Random Shutdown

AMF

Baseband Member
Messages
52
Here recently i've been experiencing random shutdowns. When the system shuts down, it automatically reboots, then when everything is loaded up, I get the whole Windows XP report nonsense. I decided to follow that and it brought me to a dead end. It just told me that apparently a 'Device Driver' is the problem. I updated EVERYTHING I could think of though, and still the problem persisted. I decided to reformat and try a clean install of my OS and all fresh drivers for everything. Still I have the random shutdowns. I don't know what else to do so maybe somebody here could help? I'm running an Athlon XP 2400+ on a Soltek SL-75FRN2-RL board with 2x256mb Crucial pc3200. I'm thinking that MAYBE my video card may be the problem because it is an ancient Riva TNT2 32mb card. I'm not sure though and I don't wanna just go buy something not knowing if it's going to fix the problem. Thanks in advance for any replies.
 
are you getting and BSOD's prior to the shutdown? Sounds like a power supply going bad to me. Do you have another pc that you could swap power supplies with and see if you continue to get these random shutdowns/restarts?
 
I've never gotten ANY type of warning that it was going to shut down..just out of the blue it will go off. I don't have any suitable psu to swap out either. The only other one i've got was used in an old p3 system I had and I believe it's a 235W supply which I highly doubt is enough power, but please do correct me if i'm wrong and i'll try it. This psu thats in here now is a generic 420W supply so it wouldnt surprise me in the least if it were going bad. Should I go ahead and purchase a new psu anyhow or is there anything else I can try? (My budget is very limited so i'd like to try all options before I make a purchase)
 
do this first.... right click on "My Computer" and go to properties and click the advanced tab, then go down to where it says "startup and recovery" and click the "settings" button. then look at the options and clear the check from beside the "automatically restart" option. it sounds to me like you are getting a blue screen of death. when your computer errors you will get a blue screen first describing the error. you can then look it up on google or something
also, there will be a minidump file created in the c:\windows\minidump folder, you can get a debugger program like windbg and check that out. let us know what you find out. I was having this same problem.
 
go to start>control panel>admin tools>event viewer and look at all three sections on the left side and see what it shows for errors on the right side, copy them down and it might give us a clue as to what happened.
The other thing you can do is stop the auto restart and see if it shows an error code when it shuts down. To do that:
start>R click My computer>properties>advanced tab> then under startup and recovery click settings tab>under system recovery, uncheck the auto restart box and apply and ok out....the next time it has an error it should leave you with a BSOD with an error code that we can research .
keep us posted on it.
 
lurkswithin said:
go to start>control panel>admin tools>event viewer and look at all three sections on the left side and see what it shows for errors on the right side, copy them down and it might give us a clue as to what happened.
The other thing you can do is stop the auto restart and see if it shows an error code when it shuts down. To do that:
start>R click My computer>properties>advanced tab> then under startup and recovery click settings tab>under system recovery, uncheck the auto restart box and apply and ok out....the next time it has an error it should leave you with a BSOD with an error code that we can research .
keep us posted on it.
hmm..great minds think alike eh? lol
 
Tommy Boy said:
hmm..great minds think alike eh? lol
Well I thank you for the compliment but don't know if it was deserved...me and my friends just think it as being a tab faster on the posting and refer to it as "snap"
SNAP!
:D
 
Well, so far i've had time enough to check the 'Event Viewer'. I've had one random reboot today, and in the event viewer I see one Error for todays date. The description of the incident is as follows:

Error code 0000001a, parameter1 00000780, parameter2 c0375430, parameter3 81235758, parameter4 8f36ecc4.

I don't know where to even start with all that so maybe you guys can help me along in the right direction? I've also shut off the automatic reboot so I can get the information after it decides to randomly shutdown. Whenever that happens hopefully we can find something more out. I don't know if this info will help, but awhile back when this was going on, I showed a tech friend of mine all the information from that blue screen after it shut down, and he said that from the looks of it, my memory or my harddrive was going out (however I dont know how much HE knows). I got programs to check the both of them though, and both memory sticks, as well as the harddrive, checked out fine with no bad sectors. Could these errors in fact be caused by a faulty psu like suggested previously in this thread?
 
Actually this is a source code error, Meaning thatyour proccessor is sent a packet of code and it was not properly handled. this can be caused by the adding and removing of the same software a couple of times and the pathes are broken and confusing your proccessor and causing it to shut down and may also be caused by spyware/malware that was improperly removed. Another issue that may cause the same problem is that you have an out of date bios on your motherboard. or it could be a combination of all the above..
To get to the bottom of this.. you need to reboot your pc and as soon as the graphics posts shows hit the pause button on your keyboard to lock the page. If you miss do it again. In that writing is a BIOS version and date. write that all down and then go to your mobo manufacturer site and see if it matches the latest bios version that they have listed there. If not then you will need to update your bios. I would suggest that you get some personal tech help here if you are not familar with doing this.
*****NOTE*****
It is very easy to mess this up and if you do you will be out a motherboard.
-----------------------------------------------
Now if you decide that you wish to attempt this then I suggest that you look at the bios manufacturer and go to their site an read very carefully the proceedures for performing a bios update. There are some utillities that does make this easier and safer to perform and it will be linked at the manufacturer's site.
Before you try the bios update you may try to do a simple fix with a regestry cleaner. I use regscrubXP and it is safe to use. Download thefree program and open it. In the upper left corner will be a tab "REgscrub finds problems" Click on that and just let it run..When it is done the tabs at the bottom will open and on the bottom left is"Fix all problems" click that one and let it do its thing > If this has not been done on your computer don't be surprised if it finds several hundred issues< After fixing the problems the file is backed up and can be restored later if need be****I have never had to restore an issue using this program***** Just exit out and reboot and watch the speed up of your computer and just wait to see if it locks up on you again. If it does then you will know it is the bios.
Here is the download; and a few others to clean up your system with.
regscrubXP: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2048.html

spywareblaster: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2859.html
spybot search and destroy: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download2471.html
adawareSE: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download506.html
 
TommyBoy,
frown.gif
I feel like an idiot for sure now! I never saw the first post that you did. I saw the second and just assumed that you were going to post the same as me and then saw my post. so didn't . I didn't realise that you posted first..
Slap me silly!!!:p
So I guess that you snapped me!:eek:
 
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