Problem.. Need help?
Tuesday, December 2, 2008 by hockeykid99 | Discussion: Windows XP
Ok guys i come here in need of a lot of help. I have been seriously using and learning about computers for the past year, but i am still not that good at them. Anyway, i bought a computer for a good chunk of money, and now its come to a serious problem; it has been restarting by itself out of control. Since i've gotten my computer, there has always been problems, based on the fact that i did not take care of it as well as i should have. So now, when it restarts, it gets to the windows loading screen, and a BSOD will flash too quickly to read, and the computer will make a weird "beep-like" sound, and it will restart. Well, this has been happening since Sunday now, but before this incident, the computer would sometimes randomly restart(and start back up fine) or make a weird sound and everything would freeze and i would have to restart the computer myself(and it would also usually start back-up fine, or it would take a few restarts to get the job done, making weird sounds along the way). I have taken the computer to a friend, who spent a few hours just cleaning all the dust out of the computer, and when i got it back, it still wasnt fixed 100%. So on sunday when the computer "broke" again, i took the time to clean out the dust once again. Still no luck... I have heard, that this problem could be caused by bad RAM, overheating, or too much dust or anything else inside. The dust problem has been taken care of. I have 3 fans running on the computer, so i dont think it would be overheating. I have switched the RAM slots around and still it does not start. So i am beginning to think that it might be the hard drive? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Reply #2 Tuesday, December 2, 2008 7:14 PM
the computer will only make the weird beep sound when it restarts, and it is just about the same sound as when i turn on the monitor.. and i got the computer almost 2 years ago, got it from CyberpowerPC and i picked out everything myself
Reply #3 Tuesday, December 2, 2008 7:25 PM
Make sure the CPU cooler is tightly attached, if it is loose the machine is shutting down because it detects overheating
Reply #4 Tuesday, December 2, 2008 7:59 PM
my computer has also been known to make some weird whirring sounds and i think it was coming from the cpu cooler honestly.. it seems pretty tight though, is there something i can do to definitely check if its on good enough?
Reply #5 Wednesday, December 3, 2008 8:24 AM
Well the reason i said that, was just recently a friend of mine had a similar problem, the cpu cooler appeared to be attached ok, but when he started his pc, it booted just got to windows and then shut down, but it did make a sound of like an alarm which told me that it was overheating, oh and make sure that cpu fan is spinning when you turn it on, it should be running fast, and for the most part quiet (compared to other case fans)
Reply #6 Wednesday, December 3, 2008 8:32 AM
Checkout this review and then take it to a local reputable computer repair shop.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/210549-31-cyberpowerpc-experience
Reply #7 Wednesday, December 3, 2008 8:33 AM
What type of Video card do you have? If it has it's own fan, those have a tendency to quit working then the card will overheat and the computer will shut down.
Does this happen after it's been off awhile? If it does, then it's not a heat issue.
You could also have a Motherboard or other component that is dying or just simply a bad install of something....or a Virus.
Reply #8 Wednesday, December 3, 2008 8:38 AM
Best way to troublehoot is to try replacing parts and cables one by one unfortunately.
Id open it up and make sure everything is connected securly, all fans spinning etc
Next you will need to replace ram with dfferent ram - see if that makes it better
Try a different hard drive
Try a new PSU
Try a different video card
This is obviously easier if you have spare parts and i know its not ideal for you but its the way a shop or te4chnician would do it.
Its probably less hassle to take into a shop and have them look at it - some might take a look for free
Reply #9 Wednesday, December 3, 2008 5:22 PM
well the fans all seem to be working fine and i dont have the spare parts to try and see which is broke, but christmas is coming so i might just get a whole new computer.. so if anyone has any suggestions of a good gaming pc that is in a teenagers price range of ~500$, itd be great if you could let me know. and i dont mean a serious gaming computer, just one that can support WoW. so it doesnt have to be great, but a few specs would help me out. Thanks for everyones help.
Reply #10 Wednesday, December 3, 2008 11:58 PM
I had the same problem, and it was physical HD damage.. when I clicked on D drive, everything would freeze, but C was ok.. hence, the new pc.. which isn't much better. 
I added bigger fans and ran the air-con, you name it, I did it, and it actually worked, D drive wouldn't freeze for 10 minutes after clicking on it, but then it just died.. R.I.P [You over-sized footstool 
]
Reply #11 Sunday, December 7, 2008 10:30 AM
A friend of mine had the same problem. I replaced his power supply and everything is fine...I replaced the power supply with one that was a higher wattage. You might try that if you haven't already done so.
Reply #12 Sunday, December 7, 2008 10:42 AM
Random restarting is usually early signs of a hard drive failure, or a bad sector.
To check for problems go 'Start Menu' > 'Run', in the 'open' box type cmd, this will open a command window. At the C:\...\> prompt type 'chkdsk C:' and see what it comes up with.
If you get file errors, do the same again but type 'chkdsk C:/f'
If you get bad sector errors, type 'chkdsk C:/r'
It should run these when you reboot. The /r takes quite a while, but be patient, it's worth it.
If everything is ok and you still have the problem, you may need a new HD.
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Reply #1 Tuesday, December 2, 2008 6:49 PM
Well from what you are saying you need to take it into a qualified and certified computer repair facility.
I am by now means an expert, but when you start hearing multiple beeps or sounds when the computer is starting up it usually is an inidication that something is not right or on the verge of being very bad.
Is the a new computer still covered by warranty? Is it a name manufacture or special built system? Where did you buy it from?
Depending on how much ram you have they need to be put into specific slots. For instance if your system can take upto 4GB but you only have 2GB installed.