Computer problem

[bikerboy]

Hi,
I hope some can help me out with this driver error I cant solve. When I am surfing the web or at anytime it needs to, the computer black screens and reboots. After you log on it always wants to send a message to microsoft and the response is "driver error". I have updated and unloaded most anything I can think of but it has been going on like this ever since i built this pc. It is a Geforce 6100sm-m with AMD Athlon 64 x2 4600+ processor using the onboard nvidia video. All unused stuff has been removed. I dont know what to do anymore. Buy a mac mini! Help. Thanks.

[bobman1235]

Have you tried using a different web browser?

Since it seems to be web related, have you tried uninstalling (completely) your ethernet driver, and then reinstalling it from scratch?

[ViperZ]

I have seen a few cases when the computer reboots for no reason when the power supply was failing or when it did not provide enough power.

[edbert]

What are the full specs bikerboy? Both bobman and Viper gave some easy things to check. If you can get your hands on another power supply(even if it means buying one to return later if the problem isn't resolved) I would switch it out and see what happens. You might just have some conflicts between the components that you chose and every now and then that rears it's ugly head.

[edbert]

FYI - I typed your motherboard and shuts off into google and their seem to be a lot of people that have had the same problems you have. The only consistent solution that I saw were people just buying a new motherboard and ditching the GeForce. I hope you don't have to do this but it may be your best bet. Those AM2 motherboards are pretty cheap right now. Good luck man.

[sophie]

if you want to check your power supply run toast for a hour. it will max out your cpu and is unrelated to the web so Ethernet drivers should not affect it. if you computer still restarts it could be caused by overheating, unstable processor or ram, or something els i can't think of right now. you could also try running off a live cd for a day or to to check if it is a windows issue or not.

Payton

[obieone]

I had/ have the same problem, but I was using Vista 64. Even after a partition, and a new install it was happening. So I loaded XP on there and it hasn't happened since?
I picked up a 'wipe-drive' disc from the place that help me build it, I'll probably do that this weekend, see if I can put the 64 back on.

[bikerboy]

Thanks for the ideas. I have a different ps in it now and the reboot happened in about 2 hours of use. I didnt think about the ethernet driver. I will try that tomorrow. I wouldnt have a problem replacing the board if, and thats the big if it will fix the problem. It was a cheap board on sale at Frys. I will run toast on it tomorrow and find out what happens. I am just not a computer person. But I like to diy stuff and this is what happens sometimes. I would rather spend my time listen to sdas and riding bikes. I will let you know what I find out. Thanks.

[mmadden28]

So many different things can cause reboots.
To determine if its hardware or software your best best is to download and creat a Live linux CD, such a from www.slax.org or www.ubuntu.com and boot to it. It will run completely off the CD. If it still reboots its hardware related, if not then likely a software issue.

If you determine its hardware, start by removing any nonessential add-on cards or extra hard drives, floopy drive or cd drives. Make sure you also remove any USB devices or external USB drives, etc. Except your Keyboard and mouse of course.

If its software, well that's a whole nother story.

You already rules out the PS, but have you checked the fans in your system? Make sure they are all still running? You could still have an overheating issue. Make sure you clean out any dust and such that may be blocking any vents. Especially make sure the CPU heatsink/fan is on.

[SKsolutions]

Is there an update for the BIOs on that board, or the GPU driver? Check with Nvidia.

[manman]

sorry to add more things to the problem- but another VERY common source of reboots is a bad stick of ram. That one is easy to check using memtest or just testing one stick at a time to see if it stops rebooting.

As mmadden said, reboots themselves could be indicative of any number of issues, so before you start ditching your equipment and buying more stuff I'd try to do more narrowing down.

One thing that might help you narrow it down is checking your event logs. You can look through event viewer by going to:

start->control pannel-> performance and maintenance (in category view) ->administrative tools -> event viewer.

If it's related to a piece of software you're using, you might see something in the "application" section. If hardware or driver related, you might see something under "system". If you see an entry with a red circle and "X", double click on it and see if that gives you any useful info.

Hope you get it worked out, I know how annoying this stuff can be :)

[mmadden28]

sorry to add more things to the problem- but another VERY common source of reboots is a bad stick of ram. That one is easy to check using memtest or just testing one stick at a time to see if it stops rebooting.

...

Actually, that is another thing you can do, simply reseating the memory and the video card can help elminate a poor connection.

[billbillw]

Try running Memtest for a couple hours as well. It will thoroughly test your memory to see if that is a problem. I've had several bad sticks of memory that cause major headaches. If that is not the problem, I'd say a full re-install is needed. If that doesn't solve it, I would ditch that motherboard and get one that has a reputation for stability. A well built motherboard with good power supply is the key to stability for everything and I feel they are not parts to skimp on.

[GreggC]

I would suggest you check for any updated drivers - probably from your motherboard maker. As suggested earlier you may need to delete currently installed drivers and re-install. The messages from Windows should give you some idea of what driver is involved.

[disneyjoe7]

Over Clocking?


But I love the Slax CD idea use this first.

[bikerboy]

Hi,
I checked for updates on all the drivers last night and found a mci? needed to be updated. I have been running toast for almost 2 hrs this am and no problems. I tried to do the memory test a couple months ago but didnt because of the number of things needed to do.
All of these suggestions reminded me that I have had to reconfigure the lan connection to the Clearwire internet connection several times lately. I need to check that but later, need to go to work. Thanks for the help.

[bikerboy]

I finally found out what the problem was. Bad memory stick. I tried to do the test on it but couldnt figure out all the things to do. But fryes had 4gb of memory on sale and after swapping out the 1gb of memory it works great. Not one reboot since and much faster operation. So with the spare mb ect I built a second pc to use as a music source for the whole house or the mancave. I am using mediamonkey with flack files out of a terrratec ewx 24/96 sound card via toslink into the buffalo dac and analog out into the whole house amp. I think it is possible with a little hacking to get spdif out of the card but havent tried that yet. Sounds very good for backround sound but the esoteric sounds better. So far I've ripped about 50 hours of music (19 gb). Its great to have a reliable computer that I dont have to be wrestling with all the time. I bought a nexus 430 ps and it is so quiet you can't hear it with the case open. That way the pc in the mancave will be silent. The jolida amp makes more noise than the pc! I also added a wireless network and will try to network the upstairs and downstiars computers together. Thanks for all the info on what to do to try to fix this problem. Many of you said memory and you were right. Now i can move on to other fun things instead of dealing with computers.

[wizzy]

lol

I was just reading the thread going "bad memory stick" and suggesting you download memtest86+ and burn it to a bootable CD

little too late ...

[renowilliams]

In case you suspect hardware issues in the future, there is a boot disk out there on the net called Hiren's boot cd. It has a lot of great utilities on it for running diagnostics on your pc.

Great to hear you have your problem solved.


Tim