Sons Computer Just Restarts

My sons Computer has been just restarting on its own. I was running Windows XP and tried installing Vista on it. Now it gets into windows and about 1-2 mins it will restart. Sometimes I get a blue screen but it only lasts for a couple seconds. I managed to grab a fuzzy digital pic of it here it is.

I have a Radeon 9800 SE in it now but I tried to put the old card (not exactly sure what it is) 32mb crap card but they both do the same thing. the 32mb card seems to run a little longer than the radeon but they both restart the computer. I have cleared the Cmos, taken out everything but the hard drive and tried only using one stick of ram (i have 2 a 500mb and a 256mb). Any ideas what could be going on? I really appreciate any help you guys can give me.

 

Did you run the Vista test , for the computer before installing it, and can you get into safe mode, as the screen suggests ?

 

Vista always wants the c drive for itself, - was you updating, installing on a different partition, or doing a clean install ?

 

Faulty ram seems to be one of the problems. --- ( 0x0000008e )
Vista will be VEY PICKY with Ram, and although it will run on less, it likes 1 gb.
Ram that worked o.k in XP , but has a fault will show up in Vista.

 

Got to sign off, (She who must be obeyed) but someone else might pick up on other error codes.
Next one 0xc0000005 to look for.
Good luck, and goodnight.

 

I did a clean install of Vista not Positive if it was Drive C tho I can check in a few mins. I didnt do the test but I was having the same problem when I had XP installed. I am leaning towards the RAM myself I will go check the ram again one stick at a time. I just hope both arent bad because I dont have any more I can put in it to test it. My PC runs DDR. Thanks for the help

 

Found this link scouting around maybe of some help for the error code

http://www.updatexp.com/0xC0000005.html

 

Have you got a joystick connected to the computer, or, souncard /
The Microsoft link below , refers to XP, but same error code may well refer to Vista.
If you have any soundcard, try removing it to see if it helps.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321637

 

That's a good link, and more explanatory, Toke, (Toke.s link is better)

 

I have an internal sound card and no joystick I checked out both links and I am thinking it may have something to do the the RAM or Motherboard I ran the RAM diag tool in Windows Vista and it said that there was a "Hardware Problem" but it didnt specify what hardware or what problem it just said to contact the admin. I am more thinking it might be the Motherboard because I have a USB Network Adapter and when I was using XP it wouldnt work but it worked on all of my other PCs. Windows would make the sound like something was connected then it would make the disconnect sound. and kept doing that for a minute or 2. I plugged in a Thumb drive and it started doing that in Vista also. So I am thinking there may be a short somewhere in the MB. If anyone can confirm that this would happen when the USB ports have a short Could you please let me know or if you know of something else it could be. I really appreciate the help! :major

 

Vista is a new player, and doesn't play ball.
If you usb network adaptor played up in XP, it would do the same with Vista, and this could be a reason.
The Thimb drive could also cause Vista to create, and refuse to get out of bed.

 

These links might help you find drivers, and compatabilty for your periphials/programs

Vista drivers site

http://www.radarsync.com/vista/
Compatability list
http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List
http://www.iexbeta.com/wiki/index.php/Windows_Vista_Software_Compatibility_List#AntiVirus

 

The USB network adapter didnt work in XP either it would make the connect then disconnect sound for a minute or so then the light on the adapter would stay off. I found the correct drivers for the adapter for Vista and the correct ones for XP.
Another thing I have noticed is that last night I left the PC running all night and through the day while I was at work but had NO USB devices plugged into it and when I came home today the Pc was still running. Which leads me to think it may be the USB ports?

 

Possible, I have had a PC Cips and a asrock P4m800, motherboard usb ports go .

 

Have to go (her indoors), good luck.

 

OK new update :banghead: This is really driving me insane
As I said earlier the Pc didnt restart any last night or during the day.
So this afternoon I tried to put my Radeon card back in and it gets to windows and reboots (with no USB device installed) so I put the old 32mb card (its a 3d prophet btw) and it goes throught the rebooting thing again.
The next thing I decided to look at was the power supply and guess what the fan wasnt spinning. My new question is... if the power supply is bad would that cause these problems that I am having? The Power supply isnt that old probably about a year to a year and a half old.
Again Thanks soooo much for your help here!!!!!!!

 

Certain USB issues can be corrected by lowering the USB voltage ( a fraction at a time) as I know from this motherboard I have here. :cry

 

If the fan in the power supply is not spinning, then this can cause amongst other problems, an overheating problem, and is now the thing to replace first, as it is probably u.s. and will give enough problems in XP , let alone Vista.

 

hmmmm.....Vista has some pretty full-on demands for graphics processing and the cards u mention r...well...limited for todays standards. Vista wants DX10 and u r not goin to get that with those GPU's. I will estimate that the GPU's cannot even "generate" a Vista environment.

Sry7 but the cold hard facts....I maybe wrong.....but casual research on the minimal specs indicate this is so....sry.

 

Microsoft hardware advice for Vista

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Windo...5ea7-4ad3-be3f-af29f7b48dde1033.mspx?mfr=true

Microsoft advice on cpu, and Graphics for Vista.

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Windo...5ea7-4ad3-be3f-af29f7b48dde1033.mspx?mfr=true

 

Microsoft hardware Compatabilty

http://technet2.microsoft.com/Windo...5ea7-4ad3-be3f-af29f7b48dde1033.mspx?mfr=true

 

Applications that have earned the "Certified for Windows Vista" logo or the "Works with Windows Vista" logo

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933305

As Bold Eagle says, Vista is very Graphics demanding, so the on-board graphics get you in, while the cards don't

 

I was having the same problem in xp that i am in Vista, running vista is not the problem I just tried my copy of vista to see if it helped my resetting problem. I will reinstall XP on this system but I will still have the same problem with it restarting. Vista seems to run as normal as it can with my hardware but the problem is the restarting.

 

yes a bad power supply will make your computer restart also check your surge protector strip they go bad also.

 

I agree with this u maybe having overheating issues. Most PC's will have an upper "Temp Critical Threshold" defined within ur BIOS settings. When and if ur CPU hits this temp threshold it will automatically shutdown to preserve ur Hardware. I would suggest that u download and use a diagnostic monitoring software:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181

Turn on the PC and install and Start EVEREST: goto (left hand column) Computer >> Sensor, this will display ur temps and PSU Volts etc etc. It may just be an overheating issue.