Computer reboots when it fells like it

G'day all,

I am having a frustrating time with my computer at work.

It reboots for no apparent reason.

I have replaced the power supply. Done a memtest (overnight) for the ram and all was fine.

Temperature would not appear to be an issue, because it will reboot after 1 hours in the morning, or 4+ hours in the day, but not while I am working on it, only when I move away from it. (I know...it's just lonely).

But seriously, only when I get out of my chair to go out to another office.

The box is a super heavy cupboard that needed two guy to move in, so it's not bouncing around. Keyboard and monitor are on a separate desk.

I have turned off reboot on error a long time ago, and that didn't make any difference, so I think software is not a problem.

I cannot "make" it reboot by just moving away. It does it irregularly (but becoming more frequent).

Only hint may be that late last week, I was trying to install software etc, for my camcoder, and while connecting to the front USB (I had the camcorder plugged into the power), as soon as the cable touched to computer USB, it rebooted.

This I could duplicate, but disconnect the camcorder from the mains power, and it was fine - no reboot.

Please help

Core 2 2300
2G ram
XP service pack 2
Nod32
Zone alarm

 

Question have you visually checked the usb ports? If damageed u may want to replace them with usb card. have heard of some usb connections causing some issues like this.

 

Do you have other USB devices connected? Have you checked the Event Viewer (look in the System and Application sections for errors)? I have seen the Windows hibernation feature cause similar problems when it gets corrupt, so make sure you've disabled the hibernate feature in the Power Options in the Control Panel. Also, run a full in-depth diagnostic on the hard drive. You can download the free diagnostic program from the hard drive manufacturer's web site. Most of these programs are bootable, so you'd create a boot CD (or floppy) as outlined at the manufacturer's support page. Most of the test programs also have a basic or quick test, and an extended or advanced test. I usually just run the advanced test as they include the quick test, plus other features. I have seen many faulty hard drives pass the quick test but fail the advanced test, so I usually skip the quick test and go straight to the advanced one. These diagnostics can take a loooong time to run, especially if you have a high capacity drive, so make sure you have at least 2-3 hours (maybe twice that amount) to devote to the full diagnostic. I mention the hard drive because about a year ago I was working on a PC that would crash and reboot at random, but only when the PC was idle. If I was actively using the PC, it would run fine. I could game on it for 2 hours straight, close the game to go get a sandwich, and I'd come back 20 minutes later and the PC would be crashed (BSOD) or have rebooted. A hard drive diagnostic showed me the drive was bad. I installed the new HD, and it's been fine ever since.....

 

How many hard drives and optical drives do you have? Was it a powered USB port? And what is the output from your power supply?

 

Thanks for the suggestions.

I'll do the testing as soon as I can and report back.

Nothing is "permanently" connected to the usb ports.

Power supply is 750 with one SATA, one IDE hard drive plus one dvd burner.

Interesting thing happened the other day. I moved the case 12 inches along the same shelf and it has reboot only once in a week.

Stuart J.