Hi all

As you may know i own an ideq 300 mce pc with windows mce

Biostar Group

A nice little setup that overall i have been pretty impressed with

the spec

3.6ghz intel p4

2 x 512mb ram

sapphire gto2 256mb graphics card

dual tv card

but i have a problem with the system that i'm struggling to resolve, the pc reboots itself at random.

very rarely with a bsod but if it does display a bsod they are not always the same irq less than or equal to springs to mind.

I have tried everything i can possibly think of, the warrenty is up in december so i'd like to try and resolve the problem before then

What i have tried so far

Checked the rails with a voltmeter while stressing pc

re did cooling on both cpu and graphics card just in case

updated system bios and graphics card bios

ran extensive memory tests over night

ran atitools overclocking on the graphics card while checking temps and increased gpu from 400mhz to 490mhz and memory to 560mhz, temps increasing to 80oC but not above

ran everest stress tests on cpu, harddrive, memory etc

updated all drivers i can think of that could have an impact

ran system mechanic 6.0

the cpu stays cool, fans always on full and it doesnt go above 50oC unless under serious stress

I installed Almico's Home Page speedfan at the weekend and although i dont believe the software its saying that 2 of my temp sensors on the IT8712F I/O are above 90oC but not the cpu, i'm not sure what this is or if its correct, these sensors are not featured in the bios

AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

If you can point out the problem so that i can fix the issue or take the faulty part back i'll buy you drink, lots of drink.

Have a look at the motherboard and make sure there are no bulging or ruptured capacitors.

Also have you tried reducing the O/Clock on the graphics card as quite often momroy can go funny at higher speeds than it is meant to be run at.

HTH

the graphics card isnt overclocked, i just did that for the purpose of testing. capacitors all look great from what i can see, its a reletavly new pc as well so this shouldnt be an issue but quite right it is something i checked at the weekend.

You tried a different PSU as reboot without BSOD is usually a power problem.

Next step would be to try a linux live CD or something and see if the PC does the same. If it does return for repair.

at first i thought it was the psu but now i dont think it is, linux live could be an idea, i might just take it to aria pc clinic and pay the 40 quid to let them look at it.

sounds like memory to me have/can you get hold of some other memory to try in there

other than that mobo maybe duff

the bit about irq not less or equal in my experiance means memory

i ran microsofts mtest all night and didnt find anything, i do have some more, i could pull it and try that

could it be possible that mtest missed something?

there is another issue related or not i should post it just in case

if my crappy free usb modem is plugged in sometimes (not always) the pc wont boot past the bios front screen that says IDEQ, could this be pointing to an ACPI configuration issue? if you unplug it, it just carries on as normal.

If i turn ACPI off in the bios the computer goes nuts, multiple reboots, wont load windows, i think windows sets this on install and any changes affect running.

Are the two problems related, should i disable acpi and re install windows again, bit drastic.

I also get an error if the system reboots quite a few times that points to a possible cpu overheating problem, i think this is a standard error message though if the system reboots so many times, when i check the temp in the bios its always fine, unless of course the other sensors picked up by speedfan are acurate and i have an overheating issue.

USB devices hanging boot isn't unusual don't worry about that just remove it and keep going with the PC and see what happens.

Try Memtest x86 (a bootable CD) as that doesn't use the OS to check the RAM

hth

that memtest is the same as the microsoft one, that boots from an image without os, i'm confident its as good, didnt find anything though

I'll take your word for it on the memtest, however random reboots without any crash are almost always the domain of power problems be that a cap, regulator, PSU or just something drawing more current than can be supplied.

What is the output from teh PSU, especially the max current on the 12v rail?

Also which graphics card have you got in it as I really can't see a system at £200 in a small form factor having enough on the 12V rail to run the P4 & a big graphics card.

Is there any related messages in the Event Viewer? You don't mention if you checked it or not.

My PC would reboot sporadically whenever I ran IE, coupled with either Media Player or Winamp.

It turned out to be an issue with my firewall software getting a corrupted database?!

