WinXP SP3 shut downs are tied to date

Has anyone seen this before?

I just resurrected my son's desktop after a long period of non use. Not surprisingly, the button battery was dead so I replaced it. I started to do some software maintenance and hardware upgrades which went fine. However, following one shutdown, the system began installing a total of 95 various Windows updates. That is when things went south.

After switching out the power supply and going back to only one stick of 1GB RAM and getting back to the original hardware configuration, I have found:

If I set the date to March 25, 2011, the current date, the system will boot and briefly display my desktop then turn off. These shut downs will repeat as long as the date is current. Upon rebooting and if I enter SETUP and reset the date to March 25, 2009, the system performs and functions normally as long as the date remains. If I set the date to March 25, 2010, it will shut down.

Any ideas what is going on? More so, what can I do to fix this crazy situation?

Thanks,

Blaine

 

Re: WinXP SP3 shut downs are tied to date-More info

I let the system sit for a day...too busy with other chores. Today, it will boot up and run fine with the year set at 2009. I rebooted and changed year to 2011 in setup; system shuts down after desktop displays for a few seconds. :cry :cry

I also tried to log on as the two other users; system shuts down a second or two after I click on each of the user icons.

If i reset year back to 2009, I can log on as all users and system functions without any unexpected interruptions or issues. Very puzzling to say the least.

Motherboard: Asus P4B533-E
Processor: Intel 2.4GHz
RAM: 1Gb

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance

 

Aloha, Kiholo.

Strange but interesting problem...

The first thoughts that come to me are:

1. BIOS-related: maybe try another CMOS battery. If there are any CMOS-clearing jumpers on the mobo, try that. See if there are any time-related settings in the AWARD setup program (Wake-On-LAN, etc.) that you can change.

I took a look at the BIOS updates for that board and didn't find anything specific to your symptoms, but it's something to consider.

2. Windows-related: Go to Control Panel > System > Advanced system settings > Advanced > Startup and Recovery settings, and make sure 'Automatically restart' is not checked. Reboot, and maybe the next time the machine crashes, you'll get a BSOD we can work with.

Also, since the issue seemed to present after the Windows updates, you might consider restoring back to a time before the updates occurred, see if you can get a change in symptoms.

 

Caliban,

Thanks for responding. I can use all the help I can get. This one is baffling!

First for your suggestions:

1. Are you suggesting substituting another new battery or just installing a replacement for the dead one? I did replace the dead battery with a new battery.

2. I did run through the steps for CMOS-clearing using the jumpers per instructions in the users manual. I did this after I had replaced the new battery but had to pull the battery out as part of the CMOS-clearing process.

3. There are two time-related settings for "Automatic Power Up": everyday and by date. Both ask for a specific hour:minute:second. Auto Power Up is set to DISABLED.

Other Power UP Control settings are: AC Power Loss Restart, Wake/Power Up on External Modem, Power up on PCI Device, Power up on PS/2 Keyboard, and Power on by PS/2 Mouse. All are DISABLED.

4. I unchecked "Auto restart". So far no BSOD's related to the halts.

Here is what I did:

I installed another cleaned and formatted hard drive then reloaded a fresh version of Windows XP. As part of the setup, the date was made current...3/28/2011. I then loaded SP2 and, while loading SP3, the system shut down...just plain stopped dead. I rebooted and re-initiated SP3 which loaded to completion. While installing MS Office, the system again shut down.

I thought it maybe bad memory so started MemTest86 v4.10. It shut down immediately. I switch to another 1GB stick and it did the same thing...ran for a few seconds in MemTest, then shut down. I changed the date in setup back to 2009, and...MemTest is running without a hitch and just completed...without any errors. I will keep this stick in while troubleshooting.

:confused

I checked the CPU temp and it was around 146-150 degress F. MB temp is 91 F.

I'm beginning to think the BIOS maybe corrupt and will figure out how to re-flash the latest/last version.

Thanks for your assistance.

Blaine

 

Good morning.

Yeah, I was thinking that if it were my machine I'd try another new battery, just in case the replacement was a lemon.

The fact that you replaced the drive and installed a new OS seems to indicate that this is not a Windows-related problem. One thing you might consider is booting to a Linux distro to verify.

Those temps look pretty high - could this somehow be a heat-related issue? I wouldn't think so since dates are involved, but who knows?

You might be on the right track with the BIOS corruption - again, I couldn't find any specific references to this problem at the ASUS site, but a flash might help rule out BIOS-related causes.

 

Caliban,

It looks like this was a heat-related problem all along. Last night, I let the system run in Setup and watched the temps rise beyond 150 degrees F then shut down. I did this a few times after changing date and determined that CPU heat was the culprit. So decided to pull the heat sink and switch to another one I had lying around. The thermal compound was intact and hard due to age. I cleaned up the CPU and heat sink plate and ran the system. The CPU temp climbed and shut down around 160 F. Since I didn't have any thermal compound, I stopped trying in order to not further stress the CPU.

Today, I went out and bought a tube of thermal compound and reinstalled the heat sink properly. System is perking along with temps near 100 degrees F. Changed date back to 2011 and still no problems.

Hopefully, that will be the end of this episode.

Thanks for the assist Caliban.

Regards,

Blaine

 

Good news! Knew that the temps were high, but that's the first time I've seen date-related symptoms caused by heat. Possibility that the heat was affecting/corrupting the BIOS somehow?

Computers cease to amaze me.™

Glad you got it sorted, Blaine, and mahalo for the feedback. :major

 

Good work troubleshooting, guys!

This was an interesting problem and something I had never seen. I'm glad you were able to switch focus from the date issue to heat problems. I tend to jump into the mental box and stay there when I think I've figured out the cause of a problem.

Heat makes much more sense than such a specific date problem but for a while it sure looked date related. Nice job!