Brett
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Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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Got another machine recently to use as a media centre, it's one of those shuttle cube things. Probably worth mentioning I bought it second hand from a guy who had loads of them from an office clearance.
It's all setup with the latest updates, etc.
Basically after booting it and playing a movie for 20mins or so, it'll shit itself and reboot. Sometimes it'll manage to get back into Windows then maybe play a movie for a minute before doing it again. Other times it'll just go into an infinite loop of rebooting iteself. It's managed full movies before now without a problem and if you're not doing anything to hungry it'll just happily sit idling away.
Already tried two different kinds of ram. I'm thinking to redo the thermal paste maybe in case it's getting to hot? Open to other suggestions tho 
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pow
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Registered: 11th Sep 06
Location: Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire
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Tried swapping hard drives?
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Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
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Check it's not cooking the CPU (clogged up heatsink/fan) and that the inside of the Shuttle isn't caked with dust.
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Brett
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Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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quote:
Originally posted by pow
Tried swapping hard drives?
This is the machine I cloned the drive on, managed that in the end. It's done it on both drives.
quote:
Originally posted by Sam
Check it's not cooking the CPU (clogged up heatsink/fan) and that the inside of the Shuttle isn't caked with dust.
Had it open loads mate, it's spotless.
[Edited on 17-11-2012 by Brett]
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Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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Yup, with a shuttle temperatures would be the first thing i'd be checking as they are renowned for high idling and load temperatures. Use something like Core Temp for monitoring and run Prime for a few hours. As Sam mentioned, i would also give it a clean anyway.
If it isn't temperatures then it's going to be T&E checking components etc
quote:
Originally posted by Brett
quote:
Originally posted by pow
Tried swapping hard drives?
This is the machine I cloned the drive on, managed that in the end. It's done it on both drives.
Clone of a drive on the same system? Or different system?
Tbh I'd be dropping the install and starting fresh.
[Edited on 17-11-2012 by Dom]
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Brett
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Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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Same system, just upgrading size of drive the lazy way 
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Sam
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OK well if the temperature side of things is alright then I'd suggest perhaps doing a Memtest on the RAM.
Also, what sort of PSU has it got, and have you got a spare to test with? As sometimes if the PSU is dying then that can also cause systems to randomly reboot.
Also worth checking Event Viewer logs to see what happens prior to a crash in case it's software/driver related.
But as Dom says, trial and error testing unfortunately (this is what I have to do most of the time when I've got people's systems to fix ).
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Brett
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Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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Well, I tried with different ram, removing all cards, the works. Damn thing doesn't even switch on now Needless to say, it's had a short run of a few weeks and now it's been retired to the garage. Piece of crap.
Oh, I did try the core temp thing too and seemingly it's not overheating. It was shitting itself even when sat at 50C
[Edited on 19-11-2012 by Brett]
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RichR
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Registered: 17th Oct 01
Location: Waterhouses, Staffordshire
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My work PC did this recently and it turned out to be the PSU - replaced that and its fine now
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Brett
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Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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It's cool, serves me right for replacing something that wasn't broken in the first place. These shuttles are just a bit more aesthetically pleasing than my other machine was.
I'll probs just car boot this to some lucky soul.
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willay
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Registered: 10th Nov 02
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I'd go with
running temps and its hitting thermal shutdown (check bios to see if it has a thermal shutdown setting)
dodgy ram (use memcheck for a few hours)
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Brett
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Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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If you look above willay, i've tried two different sets of RAM with same results plus I've used coretemp which indicates it's running at a healthy temp (so I read). Inside of the box, fans, everything is spotless and running fine.
It's not even like it's shutting down. It'll be playing a movie then it'll stutter and hang in one spot with the sounds repeating for 10secs then it'll reboot and follow the process above as mentioned.
[Edited on 19-11-2012 by Brett]
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3CorsaMeal
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Registered: 11th Apr 02
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Mine did this with a dodgy graphics driver, but i am quite clueless about anything else, had to get a man to put the right driver on for me
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Brett
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Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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I am thinking it could be the graphics card. I don't have another PCI-e one to try with. I've tried removing it and using the onboard graphics but that doesn't output anything.
The damn thing literally won't do shit now anyway. Easier just to move on and call it a day on this one I think.
[Edited on 19-11-2012 by Brett]
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Sam
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Registered: 24th Dec 99
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Go into the BIOS and change it to use onboard video, shutdown and then remove the card > turn it back on etc.
You say you've tried different RAM but have you actually run Memtest on it? Just because you have some spare doesn't mean it hasn't been zapped with static electricity (this has caught me out in the past hence why I use one of them anti static wrist straps now).
Have you got a spare PSU you can test with as well?
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Brett
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Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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I don't have any spare anything mate, especially not PSU's.
The damn thing won't even display with the PCI-e card now so I can't even get into the BIOS or tell what it's doing.
I'm pretty sure it's just hanging from kick off now because it comes on and the HDD light just goes on solid and that's that...and no, it's not a HDD error, 100% on that one.
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Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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Reset the CMOS/BIOS either by the reset button/pin header or pulling the battery. And there should be an indicator on the board, either LED or speaker which should give you a clue to what is wrong with it (you'll need to look at the motherboard manual to work out what the codes mean).
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willay
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^^ do it
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Dom
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Brett
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Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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There is an LED on the board actually.
TBH I've packed it all away and given up now. Might give it a shot at some point.
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Brett
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Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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Removed the battery for a few hours then had another try as suggested. Still wouldn't output display through the onboard or the pci-e 
The light on the board just stays on constant. If a HDD is plugged in the HDD light just stays on, otherwise no other sign of life apart from fans moving.
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Sam
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RAM, or you haven't connected the ATX12v cable to the motherboard.
[Edited on 20-11-2012 by Sam]
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Brett
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Registered: 16th Dec 02
Location: Manchester
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The LED on the board is lighting up though and it's not like I've messed around unplugging cables from the board itself.
It just seems well and truly fucked. Like I said, I've got the original RAM that came with it plus I bought some brand spanking new RAM too, makes no difference which is in, doesn't do a thing now
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