Not sure how they all impacted on one another, but I switched to a hardware firewall and the problem has gone.

i have had various messages in the event viewer that i thought could be the problem and have chased them all from disabling usb controllers to upping the tcpip security limit because it was being reached, disabled the ethernet card, the last critical i recieved was

Error code 0000009c, parameter1 00000000, parameter2 805535f0, parameter3 be000000, parameter4 200c0189.

and this relates to various different things, all were chased as far as i could take them, multiple virus programs installed and non found anything, adaware, system mechanic, kaspersky and others

System mechanic deleted my last memory dump so i cant post it

I'll take your word for it on the memtest, however random reboots without any crash are almost always the domain of power problems be that a cap, regulator, PSU or just something drawing more current than can be supplied.

What is the output from teh PSU, especially the max current on the 12v rail?

Also which graphics card have you got in it as I really can't see a system at £200 in a small form factor having enough on the 12V rail to run the P4 & a big graphics card.

i just drafted a long mail in reply to this and the pc went down just before the end, i then drafted another and clicked some software relating to the graphics card and got a bsod because i have unplugged the card

ok, i too thought it was the psu, a 250w psu running a

3.6ghz processer

256mb pci-express graphics card

2 x 512mb ram

80gig hdd

wireless pci card

internal dual tuner

the psu performs well under full load and the pc doesnt have to be doing anything to go down, typing this mail is all it needs. I spent nights with the voltmeter and pc under load

the rails just in case

18a on the 3.3v

18a on the 5v

16a on the 12v

I pulled the ram and replaced, 30mins in the pc went down again.

I have pulled the graphics card incase this is eating the power or other reason and am waiting, this could take some time though, the pc has gone for a few days without going down before now, i'll post findings as soon as.

it went down again while i was editing the previous

i think it went on the same error as before

TCP/IP has reached the security limit imposed on the number of concurrent TCP connect attempts.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at Events And Errors Message Center: Basic Search.

thats without the graphics card and the memory

Error code 0000009c, - Google Search

try wading through this lot i googled your numbers in various purmutations and came back with a lot of memory probs

could point to power as well maybe mobo related though

as in the mobos duff causing memory and power problems

memory has been pulled as well as graphics

I think i'll leave it as is for a few hours and if it crashes again boot to safe mode and leave it until it goes down

If it goes down in safemode it will be hardware related

If it fails in safe mode i'm going to take it in to aria where i bought it, if it doesnt i'll buy a new hard drive and try a fresh install step by step

I'll let you know how i get on

Sounds like a suspect device driver to me....

ok ok its the psu

I pulled the graphics and its not flickered in a day, my stuburnness (clearly spelt wrong) caused me not to re-visit the problem because it didnt happen very often

Cheezemonkhai you told me to check another psu so pm me your address and the wine and or cheque will be in the post end of month

Cant let you take all the credit though, fatty you had a good part to play as well, pm me and i'll send something for you as well

Thanks guys for the slap in the face of reality

I should know better, consider it lesson learnt!

Glad you found the problem Mike,

I've seen this sort of thing too many times, including a housemate who actually managed to burn the 12v wire on his PSU as he was pulling too much current from the GFX card.

Was odd because he would start a game the HDD would crash and then the system restart. He was assuming dead HDD, when as with so many things it was the power.

If it is under warrenty, do you know what the power rating for the supply is as you might be able to wrangle a new supply off them if it isn't living up to it's claimed output.

earlier in the year i looked at buying a new psu but after the voltmeter period decided not to bother, because its sff it would have to be another sff psu or one that sits external, or make large case mods that i dont really fancy, i could probably upgrade to 300w at a price of 60 quid but see little point in the expense.

i have a better idea

I'm gonna pull the card as the most my daughter does with the pc is watch tv on it (shes 5 and i built her a pc that cost not far off a grand), i'm gonna take half her memory and build a new system for me:D

base line core 2 duo's are about 80 quid, cheap mobo is another 65, cheap case and a psu about 50 and everything else needed i have in my other pc's

Job done

Good call, but do go buy a decent PSU for the chassis

I would suggest tagan if the one i have is anythign to go by

silence is golden when it comes to my next pc, no fans or very little.

Tagan, Enermax are pretty good. Do not on any circumstances buy a Q-tec though!

I recently put together a PC for SWMBO and used a modular enermax PSU. About £50 but as it was going in a SFF case (but still using normal sized PSU), I got a modular one and removed all unecessar power cables. Dead quiet too

A low spec dual core should run pretty cool so you won't need any noisy fans to keep it happy