XP randomly reboots itself

I am sorry if this is here already, but I certainly couldn't find it. Anyhow, my XP seems to restart itself now and again. The fans go all nuts for a second or so and the screen goes black (into sleep mode) and the pc restarts itself. Albeit, that is only the good part. If it goes bad, it might not even restart itself; It'll just make a hideous "tiiiiiiiii" noise until I restart it myself by pushing the power button for 8 seconds (this noise comes when in sleep mode). It usually does this a few minutes after the pc has been turned on (EVEN when there are no female pc's around!) … couldn't help myself there No, but really; the problem is starting to be a tad annoying. Thank you very much. P.S. My OS is XP Home edition. I have Version 2002 and SP3. The pc is AMD Athlon 64 Processor, 3400 +, 2.19 ghz

Your noises and symptoms bring to mind a heat issue. How old is the computer and do you ever clean it inside?


As to errors:


To discover the type of Errors the machine has encountered recently, use Event Viewer.

• Go to Start - Run type eventvwr.msc then Press Enter.
• When the Event Viewer opens, there will be two panes.
  The left pane is for event categories (Application, Security, and System).
  The right pane is for event messages (Information, Warning, and Error). (We want to find errors.)
• Left-click the Application category in the left pane and check for any error messages in the right pane.
  You want to find the one(s) that occurred at the same time your system encountered the problem you have posted about.
• Repeat the previous step for each category, or until you find an appropriate error to investigate.
• Double-click the error message to bring up the information.
• Click the third button on the right side of the information window (copies information)
• Paste the information here

Also turn off the auto restart function:

How to turn off Auto Restart in XP

Right click on My Computer

Select Properties

Select the Advanced tab then the Startup & Recovery section

Select the Settings button

Uncheck "Automatically restart" and then click Apply


This will give you a Blue Screen with the error message rather than restarting the computer.

Write down the error detail then use the reset button on the computer to restart.

Basic information about these errors can be found here:

Troubleshooting Windows STOP Messages

Right you are about the heating; I clean this rarely. (Sadly I am in the army and my mother [not a very technically orientated person] uses this pc nowadays) EventViewer: Errorcode 1000000a, parameter 1 00000000, parameter 2 000000ff, parameter 3 00000001, parameter 4 80542675. 0000: 74737953 45206d65 726f7272 72452020 0010: 20726f72 65646f63 30303120 30303030 0020: 50202061 6d617261 72657465 30302073 0030: 30303030 202c3030 30303030 66663030 0040: 3030202c 30303030 202c3130 34353038 0050: 35373632 (NOTE: any words that are displayed in this error message had to be translated by me as I am using a Finnish version of XP) From the blue screen of death I got: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (lots of text) *** Stop: 0x0000000A (0X00000000, 0X000000FF, 0x0000001, 0x80542675 Then I restarted the pc but the black screen came on again (straight away) and made a "tiii…. tiii….. tiii…. tiii" sound. So I restarted it again. This time no sound, but still a black screen. So I started it yet again. Now it gave me the BSOD straight away with: BAD_POOL_HEADER *** Stop: 0x00000019 (0X00000020, 0X8627F6B0, 0X8627F768, 0X0A1F0001) AGAIN I restart it only to find the PC asking me to do what it would in F8 (e.g. to choose the way I start the pc). So I take "normal start). And here I am; running normaly… for now.

0x00000019: BAD_POOL_HEADER

A pool header issue is a problem with Windows memory allocation. Device driver issues are probably the msot common, but this can have diverse causes including bad sectors or other disk write issues, and problems with some routers.

0x0000000A: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Typically due to a bad driver, or faulty or incompatible hardware or software. Technically, this error condition means that a kernel-mode process or driver tried to access a memory location to which it did not have permission, or at a kernel Interrupt ReQuest Level (IRQL) that was too high.

So we have some memory or driver issue but it is hard to place.

Any new hardware or software? Any new drivers?


I would suggest getting some canned air and cleaning out the inside of the case. Usefull info here:

http://forums.whatthetech.com/Maintenance_…SD_t103649.html


The next step would be to run MemTest:

http://www.memtest.org/


Also if the problem persists please repost all new Error Codes.


If anything I've suggested is in the least bit confusing do not hesitate to ask for clarification.



One final initial response is to run Check Disk.

Go to start Run… cmd

Then type chkdsk /r


You will be told the volume is in use > do you want to run at reboot?

Say yes (Y) and reboot.

Note this might take an hour to run on reboot. Just let it run till it tells you it is finished.



.

Can't get the Memtest to work. Not with MagicIso nor with any other programs I tried. (My pc says that daemon tools is a trojan) Anyhow, did that cmd thing… and it took only a minute O.o As for any new software: I don't know. I install stuff almost on a daily basis. But none that (as far as I can tell) would have to do with the drivers. And no, I have not put any new memory stuff in and this pc is almost 4 years old. The pc has been formated a few times.

That is kinda strange on both counts. Here is a good MemTest post with tutorial linked:

Hmmm, neither of Rich's links work for me. Try these:

MemTest86+
Windows Memory Diagnostic

I note Windows Memory Diagnostics has an easy to follow guide on their home page, and an excellent MemTest86+ tutorial can be found here.

I would note folks tend not to let the testers run through several passes. I let them run overnight.

Also Check Disk will take some time if run properly. Did it run on a reboot? Was it run as Administrator?

If not verify the command was chkdsk C: /r (assuming C: is the system drive).

You might also try this approach:

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/e…c41f811033.mspx


Also if you recieve more errors please post them.

In actual fact, I did do that error checking thing via the computer's own error checking… software? Well, anyhow, that took a VERY long time (and worked only after a reboot). So I presume that was the exact thing. As for memtest, the problem isn't using it, it is installing it. No program I use can mount the image I downloaded.

MemTest is a boot disk. It is an ISO file you need to burn as an ISO CD and boot it.

Tutorial here:

http://icrontic.com/articles/diagnose_with_memtest86

Well, still can't get this to work, mainly because I have no programs for burning. Only the way of opening the cd and pull-drop. No way can I choose "burn image" or anything like that

There is a good freeware burner called DeepBurner which will do this. Another called ISO Recorder is also very easy to use.

Give either a try.