Vista Home Premium keeps freezing / rebooting....

MrRyte

I've been playing detective with my computer trying to resolve an issue with it suddenly freezing or rebooting. Though I could just easily do a complete reinstall and call it a day, I'd much rather work my way through this just for the sake of experience in the long run.

I've done antivirus/antiadware/antimalware scans, cleaned the registry, ran combofix, did both a systems and memory test and a few other things that I can't recall at the moment. The only info a google search revealed is that a freeze / reboot can be narrowed down to three key issues: malware; memory issues or overheating. As mentioned before; I've already run malware and memory tests and nothing turns up. Other than getting into the BIOS; is there another way to check the temp while the CPU is under load?

http://static.highspeedbackbone.net/pdf/fq582aa.pdf

Specs:
Compaq Presario SR5710F Desktop PC
• AMD Athlon X2 4450e
• 250GB hard drive
• 3GB of DDR2 system memory
•128MB of video memory
• Burns DVDs and CDs
• LightScribe enabled

demonfurbie

when is the last time you cleaned out the inside with a can of air and took off the cpu cooler and cleaned it out well?

MrRyte

demonfurbie wrote: »

when is the last time you cleaned out the inside with a can of air and took off the cpu cooler and cleaned it out well?

At least two weeks ago....

Stiltz79

Bad RAM?

gosh1976

You can use core temp or a similar application to monitor the temp perhaps while you run prime95 or another stress tester. Do a memtest.

Have you run something to check for rootkits other than combofix like tdss killer. I recommend running removeit pro it's a free scanner and gets quite a few false positives but it catches a lot of stuff other things miss. Also I really like the new Super anti-spyware portable it catches a lot of stuff other things miss.

Try running the machine with anything extra unplugged like DVD or cd rom's etc- maybe the power supply is going bad.

Krunchi

Check the Power Supply.

Vaga

Like Krunchi said, check the psu.
I've had a few of these at work recently and it boiled down to power supplies playing funny beggars with the voltages.

Also, don't know what memory test you ran, but I've always found memtest+ to be good, so long as you leave it at least over night to run through a good few cycles.

MrRyte

Bad RAM?

Swapped memory sticks. Same issues.

Have you run something to check for rootkits other than combofix like tdss killer. I recommend running removeit pro it's a free scanner and gets quite a few false positives but it catches a lot of stuff other things miss. Also I really like the new Super anti-spyware portable it catches a lot of stuff other things miss.

I used CCleaner, AVS and Lavasoft Ad-Aware to search and remove malware. I used the motherboard and memory test that came with the software.

Like Krunchi said, check the psu.
I've had a few of these at work recently and it boiled down to power supplies playing funny beggars with the voltages.

Also, don't know what memory test you ran, but I've always found memtest+ to be good, so long as you leave it at least over night to run through a good few cycles.

I'll look into the PSU. As for running the memtest overnight, far easier said than done since the computer will unexpectedly reboot at any time.

RobertKaucher

Is it BSoDing? Have you looked in the minidump folder for a **** file?

Here are the usual suspects for this type of issue:

1. An extruded or popped capacitor on the motherboard. Do a serious inspection especially around the CPU.
2. Bad ram (youve run memtest)
3. A bad video driver (or other driver). Check for ****.
4. Malware (you've already run the usual tests)
5. Failing PSU.
6. Less commonly a failing PCI device like a modem (does not even have to be used).

TheShadow

Considering you are in a warm part of the U.S., unless the system room is chilled, I go with RobertKaucher's number 1, bad capacitors. I am guessing that the system is 3 years old now since it is a Vista box which is a good indication of electrolytic breakdown from heat around the CPU socket. Look for them on the video card too, especially if failure or screen freezes occur during graphic intensive actions.

South Texas endless summers are not good for motherboards or video cards after a few years at higher ambient temps. The cans with the X on the tops should be perfectly flat; if not then there is hydrogen gas buildup from chemical breakdown. More expensive recent motherboards have gone to all solid state cap's but the ones around the CPU are still standard on most boards. I live in California and just replaced six caps in a periodically rebooting Linksys wireless router. That is all that was wrong with it. Wasn't really worth the time if it wasn't my time and if I did not have a rework soldering unit.

RobertKaucher

First rule is always do a physical inspection and check the mobo. You could spend hours working on a unit only to find that a 20 second inspection could have saved you all that work.