Yet another Random Reboot Thread

[Sust]

My computer has started randomly rebooting so since this is new to me I looked to the anandtech community for help.
After searching all the previous threads, it turns out that the fault could be with my PSU, RAM, CPU, and/or Motherboard.
I interpret that to mean anything in my case could be malfunctioning so I thought I would share the first steps of my troubleshooting in case anyone cares.
Here are my system specs and the system has been very stable since I bought all of the components in September 2001:

Athlon 1Ghz SocketA(no overclocking)
Antec PP-403X 400W power supply
(3x256)768 MB Crucial DDR RAM
Geforce3 Ti200
Leadtek 7350KDA(SIS735 chipset)
Iwill Side-RAID ATA-100
(2x)Maxtor 20GB ATA100 RAID-0
Windows XP with SP1

I downloaded memtest86 last night and ran it through a few loops at 6PM. After watching the Man Show I then remembered the computer again and memtest86 was showing some errors in my RAM. Specifically it was something in Step5 that was showing the error. After peeking at the memtest86 page it turns out that the step5 error is fairly common with the Athlons.
I didnt wanna accept the fact there was something wrong with my Crucial RAM so I swapped out my 400W Antec PSU and put in a 350W Antec PSU. After reattaching everything, and powering it on, I noticed that everything was starting up just fine.
Logging in was okay, and then as an acid test, I decided to put some load on the computer.
I opened up the new Hi-Res Matrix trailer in Apple Quicktime and it played great for the first 15 seconds but the system rebooted again after Morpheus jumps onto the tractor trailer.

So it looks like it's back to memtest86 to see which of my RAM sticks is bad
*sigh*
Anyone know how Crucial feels about sending RAM back for repair? I remember something about lifetime warranty and stuff....

 

[foofoo]

hi,
what are your cpu temps?
have you looked in event viewer for errors?
these could also be contributing ....
good luck

 

[Sust]

Woot!
I placed one stick of RAM in DIMM slot #1 and ran memtest86.
The first stick of RAM has passed the first run of test5!
1 down, 2 more to go.

And I will check on those CPU temps, foofoo.
I didnt think to check it since I dont overclock, but I could be smoking my athlon if the cooler isnt sitting on there properly.
Thanks for the suggestion

Okay, the CPU temp is 35 deg. Celsius.

 

[Sust]

Hmm.... Stick #2 checks out also in DIMM slot#1...
If theres nothing wrong with stick#3 then it might be the motherboard...
Doh! And leadtek only has a 1 year warranty.
Well... let's see how stick#3 turns out first before I start jumping to conclusions.

 

[ukiro]

I get the exact same thing, but only when I'm using an application that uses the sound card (could be anything from watching a movie clip in windows media player to producing music in Cubase SX). My memory reports no errors in MemTest86. I got it a few times under Win2K as well, but it's more frequent under XP (maybe once or twice per week, sometimes more). I'm suspecting either a bad sound card (should try the on-board ASUS A7N8X Deluxe sound for a while maybe) or something funky going on with the OS.

God luck in your quest for the solution to this, I'll be watching the thread.

 

[Sust]

Hey Ukiro,

Well my reboots are quite frequent and quite random in when they happen.
As you can tell, I'm still trying to isolate the problem and it's starting to look like it might not be the RAM.
Kudos to micron on making a tough stick of RAM.
The boos might start pouring into Leadtek though because the 3rd stick of RAM checked out fine in DIMM slot#1
So 3 good sticks of RAM and PSU in definite working order.
That leaves the mobo and CPU.
I'm going to reinsert all of the DIMMs and rerun memtest
Maybe the RAM just needed to be reseated...

 

[ukiro]

I can run a program that uses sound just fine, it doesn't crash as soon as I use such an app; thus it took a while to spot the common denominator that theere was always sound playing when it booted. Do you have any PCI cards in your box?

 

[Sust]

Doh!
Goddamit.
Test5 reports errors again.
So maybe it is the motherboard. Now I have to take away DIMMs until test5 no longer reports errors.
The obvious starting point is to take away the stick in DIMM slot#3...
Stay tuned.

<edited to include reply>
Alot of what I need is already available onboard, and the only PCI card that I have is the IWill SIDE-RAID.
I notice that my system will reboot after about 5 seconds to 1 minute spent in windows XP. It usually rebooted after doing something CPU intense or RAM intense I guess. Sitting in front of the login screen, it could go for hours without anything happening until I logged in and did something.
I was actually all set to reinstall the OS thinking that some internet punk had broken thru my firewall or I got hit by a virus, but the computer rebooted on me in the middle of the OS install. Thus I think there is a lower level problem at work here. Does anyone know if there's a virus that is insidious enough to reboot when you try to reinstall the OS?

However, I think I have pinpointed my problem area with a fair amount of confidence...

 

[Sust]

Okay
I removed the RAM in DIMM slot#3 and memtest86 has been flawless so far.
So it looks like something happens when I put RAM in slot#3.
Y'know, I remember someone mentioning that putting that 3rd stick of RAM in some motherboards was potentially problematic, but I never really noticed anything myself.
Well, that is until now.
So for anyone who ever runs a search on random reboot, I hope they come across my posts and is saved some of the pain.
Memtest86 was invaluable and I hope everyone does themselves a favor in using it.
Now... do I sell the RAM or do I get a new motherboard?

 

[PCHPlayer]

Yes, there have been many problems with Athlons and 3 sticcks of DDR memory. I will never put a third DIMM in my motherboard for that exact reason. If you go back a year and look at motherboard reviews you will see the 3 stick memory problem.

 

[Sust]

ah heck...
Although memtest no longer shows the test5 errors, the random reboots continue.
Any ideas on where to go next?

 

[Sust]

Hmm.... This could very well be my PCI RAID card.
I got to take a look at the Event viewer and noticed that my RAID card has been having problems with WinXP.
Maybe it's time to try a new driver....

 

[Sust]

Okay, new drivers did not do the job.
So the only components left to finger are the CPU and the motherboard.
The CPU temps are stable so far as I can see and I cant imagine what could possibly be wrong there since I have not been overclocking at all.
Maybe it was those months and months of SETI@home loops....
Well, it was time to try an upgrade anyways with the XP2400 down to 100 bux.
And one can easily get an nForce2 motherboard in the 75 dollar range if you dont want all the bells and whistles.
Anyone else have any other suggestions I could turn to before I pluge into a new investment?

Now that I think about it, everytime the computer restarts, I could swear I hear some sort of high pitched whine of some sort emanating from the case.
Maybe it's my computer's death knell...

 

[Sust]

Okay,

Got my new motherboard and it's yet another leadtek mobo.
It's the K7NCR18D-pro and although it's got some issues with flashing the BIOS, I dont think im in the mood to fiddle with that step of mobo tweaks.
For more details, just mosey on over to the forums at amdmb.com and look up what people have to say about it.
Anyways, so it seems that my troubleshooting is over.
With the installation of the new mobo, the random reboots have gone away unlike before...
Damned reboots... it even rebooted on me when I tried to reinstall the OS.

Well, I hope its not too early to say that I've pinpointed the problem.

Hope you all learn from this experience as I have.
The lesson is: some motherboards do go bad over time.
Another lesson: cleaning the dust off of your fans reduces the amount of noise it makes.