pancakes

MicrostockGroup Sponsors


Author Topic: Costant rebooting  (Read 2812 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

« on: December 09, 2007, 14:33 »
0
It happened a couple of times yesterday, but today it became unbearable.

My PC keeps rebooting when Windows loads.  Sometimes it reboots as I get the desktop screen, sometimes it may take minutes to happen (even hours, like yesterday).  I got a blue screen once, saying there was a problem in rdbss.sys, but the file had the date of my other Win files, and the size is correct according to some web sources.

I tried all options and even the safety mode wasn't very stable. It has been stable with VGA mode for an hour, and I wonder if this means the problem is in my video card - an item I replace about every year, I believe due to the marine environment (I live one block from the beach) - but once before the VGA mode also rebooted (although lasting longer than the other options, allowing me to back up files from these past few days).

Any hints?

Regards,
Adelaide


vonkara

« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2007, 15:14 »
0
It's making me that about 3 months ago. But I just installed new RAMS in my computer by a "specialist" at this time. I contacted him and he wasn't able to find the problem. Then I checked the settings under performance in the control panel and see in the advance settings that this "specialist" guy haven't installed the new informations concerning the RAMS.

After that, Windows wasn't working properly and I was forced to reinstall Windows completely and lose all my files again. Now I have an external hard drive to save my files on.

Hope you find what is soon, because it can hurt your system!

« Reply #2 on: December 09, 2007, 15:33 »
0
Madelaide I had a similar problem a few years back - windows wouldn't load and kept trying to reboot.  The fact that it does this suggests that there is something windows doesn't 'like' at the boot stage.

In my case I traced it to the monitor; one of my children had changed the monitor resolution to play a new game and the higher resolution was outwith the limits of the monitor.  Hence when windows checked the monitor on boot it shut down because it knew the resolution was wrong.

I simply changed the monitor resolution using the monitors own menu and windows then booted fine.

« Reply #3 on: December 09, 2007, 16:33 »
0
Vonkara,

I haven't installed anything lately - no new hardware nor software - so it must be something else.

Hatman,

How can I access my monitor settings with these constant reboots? It isn't a resolution issue, I believe, as it sometimes boots normally, loads the desktop and everything I have in my Startup (such as antivirus and firewall), all with the normal resolution I use (I think it's 1280x720).  But then, after everything seems normal, I click on the Startup menu and it reboots.

After 2h running stable in VGA mode, I decided to try normal boot again, no luck.  At different steps each time, it always reboots.   :'(

Should I uninstall Nvidia drivers and install a more recent version?  I wonder if this would help...

Regards,
Adelaide

« Reply #4 on: December 09, 2007, 16:56 »
0
Are you using a laptop or a desktop?

If its a desktop you can change the monitor settings using the monitor's own menu.

The fact that it 'works' in VGA suggests that it is indeed the monitor that is the problem (best guess).

Boot up in safe mode and check your monitor settings in Nvidia control panel.  Reduce the resolution or change to a 'normal' setting.

Yes, you could update the Nvidia driver.

« Reply #5 on: December 09, 2007, 16:59 »
0
madelaide:

One common problem with computers is heat.  If I remember correctly, you are in the Southern Hemisphere which means that Summer is approaching.  You might want to try running the computer with the case open, or with a fan blowing on it and see if that helps.  If it does, then you have a heat problem.  You can usually solve this sort of problem by adding extra fans inside the case.  Another common issue is dust buildup (especially if the computer is older).  Dust buildup can be resolved with a vacuum.  Just be careful with the vacuum wand.

Let me know if that helps.


George

« Reply #6 on: December 09, 2007, 18:14 »
0
Geopappas,

Indeed, it's quite hot here, but this is a common issue.  :D

The first thing I thought of was the CPU cooler, but it's working. Once I stayed a couple of months with the fan broken and the PC would have some hicups, the system would freeze or reboot. 

I can try increasing ventilation, but I had air conditioning on this afternoon, so the room temperature was pleasant.  If it is a heating problem, wouldn't it reboot regardless of the VGA mode I'm running it now?  Or is the VGA less power demanding?

