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Author Topic: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts  (Read 15506 times)

NewtronStar

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #30 on: October 13, 2016, 10:29:13 PM »

were your able to run a chkdsk /f
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renluop

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #31 on: October 14, 2016, 08:28:51 AM »

Pics taken when Live Disk was running. They're not good, but so they tell anything? I could not find a text log.
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renluop

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #32 on: October 25, 2016, 07:10:35 PM »

Everything we thought possible done, I got a new PSU fitted on appro.
Found very quickly a new PSU is not solution.

Can't think what next! :-\ :'(
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #33 on: October 25, 2016, 10:27:22 PM »

I like your hunch that the issue is PSU-related.   Is the PC mains plug connected directly to a wall socket, or via a trailing extension lead?

If the latter, try to eliminate the extension lead by plugging in directly to a wall socket.

Extension leads often act up but if not, then even the PC 'kettle' lead, or the 13A wall socket could have become defective.   These are long shots, but probably easy to eliminate by substitution, with zero expenditure...
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renluop

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #34 on: October 25, 2016, 11:21:12 PM »

Hi 7LM! I like your idea, but the present positioning of twin power point and my computer does not lend itself. They are diametrically opposite, so the power lead would not reach. Can one get extra long power  leads, preferably long enough to avoid the cable not being fixable to floor or wall? I don't want any trip hazard.The surge protector and extension lead is like this, and I had it before moving here 14 years ago, I think, so wondering about that too.
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #35 on: October 25, 2016, 11:44:20 PM »

If it was related to the power lead, while there's no gaurantee, I would expect it to respond to wiggling.

Tap and wiggle the various power connectors, if anything triggers a restart you are probably getting warm. :)

I'm reminded in particular of my old HP server box, which behaved just like yours for a while.   In that case, the fault was the 3 pin connector on the back of the PC itself.  But that's usually an integral part of the computer PSU, which you have already replaced.   
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Chrysalis

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #36 on: October 26, 2016, 12:31:12 AM »

in my experience a self rebooting system is either PSU or CPU related althought it could be a BSOD incident if auto restart is enabled for BSOD's you can check the event viewer logs to see if was a os/driver crash or not.

Assuming its not a BSOD I dont think its gpu or ram related as those tend to cause driver/os crashes rather than spontaneous reboots.

Cpu's do degrade over time with whats known as voltage degradation, most cpu's if not all cpu's have a operating buffer (which is why pretty much every cpu is overclockable), over time this buffer shrinks due to the voltage degradation, eventually it will hit a critical level which can be overcome by underclocking or overvolting a cpu (if thats the cause).  The amount of time before this happens depends how well the cpu is binned as well as operating conditions during its life.

--edit--

To add a bad/degraded mortherboard could also cause this.  This diagnosis I think will be a case of swapping out parts.  That is if you think the old hardware is worth the effort as swapping out parts costs time and money.
« Last Edit: October 26, 2016, 12:36:43 AM by Chrysalis »
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renluop

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #37 on: October 26, 2016, 07:04:54 AM »

in my experience a self rebooting system is either PSU or CPU related althought it could be a BSOD incident if auto restart is enabled for BSOD's you can check the event viewer logs to see if was a os/driver crash or not.

Assuming its not a BSOD I dont think its gpu or ram related as those tend to cause driver/os crashes rather than spontaneous reboots.

Cpu's do degrade over time with whats known as voltage degradation, most cpu's if not all cpu's have a operating buffer (which is why pretty much every cpu is overclockable), over time this buffer shrinks due to the voltage degradation, eventually it will hit a critical level which can be overcome by underclocking or overvolting a cpu (if thats the cause).  The amount of time before this happens depends how well the cpu is binned as well as operating conditions during its life.

