Forum Home
Press F1
 
Thread ID: 10791 2001-08-12 23:27:00 random reboots Guest (0) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
16903 2001-08-12 23:27:00 Can anyone help with my W98 system doing random reboots: Epox 8KTA3 mobo (Via chipset v4.30 drivers, Award bios 18/05/2001), Athlon 750 cpu, 256Mb Ram, MSI 8817 Geforce2MX/32Mb AGP4 video, Philips 107S 17' monitor, Creative SbLive Value sound, Quantum 15 and 3.2G hard drives, Pioneer 16x DVD105F, Sony CRX145E 10/4/32 CDRW, Netgear FA310TX NIC, Brother MFC7160C printer/scanner

W98 is SP1, IE is 5.5 SP2, Office 97 is SR2, I have latest drivers I can find for everything.

System does a full reset at random, particularly when games such as Diablo 2 are being played.
Guest (0)
16904 2001-08-12 23:32:00 When this happened to me we traced it to a bad video card.
do you have another video card handy that you can try in your machine?
Guest (0)
16905 2001-08-13 00:42:00 Yeah, I changed from a TNT2 PCI card to the MSI 8817 AGP card in case that was the problem - made no difference Guest (0)
16906 2001-08-13 00:42:00 hi Ian,
you have 2 devices which don't like via chipsets. The SB Live and the GF2. Try running your AGP at 2X rather than 4x. There is plenty of bandwidth in 2x so there will be little performance degradation. However, it this doesn't cure your problem, try adjusting some PCI settings to see if it's the SB at fault, eg delayed transation, read/write wait states etc. There are slightly newer SBL drivers on the creative site than the ones shipped on the CD. You may also want to experiment with different versions of the Nvidia detonator drivers for your video card. The official versions are available on the Nvidia site, and others are available on the web.
Guest (0)
16907 2001-08-13 01:06:00 Tried that. Latest drivers from Creative and Nvidia are installed. Also tried Bios settings reducing speed/functionality in increments - nothing seems to make any difference Guest (0)
16908 2001-08-13 09:48:00 Check the CPU temperature, they reboot when they are overheating. And the Athlons create quite a bit of heat. Guest (0)
16909 2001-08-13 22:03:00 It's not CPU temperature or fan failure. After the problem started, I installed Motherboard Monitor, and have it logging to a file as well as sounding audible alarms - and I have never had an alarm. The CPU runs between 45-52 degrees (alarm at 60) and the heatsink fan runs about 5600 rpm (alarm below 5000) Guest (0)
16910 2001-08-14 06:42:00 Any error messages.
Any problems running (what ever you can) in Safe Mode.

Disable all startup progs via MSconfig and only run one program at a time to see when you reboot/freeze.
or
Strip it back to basics....video card only and no peripherals like printer,etc.
Swap RAM for known working Ram, and double check good heatsink/paste contact and clean fan.
Try removing and reseating CPU and Ram and video card.

And default BIOS setting.
Guest (0)
16911 2001-08-19 10:32:00 when did the problem first start. ie after power supply was replaced? After new game installed?
Suggestion; plug a spare/borrowed hard drive in and load up an operating system then instal and run your diablo again. This will eliminate hard drive and corrupt op system. Like another comment I am suspicious of CPU.
Guest (0)
1