Not quite sure where to put this, but my comp keeps crashing...

...randomly. Like, in seven minute intervals. I was wondering if you guys had any advice- I haven't installed anything new, as a matter of fact, I got rid of five gigabytes of memory last night without any real problems. What happens is, I'll be in the middle of doing something and suddenly the monitor goes blank and it goes into restart mode. Any help is appreciated.

 

Sounds more like a hardware issue. You say it crashes randomly. But you also say about after seven minutes. Is it always about the same time? It might be overheating. Instead of loading Windows go into your bios. If it reboots when you are in the bios then you know it is not a software problem. If your bios shows you the temps then watch them and see if they go up or not.

 

What operating system are you using? XP, 2k, 9x?

If xp, right click on "my computer", select properties, then select the advanced tab, then click "Settings" under "Startup and recovery".

Next uncheck "Automatically restart" under system failure.

Also, make sure the following are checked: "Write an event to the system log" and make sure that "Small memory dump (64k)" is set within "Write debugging information". Small dump directory should have: %SystemRoot%\Minidump

Also, check under: %SystemRoot%\Minidump to see how many .dmp files you have there.

 

Yeah, it is XP- I did what you said and I'm looking for %SystemRoot%\Minidump at the moment. What specific folder would that be in? (Sorry, I'm still a complete n00b to some things)

 

the first thing i think you should do is check that your fan is working in the power pack, the pull the side cover off and see how much lint and grime is on your pcu heat sink. compressed air is preferred here. my second preferred method is a vaccum with the attachment that has the long bristles on it, brush it around gently. then check to see if your heat sink fan is up to speed, if it dont sound like its moving much air, its more than likely not. good luck. ed