You have a difficult problem, but I think that you have taken all the right
steps. Let's summarize,
1. The problem suddenly appeared out of nowhere; no changes to the system
were made.
2. You have updated all your drivers (although #1 would indicate it is not
a driver problem).
3. The problem happens randomly - not in any specific program. Along with
#1, this suggests it is a hardware problem, not a software problem.
4. You are pretty sure it is not a heating problem. Make sure that the cpu
fan is working. This problem can easily be caused by an overheating cpu,
and if the fan is not working, the cpu can overheat very fast! While you
are checking the fan, blow any excess dust off. (Do not use a vacuum
cleaner or any possible source of static electricity.)
So, at least to me, it looks like a hardware problem, and not a heating
problem, which would otherwise be the #1 suspicion.
Is it a power supply problem? If you leave the computer on all day without
doing anything, do you have this problem? If not, then - maybe - it is not
a power supply problem.
Is it a corrupted disk? Run scandisk several times overnight.
Go to the bios and uncheck the quick boot. Then boot several times to see
if the memory check finds anything. If you have two sticks of memory, use
only one for a while and see if the system crashes with it. If it crashes
with one stick and not the other, then, there you have it.
Darn Microsoft! If this were my computer and I were not running XP, I would
save what I needed to and reformat, scan, and reinstall everything in case I
had a corrupted file somewhere. This is still an option, but you will have
to call MS and get your XP reauthorized. Actually, I did this once, and it
was not really so bad, but I am paranoid about these things...
Maybe somebody else can come up with some more suggestions of things to try.
Good Luck!
Dean Kukral
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Dawson" <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 2004 12:56 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] Spontaneous Reboot(s)
> I'm posting this here as I am not sure what is the cause of this
> problem, but I suspect it is somehow software related. I am using Windows
XP Home Edition (full install). Over the last week I have begun to
experience issues (hangs, freezes, spontaneous reboots)when trying to play
games (four differnt games)of any kind. About 50% of the time I have also
been getting the MS Windows message on system load or reboots "This system
has recovered from a serious error" with the option to send a report. When I
do send a report to see the feedback, it is usually different every time
(driver conflict, Iomega Active Disk, etc.) I thought that my ATI Radeon
9800Pro may have driver issues, so I updated the video card drivers. When
that did not work, I updated the sound card drivers for my SB Live 5.1 card.
That did nothing, so I disa
> bled
> the Sound Blaster card and enabled the onboard C-Media AC97 audio
> device built into the Biostar M7VIT Bravo motherboard. When I
> used the SB card I experienced more game freezes (with corrupted
> sounds coming out of the speakers), but when using the C-Media
> AC97 (with most current drivers installed)I experienced more
> spontaneous reboots. I reinstalled the game(s) and even installed a new
game, with the same result for all. I have checked the CPU temp. and it
seems
> good. I have one case fan blowing additional air into the case. I
> do not believe this has anything to do with overheating as I will
> experience these problems very soon after the first initial system boot
> before real system heat starts to build up with system load or
> extended game play. I would have attributed these problems to individual
> game software issues were it not for the repeated occurrances
> with different games & brands, one of which is Tritryst, a
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