Random reboots

[Bail Organa]

Hi,

My system has become really unstable. It reboots randomly and sometimes will continue rebooting with about a 2 second gap!
It might reboot when I'm doing something or it might just reboot and when it's posting reboot again.
Sometimes, when it reboots it just sits there turning itself on and off with nothing on the screen.
I am thinking it is the CPU, MB, PSU or (!) the hard disk (is this possible? when the computer doesn't powerup properly I think the hard disk doesn't seem to powerup the way it should). I don't think it's the memory as I have two sticks of RAM and this happens when I have either one in. (I have used memtest and no problems were detected).
Any help?

My system is:
1700+ XP with a zalman 7000 alcu (current temp read by MBM is 38C)
Asus a7v8x (bios 1013 revision)
512 ram (266)
current power rails:
CPU Core 0:1.78 V
CPU Core 1:1.76 V
3.3 line: 3.25 V
5v line: 4.97 V
12v line: 12.10 V
My current uptime is nearly 4h. It's quite weird!

Thank you very much for your time,
Bail Organa

 

[YellowDart]

Sounds like it could be your video card, mobo, or PSU. Have you tried swapping in a different PSU or video card to see if that fixes the problem???

 

[Bail Organa]

After a week without the computer (argh!) and a week with it working fine with a 2mb Trio PCI graphics card, it rebooted again.
I guess I can rule out the AGP port and the video card.
I put my "old" AGP graphics card back in after that and it rebooted again after about 8 hours while I was watching a divx movie (I had watched about 35 minutes of it). I turned it back on and it rebooted after 2 or 3 minutes. The third time I turned it back on, windows hadn't even finished loading when it rebooted.
Btw, you may think it's strange that I had to turn it back on when it rebooted... Well, after those three reboots, the PC just sat there. Fans blowing, leds on but no activity from the hard disk and nothing on the screen.

In the week I didn't use the computer, I tested it with a different PSU and with/without hard disk, etc. It still rebooted.
Only three things remain: the floppy (I think I can rule that out! ), the MB and the CPU. I am VERY tempted to go out and buy a new MB. Any ideas?

Cheers,
Bail Organa

 

[Bail Organa]

Btw, sometimes, after one of those (horrible horrible!) reboots and after I turn it back on (if needed), the PC will go into the BIOS and show me: "the system has hung for an improper CPU speed setting".
The CPU setting is just as it should be and at the moment everything is set to auto.

Cheers,
Bail Organa

 

[wicked-one]

Sounds like a short somewhere. Most likely cause probably is your mobo, but maybe it's due to your heatsink? Is the ALCU bolt-on or clip-on?

I'd try running everything out of the case, reseating the CPU and see if that maybe helps. Also, are any of your fans plugged into the motherboard?

 

[Bail Organa]

Hi, thanks for your reply.

The ALCU is bolt on. I have already reseated the CPU without any luck. The only fan that is plugged into the motherboard is the one on the ALCU. Btw, I forgot to mention that I did change the cooler back to my old (and NOISY!) Volcano 6Cu+. Same thing happened.

As for running it out of the case, I can try that. (but probably not until the weekend: I have a paper due). On what should I place the motherboard? On the antistatic bag that came with it? Can the rest of the components remain inside the case?

Thanks.

Bail Organa