XP 64bit machine randomly rebooting

[ClickCntrlCmmd]

I've got a problem that I'm having a hard time with and wanted some input. I built around 10 computers for this company, all working great expect one of them...they were built about 4 months ago. The owners, who he wanted a really nice machine even though he knew he never needed the power is an i7, 8gb ram. etc. His is the only machine on the network with Win. XP 64 bit installed. About a month ago it just started rebooting in the middle of the night, he figured it out by all the programs he leaves open not being open the next morning... Now the machine is doing it more and more 2 or 3 times a day. Doesn't give an errors or anything, just like the power cord is pulled and the machine powers back on. Checked the windows log files and there's no serious errors that keep happening around the times its restarting, the only thing close is windows search service. Does this sound to you like it's a bad power supply and that's the cause of all this? Any thoughts would be great before I go get a new power supply and take the machine apart. The CPU isn't running too hot, see attached file. Thanks.

 

[tech_24]

Did it blues screen at all that you are aware of...and definitely try a different power supply it never hurts

 

[ClickCntrlCmmd]

No blue screen's ever. Screen just goes black and then power's back up / boots up. Ran the repair utility on the xp cd too.

 

[Styxbound]

That sounds so much like the classic pattern of a cpu getting hot think I'd reset it with compound just to be sure; maybe it's just transient and not being picked up. Of course it could be the power supply or a bad cap on the board, among other things.

 

[loaner]

there's a question of the software and 64bit also. may be worth a look

 

[muncherw]

if windows is set to reboot on critical error you will never see a blue screen so you might want to turn that off.

I just had a similar issue which turned out to be a short in the motherboard. Bad RAM would be another good thing to check as it could cause frequent crashes though I would expect to see something in the error logs that might not show from a short.

 

[ATTech]

<OutsideTheBoxStabInTheDark>
Does it have a UPS, or some sort of battery backup? Could it be a problem with the electrical wiring? Maybe a frayed line that a mouse nudges loose as he moves past it? The power could jump the board, causing it to start back up again.

 

[itSaviours]

Id check for bad ram first, probably telling you how to suck eggs here but get Memtest86 and leave it running overnight, you might get lucky and see something pretty quick before you leave, at least then you know its the mem.

Otherwise leave it going all night, if its still running in the morning its unlikely to be power related and if there are no memory errors that points it back to your Windows install as DOS is working fine.

As other have said - disable automatic reboots.


Open System Properties via Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > System
[ System Properties may also be opened using the WinKey+Pause key combination ]
Select the Advanced tab and then click Settings in the Startup and Recovery section
In System Failure section, clear the checkbox next to Automatically Restart
Click OK and OK to exit

 

[ClickCntrlCmmd]

About a week ago, I had him start leaving all the programs closed, the computer didn't reboot, he started leaving one more open each night, worked fine for 2 nights with everything open... Now it's rebooting again. It's driving me nuts. I suggested a different power outlet to see...I will test the memory again tonight. Any other thoughts?

 

[wimwauters]

Semi-random errors indicate hardware trouble. Test RAM, check cooling and thermal paste, if that don't solve nothing, then replace PSU with one from a different brand and higher power.

Time is money and you don't want to lose your customer's enthusiasm, so buying another PSU is the cheap option