[felinne]

Hi,

My computer keeps randomly rebooting/shutting off, especially when I'm playing some PC game. I'm not sure what is causing the problem. It actually automatically tabs out of the game I'm playing, I see the End Program window and then the computer reboots. It doesn't feel like an overheating issue, where the computer just goes out.

This has happened across a variety of games. And sometimes it reboots when I'm on my desktop late night.

I've already run a spyware check as well as a virus check and both came up clean.

Any suggestions on what could be the problem?

Thanks.

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Welcome to geeks to Go!

To be sure it is not a temp problem, download speedfan and watch you temps when you are doing work on the computer. Speedfan can sit in your tray where you can see the first temp. You might also check the voltages with speedfan. Sometimes a low 12 volt line will cause lockups and reboots. Normal 12 volts is 11.8 to 12.4 . If it drops below 11.6 you will have problems. Memory is very important in playing games. I run no less than 1 gig of memory in my computers if i run games. Sometimes its just an adjustment of the hardware acceleration that can cause reboots. Lower your hardware acceleration and see if its better.

Start/control panel/display/advanced/troubleshoot. Once there lower the acceleration to see if the problem goes away. Updating your video drivers may help if you can do that also.

SRX550

[SRX660]

Welcome to geeks to Go!

To be sure it is not a temp problem, download speedfan and watch you temps when you are doing work on the computer. Speedfan can sit in your tray where you can see the first temp. You might also check the voltages with speedfan. Sometimes a low 12 volt line will cause lockups and reboots. Normal 12 volts is 11.8 to 12.4 . If it drops below 11.6 you will have problems. Memory is very important in playing games. I run no less than 1 gig of memory in my computers if i run games. Sometimes its just an adjustment of the hardware acceleration that can cause reboots. Lower your hardware acceleration and see if its better.

Start/control panel/display/advanced/troubleshoot. Once there lower the acceleration to see if the problem goes away. Updating your video drivers may help if you can do that also.

SRX550

[dsenette]

In safe mode:

Right click MY COMPUTER, choose PROPERTIES, choose ADVANCED, choose the SETTINGS button in the Startup And RECOVERY section, and uncheck AUTOMATICALLY RESTART

Now see if you can cause the computer reboot the way that has been doing. This should result in the BSOD error...report the STOP ERROR and any parameters.

[felinne]

Hi,

I downloaded SpeedFan 4.28 and the reading on my 12V is around 11.8. I also went into display and lowered my acceleration by one tic (it was at full), is this enough? What does lowering acceleration do exactly?

I haven't had a chance to do the safe mode change yet. I'll report back once I get that done.

Thanks.

[felinne]

Hi,

My computer was restarting even when I wasn't playing any games, so I tried the Safe Mode suggestion.

Something funky happens when I try to boot in Safe Mode. Instead of getting the usual windows desktop, a whole list of dos commands load, then I get a small window that says

"Input Signal Out of Range" and then the whole screen goes black.

Please help!

[dsenette]

hmm.....that sounds like a video card problem..update your video card drivers and see if the problems get better

[felinne]

Hi,

I just updated my video card driver and I'm getting the same problem when trying to get into Safe Mode.

Here's what happens in as much detail as I remember:

A whole bunch of what looks like dos commands scrolls through my screen (the commands say something like "multidiskrdisk"),with the last command being something like:

Loading vax347b.sys

Then that same little window appear where Input Signal is Out of Range and in that window there is then a Power Management Countdown in seconds. When the countdown ends, my screen is completely dark.

What should I do now?

Thanks.

[dsenette]

when you get to the menu that you choose safe mode from...is there an option to enable vga mode?

[felinne]

Yes, I'm on that screen right now, should I select that?

[dsenette]

yes please

[felinne]

Um, I just selected Enable VGA and the screen is now black. Don't know if this matters, but I have two versions of Windows installed Professional (which I use) and Home Edition (something I installed when I panicked and thought I lost everything once upon a time when I trying to get to Safe Mode...come to think of it this is exactly what happened)

[dsenette]

ech...so you've got ttwo os's on the machine? when you try to boot up normally...does it give you an option to pick which windows you want to go to?

[felinne]

I think my computer is still on cuz I hear the fan, but the screen is lights out!

[felinne]

Yes it does and I pick the Professional Edition, cuz my Home Edition is not registered. I probably should remove it one of these days.

Should I restart my computer? The screen is clearly on (cuz my power button is green) but it's pitch dark.

Btw, my AIM is no..that wouldn't be faster...as i don't have aim..and it's not really safe for you to post that here. Maybe it would be faster?

[dsenette]

go ahead and restart your computer...i'm still thinking this has to do with the video card...but...now the problem of not being able to get into safe mode is bugging me too...plus the two OS's doesn't help h ehe

...do you have one..or two video cards in this computer (is one onboard and one not?)