Seriously messed up Computer

[Craig]

Okay so, my Computer is really messed up. I've got this problem, my Computer will randomly restart/crash for no apparent reason. It does that all the time, no matter what I'm doing. I could just be sat here staring at my Desktop, and it might restart/crash. It seems to do it more frequently though when I'm doing things like playing computer games, or listening to music, or just using any programmes.

I also get programmes that I am using have error messages, then close alot. Hell sometimes I'll get a mixture of both.

This has been happening to my computer for a good year or 2 now, and I've formatted the thing only God knows how many times, I've taken it to repair shops, I've had people I know who repair computers look at it, I've tried tons of stuff, all to now avail.

I also tried putting a new Hard drive in it, but that made no difference.

So uh, anyone here a Technical Wizard who can give some suggestions as to what the problem could be, before I give up and buy another computer?

[Vyk]

Wizard? Not even close. So this might be me admitting I have no place trying to answer your questions. But since you did all that I can only assume it has something to do with your motherboard. BIOS can be fixed so I'd also have to assume at least one of your repair dudes worked on that. Possibly a faulty processor? Though I have a hard time believing they'd overlook that too... But yeah, if you're that desperate to keep the poor thing I'd look into getting a new MoBo since the new hard drive obviously didn't work.

[Endless]

Is your CPU fan actually working? Get some monitoring tool and check the temperature of the CPU and see if there's a correlation. How does it reboot? Screen flashes blue then reboot? Direct reboot? Message that tells you it will reboot in 60 seconds?

[Craig]

It just goes black unexpectedly, then boots back up again.

EDIT: So it gives me that temperature info when it boots up, and I wrote it down.

CPU: 58 C/ 136 F (This usually starts at around 30 C when I turn it on the first time in a day, and reaches about 60.
System: 36 c/ 96 F

CPU Fan: 5443 RPM
System Fan: 0 RPM

Hold any relevance?

[Yamaneko]

The temps aren't too bad. It could be cooler, but it shouldn't be restarting with temps like that. Have you run any memory tests? Could be faulty RAM.

[crono_logical]

Right click My Computer > Advanced > Startup and Recovery Setting > Disable Automatic Restart. This way if it's crashing due to a blue screen, we'll actually see it now and might get useful information from it.

Also, yes, if it's crashing/rebooting in such a random manner, doing a memory test to make sure the RAM's not faulty is a good idea. Memtest86 will do, and only needs a blank floppy/CDR/CDRW to run

[Craig]

Yeah so I uh, solved the problem. I, bought a new PC.

[Peegee]

Buying a new PC always fixes problems. In fact I'm going to get a job as tech support!

[Craig]

Actually, that PC sucked. I took it back, but this guy I spoke to said 9/10 the problem I have is because of faulty RAM.

EDIT: So I put some other RAM in the computer, but it's still having the same problem.

[karatehero]

You might try removing pieces of hardware one by one until the problem goes away. The last one you removed is the problem-child.

I was having the exact same problem a while back. The culprit? The cable for the floppy. It was in backwards, and everytime the machine scaned for a disk, the machine died.

I would bet, espcially if it is a totally random issue, that you have a suspect peice of hardware.

[Craig]

So, I was wondering. I replaced the RAM but the proplem persists.

Any chance that now that I have new RAM, formatting would be of any use?

[karatehero]

Not really. In theory the type of resources are independent of the kernel operation (I might have over nerded myself there and made no sense. AKA - No).

I wasn't thinking the memory was your issue. I would try your optical drives, video card, floppy, that kinda crap.

[Craig]

Okay, I'll probably start checking all of my Hardware then. Could it likely be the Graphics card, or Motherboard?

[Samuraid]

You may want to check the harddrive for errors or corrupted windows system files. I had a similar problem with a black screen restart on a friend's computer. Part of the windows registry and one of windows' DLL files were corrupted.

[karatehero]

If reformatting didn't help, its probably not software.

If is a video card, optical drive, floppy, cable, power supply or other gizmo you are good.

If its the proc. or the MB, you are probably screwed. You can't determine the problem without being an uber-nerd. I replaced a motherboard once to find out it was the proc. and I didn't want to spend $$$$ on an old board.

Good luck!!!