Random computer crashing

[Simon Edwards]

On Tuesday 09 May 2006 07:07, Mitchell Brown wrote:
> Well, now, here I am at the machine, and all of a sudden, it croaks, and
> dies again!

It sounds like a hardware problem. The first thing I would do is run a memory 
check ( http://www.memtest86.com/ ) to make sure that all of the RAM is not 
faulty.

And then I would then turn my attention to the power supply. Check the 
different voltages are correct (3.3v, 12v etc). You can usually look this up 
in the BIOS screen (under "PC Health"). If the voltages reported there differ 
by more than 5% from what they are meant to be, then you might have a 
problem. While you are there, it is also worth check the temperatures too.

I had crashes on a machine last weekend. Turned out that the 3.3v was only 
running at ~2.75v, way below spec. I replaced the PSU. It is now good again.

If you have been working on the machine, or have moved it recently, then you 
could also open the machine and re-seat the cards and connectors to make sure 
that they are correctly inserted.

If you are still having problems, find some kind of stress test program (so 
that you can test and crash the mahcine quickly), and then remove cards and 
hardware until the machine is stable.

cheers,

-- 
Simon Edwards             | KDE-NL, Guidance tools, Guarddog Firewall
simon at simonzone.com       | http://www.simonzone.com/software/
Nijmegen, The Netherlands | "ZooTV? You made the right choice."