--edit--

To add a bad/degraded mortherboard could also cause this.  This diagnosis I think will be a case of swapping out parts.  That is if you think the old hardware is worth the effort as swapping out parts costs time and money.
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parkdale

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #38 on: October 26, 2016, 06:22:09 PM »

If your getting black screens when booting linux all variants (well most) followed by machine HD light flicking away to its self and the machine appears to gone to sleep, you need to boot to
default graphics.
Boot cd then at the first menu you press "e" at the grub boot menu, you should be presented with the actual grub lines used to boot.
Search down to the line that starts with "linux /boot/..." it may (probably will) span across two or more lines.
At the end of the line it probably says "quiet splash"
After "splash" type a space and then nomodeset.
then ctl-x will boot with those boot options. Esc brings you back to the grub menu in case you hit "e" on the wrong menu entry.
I have intel graphics and had to use nomodeset
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renluop

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #39 on: October 28, 2016, 03:45:38 PM »

@parkdale
I'm guessing that's a sort of "in passing" post. I'll keep it in mind if ever I decide to use Linux. ;D

Had someone out, who put replacement PSU in on loan. Occurrences increased, so he took box away, but could not replicate fault, and there were no BSODs with auto reboot disabled. The surge protector is now excluded from the power to the computer in case that is the cause.

Other thing thought by me, is could a characteristic of our house power be a factor, though generally I can't say anything noticed like flckering lights?
« Last Edit: October 28, 2016, 03:57:59 PM by renluop »
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renluop

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #40 on: October 29, 2016, 07:56:56 AM »

.....
Had someone out, who put replacement PSU in on loan. Occurrences increased, so he took box away, but could not replicate fault, and there were no BSODs with auto reboot disabled. The surge protector is now excluded from the power to the computer in case that is the cause.

Other thing thought by me, is could a characteristic of our house power be a factor, though generally I can't say anything noticed like flckering lights?
Well, as there were six restarts in the early hours, that's another theory gone.
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parkdale

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #41 on: October 29, 2016, 09:09:00 AM »

I see from your pics above, that your using 'PC Linux OS' live to boot the PC.
Are you getting reboots using the live CD? (I may have missed this part in your postings :-[)
There will be logs generated with PC Linux....but as it's a live CD they will not be kept if the PC has rebooted.
Have you replaced the "TIM" on the cpu? (Thermal paste) this can dry out leading to poor contact, which in turn causes the cpu to overheat.
Like Chrysalis it's looking like a cpu problem, if it were Ram the PC would simply lock up.
Power supplies tend to suffer from lack of 5v rail, which in turn randomly turns the PC on and not at other times.
As you've already swapped this out, that's another idea in the bin.
Have you put a new graphics card in? or are you using the onboard graphics?




« Last Edit: October 29, 2016, 09:22:26 AM by parkdale »
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sevenlayermuddle

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #42 on: October 30, 2016, 09:50:12 AM »

Folks, maybe worth re-emphasising that this is a Windows PC.   I'd question therefor, the amount of effort that Renluop whould be exerting to load Linux.  Even when he gets it all running, there is no guarantee that it will help.   Worst case scenario would be that the PC ran perfectly under Linux, Renluop is then back to square one, with no clues as to what is wrong.

Personally at this point, I'd be suspecting a motherboard problem.   In particular, I'd be thinking about failed capacitors.    Unfortunately aluminium electrolytics often have a very short service life by design (a few years) and you are not unlikely to see some bulging caps on any 'economy' PC of that age.     Failed capacitors are usually fairly obvious as they swell and leak, so I'd suggest taking a peek at the motherboard to see if any can be seen.

Finding some bad caps doesn't guarantee that these are the cause of your problem (though they'd be a prime suspect), but it may indicate that the PC's days are numbered regardless, a justify the cost of a new PC.

Google for a few pics of 'bad capacitors' to see what to look for.   I'm not providing any specific links as there are so many to choose from. :)
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renluop

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Re: Plagued at times by unexpected restarts
« Reply #43 on: October 30, 2016, 12:42:34 PM »

Friends! You're great guys for trying to aid this trying person!

Please ignore anything of Linux, and for the time being relax from further posts. I'll come back idc, when some suggestions handed me from elsewhere have been investigated. :)
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