In some occasions I've noticed a kind of gooey stuff on the videocard.  I never managed to find out what was that, but given it was green, I assumed it was some sort of electronical rust.  It's curious however that no other part of my PC ever showed it.  It was found right below the CPU fan, but the fan looked ok even when it stopped working (at least externally there was no sign of anything gooey that could have dropped from it on the videocard).  I haven't opened the casing to see if there is anything, but there wasn't last time I checked a couple of months ago.  The casing shows "normal" rust (though any technician who sees it gets surprised of how quickly and heavily rust builds up here).

I have downloaded Nvidia's recent drivers.  Apparently it does nothing special to my old FX5200 card, but it may help.  An hour ago I tried to open a game (Zuma, nothing very demanding I believe, but still graphical usage) and the PC rebooted again - but maybe the game is incompatible with VGA mode.

Maybe it's time to buy a new PC (it's 4.5 years old), but that is not a wise expense at Christmastime!

Regards,
Adelaide

« Reply #7 on: December 09, 2007, 22:49 »
0
check for capacitors for leaks or bulging capacitor caps

« Reply #8 on: December 10, 2007, 18:47 »
0
Hi Jack,

I don't think I can really do what you suggest.  My knowledge is not that high.  :D

Anyway, it's been three hours without reboot now.  I cleaned the videocard contacts.  Still, after that I had a reboot at the first startup, but from then on it has been stable.  I updated NVidia drivers yesterday, nothing changed.  After I got this successful startup, I ran Ad-Aware and AVG Anti-virus just in case, everything is clean. 

I have been suspicious of some faulty file in Zone Alarm, as it was loading always very slowly and often the Windows crash happened right ater it loaded, so I also updated it.  BTW, I tried to use Windows Firewall to protect my pc while downloading this new version, but I couldn't connect with anything with the firewall activated.  So I loaded the old ZA again, it worked fine throughout the download.  In the end I can't be sure if there was actually a problem with ZA.

And here I am.  So far, so good.  Thanks everyone for your help.

Regards,
Adelaide

« Reply #9 on: December 19, 2007, 16:30 »
0
After a week of tranquility, my PC started having problems again.  A friend lent me a video card he bought but did not install, and curiously it isn't working - no image on the monitor, although Windows seems to load (given the music) without rebooting.  I switched back to my video card in VGA mode, which runs with a certain stability. 

Life is very odd in 640x480 mode...

I'll be less active here while I sort this out.

Regards,
Adelaide

« Reply #10 on: December 29, 2007, 14:59 »
0
Funny.  I still haven't bought a new video card (lack of time), so I was still living in VGA mode.  Yesterday I installed a PopCap game I purchased some time ago, and after installation and registration, the screen switched to a SVGA mode and the PC froze.  As I was going to turn it off anyway, I pressed the reset button, and then the regular Window shutdown message appeared.

So today I decided to let the PC boot normally, entering Windows in regular mode (1280x960 in my case) and it's been working for hours without a problem.  Go figure.

Regards,
Adelaide

vonkara

« Reply #11 on: December 29, 2007, 15:46 »
0
I think after all that time you should completely reboot your computer. :-\ (reinstalling Windows) It's a hard job to reinstall all the programs, but the computer work very well after the operation. Just a suggestion if that problem is very problematic...

RacePhoto

« Reply #12 on: December 29, 2007, 18:34 »
0
I wasn't going to say anything, because troubleshooting a computer on a forum is pretty mysterious when I can't see your monitor.  ;D

Do you defrag your hard drive on a regular basis? Have you run CHKDSK on your system? Do you own a registry checker?

Sounds like you may have had a bad or corrupted video driver, possibly corrupted DLL files (less likely), you hard drive could be so fragmented and full that it's crashing, you could have a hard drive going bad, or bad memory chips.

I've repaired everything from Windows 98 toWin2000 to XP and you shouldn't lose "all your files" when you re-install, unless you re-formatted the drive, which you don't need to do.

So the first question, and the first one anyone should ask before trying to figure out what's going on, (which I may have missed), what OS are you running? If it's ME, you can count me out, because I refused to use or deal with it.  ::)

Did you say what kind of computer? How much memory? Drive size...

Of course if it magically repaired itself, do nothing. If it ain't broken, don't fix it!



 

Sponsors

Mega Bundle of 5,900+ Professional Lightroom Presets

Microstock Poll Results

Sponsors