, its 20 dollars. if it works then charge her for the part, if it does not then yank it back.
Most techs have Power supplies on hand as they go bad quite often, if you do, just swap it out, its 20 dollars. if it works then charge her for the part, if it does not then yank it back.
unfortunately I only have a used one on hand, a new one would be $50+, guess if I hold the receipt I could take it back! Wouldn't a driver conflict at least show in the logs?
yea but it wont show if its outdated. there could be a bug that has been patched with a new version.
if you dont have a evertek.com reseller account you can use the end user site www.geeks.com (its really not that much of a difference anyway) and stock up on a couple cheapies to test with, etc.
If not there is always tigerdirect.com (they are next day in most places)
I personally cant say enough good about Ingram Micro, they have been the single best distributor I have ever worked with. I think it costs money now though to get a new account.
if you stick the computer in front of the Air conditioning, does it run longer?
if you dont have a evertek.com reseller account you can use the end user site www.geeks.com (its really not that much of a difference anyway) and stock up on a couple cheapies to test with, etc.
If not there is always tigerdirect.com (they are next day in most places)
I personally cant say enough good about Ingram Micro, they have been the single best distributor I have ever worked with. I think it costs money now though to get a new account.
if you stick the computer in front of the Air conditioning, does it run longer?
thanks, for the info, whats so frustrating is I've had this thing twice, and have not been able to duplicate her issue! It runs plenty cool, its soo clean inside, caps look like new, no error logs, all winupdates i installed. They performed a factory reinstall from the recovery partition, then he installed his palm pilot, ever since its been rebooting for them, Dell had him replace his fan too.
If you are a service provider for dell, 3 documented cases of the same problem, and they will allow a complete replacement of the unit. There are exceptions, and restrictions but thats the just of it.
did you uninstall the palm pilot software, and reinstall it? its free to download from Palm if you need to.that might replicate the issue.
did you uninstall the palm pilot software, and reinstall it? its free to download from Palm if you need to.that might replicate the issue.
drewster
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Does it reboot while running stress tests and/or diagnostics from another disc or drive? If not, then it is most likely not a hardware issue.
This sounds like a hardware issue and you should be able to determine which device is flaking out.
This sounds like a hardware issue and you should be able to determine which device is flaking out.
rusty.nells
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Is it random? Or does it happen when a USB device is attached? If so, it could be a problem with USB chip or port.
I ran a complete system diagnostics from a boot cd, memory,video,mobo, cpu, it ran for an hour, clean. Ran like a top, the only thing I can find is a bad front usb port, she says she doesn't use it. I told her to run it with only the mouse,keyboard and montor, still reboots at her house.
the only time I could get it to shut down was when I put my flash dr in the damaged front usb port, but she claimed they don't use it.
