[Ste]

This is a follow up to my last post which was regarding the systems instability (Title - 'Bios Flash Update') which I thought was due to BIOS corruption but now I'm unsure. The reason I am unsure is that having updated the BIOS (properly I think) the system insists on crashing after a (varying) period of time. It simply shuts down, blank screen, no colour. Rebooting only works 'sometime' but other times the 'restart' & 'turn off' buttons have no effect so I have to cut the power. It needs to be left for a while before it will boot. I have reinstalled the OS and updated everything plus SP2 but it still happens. Does this ring any bells with anyone? Could it be that there is still a problem with the BIOS or the hard drive or something more sinister? The motherboard is Fujitsu Siemens D1215. Messages I get now are that the system has recovered from a serious error etc. and that I should reboot; and 'DRIVER_IRQ_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL'. I will be glad to give more details if I can. Any suggestions?

Steve

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heat comes to mind.....

driver errors....have you updates to the latest and greatest drivers for systemboard, and all peripherals?

[gerryf]

heat comes to mind.....

driver errors....have you updates to the latest and greatest drivers for systemboard, and all peripherals?

[Alex_Harris]

Another possibility is faulty RAM. I have seen many machine with random restarts and crashes caused by this. I normally use Goldmemory which you can get from http://www.goldmemory.tk and it lets you create a bootable floppy disc.

[Ste]

Hi, I had presumed that Windows update would find any drivers that needed updating, am I wrong? Anyway I found what I understood to be the most up to date drivers for the board on the Fujitsu Siemens website and when I was installing them got the message that files already installed where newer than the one's to be installed. A bit confusing so I left it. Regarding the Ram, the manual says it is correct. As an update to the situation I played music on the system for several hours before it suddenly decided to restart. It froze on the reboot but came back on a second restart.

[nestorey]

check your bios and see what your processor temp is...

[Ste]

Hi, the Bios doesn't seem to have this information under Power/Hardware Monitor as I have seen on other systems. It has 'Power management on -'Customized' (which seems odd as I havn't customized it). Is there another way I can get the temperature info? Do I need a diagonstic program?

[austin_o]

There are software programs that will do that. Search this forum. I seem to remember a simple test by feeling with your finger to judge how hot to heat sink is being posted many times in this forum. I don't remember the details but it was a simple test.

Random reboots or crashes are usually caused by heat, memory, driver issues and power supplies. You can run memory tests to rule that out. If you view event log and find the red x related to your most recent crash, right click properties and view the details. It may give you a clue. You can also sent the report to uncle bill at M$ and view the knowledge base there for clues.

I had a random reboot problem and followed the advice I found as detailed above. I ruled out heat, then tested memory and it passed. I had errors relating to drivers for video and lan so I updated those. Fix turned out to be the power supply. My AMD64 system needs 370w to run and my case came with a Raidmax 420W psu. Raidmax is one of many that over states its output. To arrive at a more accurate picture, deduct 20 percent and my 420W Raidmax was really 290W. I replace it with a good Fortron PSU. No more random reboots.

Edited by austin_o, 09 May 2005 - 07:00 AM.

[Ste]

Hi thanks for that. I have been trying to find time to check all this info out and did find a driver update for 'storage controller'. Unfortunately it didn't make any difference. The mention of 'Heat/temp' did get me thinking as the system is fine for a while and then can't be reliably started so I became suspicious about the cooling system for the cpu. It looks like the person who put the system together did a botch job. It is hard to explain what he has done - using a plastic director with a normal fan to cool the cpu. I found that an air director was glued to the edges of the fan which was in place below the psu but I doubt its effectiveness. Could the problem be that the system is just shutting down as a safety measure because of this? I did touch the cpu metal cooler and it didn't seem to be too warm but what do I know. I see that I can add attachments to these postings and I have a digital camera would it be an idea for me to take a few shots to show clearly what I am talking about. If you tell me the size of image which is acceptable you might be able to tell me what it 'should' be like.

[Ste]

Hello again, sorry I didn't follow this up sooner but for those who may read the previous postings in search of a solution to a similar problem I thought I should add a conclusion. I did fit a new fan and heat sink but that wasn't the solution. I decided to take all the existing cards out and see if the computer became stable. I had previously taken out the graphics card and the usb card but not the modem. Surprisingly that was the culprit. As soon as I put it back - Crash! So I presume it was dodgy or incompatible. I bought a new one and the system is fine.

Steve