For a while now I've had a problem with my computer. For a while I thought it had something to do with my video card, but the problem is, my computer does these automatic random restarts. The computer restarts and then comes back on. It usually happens when I clink on a link on the web, or it always does it if I try to use Flash MX 2004, or Dreamweaver. I have heard it could be that it is also overheating but I can't tell what it is. I'm still thinking it has something to do with my video though. Can anyone help?
02:29 pm, Wednesday, September 22, 2004 (5 years ago)
Also, I forgot... When it restarts it flashes a blue screen real quick before it shuts down and restarts. I caught a bit of it once and it said something about begging memory dump, and something about physical memory... I don't know if that helps at all...
if your system doesn't have sufficient cooling, when the processor comes under stress (from opening a program for instance) the system will automatically protect the CPU by reducing stress on it (restarting the system)... i've seen loads of systems with this kind of fault and it usually comes down to one of two things... overheating or faulty memory... if you're running XP you can type EVENTVWR at the run prompt to see any erroneous programs are causing the reboot... I assume your system has the latest updates and all drivers are current....
diagnosing faulty hardware is always tricky on a lone machine... you usually need another machine to 'cannibalise' parts from in order to determine the faulty element.... if you have some willing friends i'm sure you can suss out what the problem is if it is hardware related.....
Usually if it's overheating of ram it will freeze. But if there is a problem with your ram it will randomly restart.. if it was your cpu overheating you would get system beeps.
Since you get the problem when you're using memory intensive programs I would bet it's a problem with your ram itself. Get a Memory checker from cnet or google or whatever and give it a thorough inspection.
I was just thinking now and not recently I purchased new ram, its a 512. Does it matter what slot its in, I have a 256mb in the first and then the 512mb in the second.
Since you mention you recently bought a RAM stick, I'm assuming you made sure it was compatible with the MOBO. If not, then this is a good place to start the troubleshooting. Personally, I prefer to install the stick with the larger capacity on slot 1. Also, make sure the sticks are seated firmly in the slot.
Regarding the cooling: Make sure all fans are working properly, especially the one in the power supply. Also, make sure that you have the same number of fans performing intake and exhaust.
Regarding SP2: Try uninstalling it, maybe that's the reason your text is smearing.
Hope this advice is useful. Good luck...
=============================== If I am a nobody, and nobody's perfect, then I am perfect.
bud, your computer sounds like its going from bad to worse. we can only give you individual pieces of advice, noone knows the correct answer as we have no idea what kind of system you're running, its condition or stats. your computer is broken, take it into the shop (computer tech shop) to get repaired or at least inspected, at least using this bit of advice you'll get it looked at by pros and will be told what the issue is and how to resolve it. before you go to the shop though, clean back your hard drive to ensure its not a software issue (meaning reformat your windows partition and reinstall), and fire it all back up again. if all else fails then take it in, you'll feel alot more relieved once its back and you've payed to get experts to do it over and fixed.
it does matter what slot the RAM is in. some boards that have 3 slots say to put it in slot 1 and 3 if you only have two sticks.
I had this exact same problem before. My computer would run fine but when i ran something memory intensive, photoshop. etc it would auto reboot itself. I thought it was a vid card prob too but it turned out just to be a shitty stick of RAM.
