Computer Rebooting

Hi guys,

I have a computer that seems to randomly reboot itself for no apparent reason.

It gives me a minidump and i have used windbg to analyse it.

Its telling me: "Probably caused by : memory_corruption ( nt!MiDeferredUnlockPages+ed )"

Im assuming that this means that one or both of my Memory chips are faulty?

I have attached a full version of the report.

Cheers in advance.

Blair

 

Hi rendo, a bit of history might help you get a good answer...

Had you made any changes or anything before this happened?

 

Hi Q

To be honest, its a computer I'm looking at for a friend so i don't have much
history and and i also don't have it in front of me right now, from what i know he didn't make any changes but the computer is pretty old. When i was looking at it today it went fine for about 40 minutes then restarted with no warning and after that it seemed to restart as soon as i turned it on about three times then went fine again.

I'm just thinking that it might be hitting problems when trying to access a certain part of RAM and thats why the rebooting is so random.

All i know really is that its running xp and its 2.26 GHz Intel. Think its probably got about 1Gb or RAM (Dont know if 1 stick or 2)

I know that doesnt really help much

Cheers though

 

Hey rendo, well for a computer you class as "pretty old" that is some very respectable spec's
[actually better than the desktop i use at the moment]

Right first of all you want to boot a live CD like ubuntu or any linux CD or even any kind of bootable maintenance disk, G-parted or UBCD or similar... [anything as long as it is not windows based]

You do not need to do anything when you boot up, just let the computer run for a good while, as it is possible that windows is causing this, an alternative to booting a CD is to try booting into the BIOS [usually tap F2 or DEL as you boot-up] and do the same, just let it sit, i would leave it for a good few hours just to be sure.


Now when you say "When i was looking at it today it went fine for about 40 minutes"
Had the 'puter just been switched on? and is this what happens everytime it is switched on from cold?

If so it sounds like a overheating issue, get some system temp's and check the fans are spinning, and maybe give them a clean if they are covered in dust.

As for the memory, if it is it will probably have trouble running the live CD's i mentioned earlier, but to be sure....

If it has got more than one RAM stick, remove one and boot the PC, if the problem persists put that one back, then remove the other and try again, when it does boot the pc will probably be quite slow due to the unexpected lack of ram.



I know all this is a bit null as you arnt at the PC but unless someone can make more sense of that log than me and give you a firm answer, it is the best i can do.


Links >>

G-parted ~ http://majorgeeks.com/GParted_Live_d5757.html

Ubuntu ~ http://www.ubuntu.com/

UBCD http://majorgeeks.com/Ultimate_Boot_CD_d4981.html



Q

 

I know, the boy bought it as a top spec one a few years ago, had a tough life i suspect though.

Cheers for all that help, i will definatly try booting into the BIOS setup or from a non-windows bootable CD to check if its Windows or Hardware that is causing the problem.

I did think it could be overheating as it doesn't have a case fan but the CPU temp seemed to be staying 44-46 Celcius which seems fine to me. Also sometimes it reboots instantly and sometimes it take 10 minutes or even an hour, so i cant see it being over heating.

I have some spare RAM chips here that will go in it nae bother so i will pop them in tomorrow evening and tell the guy to have is computer on all night (if it stays on).

I will let you know how it goes.

Cheers again for the help and suggestions.

Rendo

 

One more thing, when it reboots, does it do a proper shutdown and close all the app's or does it just *blink* and it is booting again?

 

It's just goes off and reboots straight away, so not a proper shut down.

 

Hey rendo, with it just going off and then booting up straight away, im gonna take a punt and say it is the PSU, if it was memory i would expect some panicy attempt at shutting down and lots of errors, and the same from a bad HDD.

When you get to boot a disc or the bios if the problem persists, consider swapping the PSU [try swapping one from a known good rig to save buying one incase it is not the fault]


If none of the above works then im afraid it is likely a MOBO prob, which is always bad news


*fngers crossed*


Q