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presario 5838 keeps restarting
Hi All,
This'll be short...since my computer keeps restarting and I lose whatever I'm working on... Presario 5838 Win 98 SE no recent upgrades or installs computer spontaneously restarts...in Windows, in Dos, while various software is running, when nothing is running The monitor goes black, indicator light blinks orange HDD light goes out, Power light stays on and I can hear the fan still running After a few miutes, the HDD indicator light blinks, the monitor light comes on then the screen comes on as the system reboots (usually into the Scandisk with the message "to avoid seeing this screen, shut down windows properly" I've tried to run a thorough scandisk (in Dos & windows),,,it restarts before it can finish I've tried to run a virus scan and Ad-Aware full system scan again...it hasn't been able to complete before a restart. I've reinstalled windows, i've reinstalled the video drivers i've gone into MSConfig and unchecked anything that didn't need to be checked it's restarted itself while in safe mode Any advice would be greatly appreciated Thanks...Karen p.s. I replaced the power supply about a year ago |
#2
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Can you remove the case lid, see if it does it.
"karenrc" wrote in message oups.com... Hi All, This'll be short...since my computer keeps restarting and I lose whatever I'm working on... Presario 5838 Win 98 SE no recent upgrades or installs computer spontaneously restarts...in Windows, in Dos, while various software is running, when nothing is running The monitor goes black, indicator light blinks orange HDD light goes out, Power light stays on and I can hear the fan still running After a few miutes, the HDD indicator light blinks, the monitor light comes on then the screen comes on as the system reboots (usually into the Scandisk with the message "to avoid seeing this screen, shut down windows properly" I've tried to run a thorough scandisk (in Dos & windows),,,it restarts before it can finish I've tried to run a virus scan and Ad-Aware full system scan again...it hasn't been able to complete before a restart. I've reinstalled windows, i've reinstalled the video drivers i've gone into MSConfig and unchecked anything that didn't need to be checked it's restarted itself while in safe mode Any advice would be greatly appreciated Thanks...Karen p.s. I replaced the power supply about a year ago |
#3
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karenrc wrote:
Hi All, This'll be short...since my computer keeps restarting and I lose whatever I'm working on... Presario 5838 Win 98 SE no recent upgrades or installs computer spontaneously restarts...in Windows, in Dos, while various software is running, when nothing is running The monitor goes black, indicator light blinks orange HDD light goes out, Power light stays on and I can hear the fan still running After a few miutes, the HDD indicator light blinks, the monitor light comes on then the screen comes on as the system reboots (usually into the Scandisk with the message "to avoid seeing this screen, shut down windows properly" I've tried to run a thorough scandisk (in Dos & windows),,,it restarts before it can finish I've tried to run a virus scan and Ad-Aware full system scan again...it hasn't been able to complete before a restart. I've reinstalled windows, i've reinstalled the video drivers i've gone into MSConfig and unchecked anything that didn't need to be checked it's restarted itself while in safe mode Any advice would be greatly appreciated Thanks...Karen p.s. I replaced the power supply about a year ago Restarts are often due to either an overheating processor or a memory failure. "doS" suggested you remove the cover from the case, and that is a good idea for several reasons. One is that it will allow more air into the case and possibly allow better cooling. Also, it will allow the following: First, is the fan for the processor running? If so, is the heat sink too hot to touch with your fingers? If you are OK on those tests, suspect your RAM if you are failing from a failure to a DOS floppy disk boot. If the DOS boot is OK, and you fail upon a HD boot, it could still be RAM, but could also be the HD. Take it one step at a time and tell us what you observed. |
#4
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In article ,
Ken writes karenrc wrote: Hi All, This'll be short...since my computer keeps restarting and I lose whatever I'm working on... Presario 5838 Win 98 SE no recent upgrades or installs computer spontaneously restarts...in Windows, in Dos, while various software is running, when nothing is running The monitor goes black, indicator light blinks orange HDD light goes out, Power light stays on and I can hear the fan still running After a few miutes, the HDD indicator light blinks, the monitor light comes on then the screen comes on as the system reboots (usually into the Scandisk with the message "to avoid seeing this screen, shut down windows properly" I've tried to run a thorough scandisk (in Dos & windows),,,it restarts before it can finish I've tried to run a virus scan and Ad-Aware full system scan again...it hasn't been able to complete before a restart. I've reinstalled windows, i've reinstalled the video drivers i've gone into MSConfig and unchecked anything that didn't need to be checked it's restarted itself while in safe mode Any advice would be greatly appreciated Thanks...Karen p.s. I replaced the power supply about a year ago Restarts are often due to either an overheating processor or a memory failure. "doS" suggested you remove the cover from the case, and that is a good idea for several reasons. One is that it will allow more air into the case and possibly allow better cooling. Also, it will allow the following: First, is the fan for the processor running? If so, is the heat sink too hot to touch with your fingers? If you are OK on those tests, suspect your RAM if you are failing from a failure to a DOS floppy disk boot. If the DOS boot is OK, and you fail upon a HD boot, it could still be RAM, but could also be the HD. Take it one step at a time and tell us what you observed. Interesting, it reboots after a few minutes, but you were able to re- install windows. What resources does a Windows install not use? High order memory. Over-heating and RAM problems usually manifest themselves with other random faults including re-boots. Do you get any other problems, such as hangs, Blue Screens of Death? When you say that it re-boots after a few minutes, how long is a few minutes? If a boot from a DOS floppy is stable, you could run a thorough Scandisk from DOS. There are other possibilities worth following up, all done one at a time. Otherwise you might not know what was the problem if you solve it, or create new problems and not know what caused the problem. Blowing out the accumulated detritus is always a good idea. Buy a can of compressed gas designed for blowing out dirt, you can buy them from computer stores and photographic stores. Hold the fans when you clean them, otherwise the current generated by a revolving fan may do damage. Pay particular attention to unoccupied ISA and memory slots, fans and heat sinks. Dirt can conduct electricity and inhibits cooling. -- Nicholas David Richards - "Oł sont les neiges d'antan?" |
#5
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Hi all,
Thanks for the responses. I've taken the cover of the unit, and pulled out and put back in: the video card, the sound card, and the two RAM chips...the system has been running fine ever since. I was able to complete a full scan disk, anti-virus scan and ad-aware scan (all negative). No re-starts whatsoever. Now to put the case back on and see what happens! Cheers, Karen ) karenrc wrote: Hi All, This'll be short...since my computer keeps restarting and I lose whatever I'm working on... Presario 5838 Win 98 SE no recent upgrades or installs computer spontaneously restarts...in Windows, in Dos, while various software is running, when nothing is running The monitor goes black, indicator light blinks orange HDD light goes out, Power light stays on and I can hear the fan still running After a few miutes, the HDD indicator light blinks, the monitor light comes on then the screen comes on as the system reboots (usually into the Scandisk with the message "to avoid seeing this screen, shut down windows properly" I've tried to run a thorough scandisk (in Dos & windows),,,it restarts before it can finish I've tried to run a virus scan and Ad-Aware full system scan again...it hasn't been able to complete before a restart. I've reinstalled windows, i've reinstalled the video drivers i've gone into MSConfig and unchecked anything that didn't need to be checked it's restarted itself while in safe mode Any advice would be greatly appreciated Thanks...Karen p.s. I replaced the power supply about a year ago |
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