Firestate88
Member
Registered: 10th Jul 08
Location: Northampton England
User status: Offline
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me old man gave me his old pc, but when i use it it keeps restarting itself 
whats possible causes of this?
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Sam
Moderator
Premium Member
Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
User status: Offline
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At what point does it keep restarting?
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Root
Member
Registered: 28th Dec 08
User status: Offline
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god knows, try to reinstall the windows system files without formatting, if this cannot be done then you may have to consider reformatting.
unless of coarse it's a hardware issue whereas it could be...PSU, hard drive
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adiohead
Member
Registered: 28th Sep 01
User status: Offline
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tried pressing F8 on startup and loading the "Last Known Good Configuration"?
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Gary
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Nov 06
Location: West Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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Have you another machine you can stick that HDD into?
IF so you could back up any files you need and just format it.
I'd always format a PC off someone else tbh
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Firestate88
Member
Registered: 10th Jul 08
Location: Northampton England
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Sam
At what point does it keep restarting?
well it boots up all fine, let it load up and everything, go on facebook, then car town, while im on there it just restarts itself
quote:
Originally posted by Root
everyone knows only fags use laptops.
real men use desktops
it is a desktop PC not a laptop 
quote:
Originally posted by adiohead
tried pressing F8 on startup and loading the "Last Known Good Configuration"?
i havent tryed that, what will that do?
quote:
Originally posted by glb
Have you another machine you can stick that HDD into?
IF so you could back up any files you need and just format it.
I'd always format a PC off someone else tbh
i might have but its a completely different set up pc wise to mine so wasnt sure if there compatible?
i wouldnt have thought its that bad as he's a design engineer and has lived on pc's most his life 
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adiohead
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Registered: 28th Sep 01
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Firestate88
quote:
Originally posted by adiohead
tried pressing F8 on startup and loading the "Last Known Good Configuration"?
i havent tryed that, what will that do?
it might start up. Worth a try
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Sam
Moderator
Premium Member
Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
User status: Offline
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Sounds like it might be overheating.
Check that any CPU/graphics card fans aren't clogged up with dust and crap.
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Gary
Premium Member
Registered: 22nd Nov 06
Location: West Yorkshire
User status: Offline
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http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/
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Firestate88
Member
Registered: 10th Jul 08
Location: Northampton England
User status: Offline
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gave it a good clean out, now theres no response from it  powers up but doesnt start up  think im just not going to bother and buy a new one in couple months 
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adiohead
Member
Registered: 28th Sep 01
User status: Offline
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did you vacuum it?
Try it again after an hour or so. Keep fapping F8 during start up to see if you can get into the menu to select the last known good configuration.
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Dom
Member
Registered: 13th Sep 03
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Firestate88
gave it a good clean out, now there’s no response from it powers up but doesn’t start up think im just not going to bother and buy a new one in couple months
chances are something is unplugged, so i would open the case again and go through all of the cabling and try re-sitting any of the cards/ram. Is it just powering up and then switching itself off, or booting to the BIOS screens? If so any errors/warnings?
Some motherboards have internal LEDS or displays that show the current status, might be worth looking on the manufacturer’s website and seeing if there is anything about.
As for the original problem it's likely to be hardware failure rather than overheating and if you get the system running again it might be worth doing a memtest (google for Memtest86+, download and burn to CD or install to USB memstick) as ram is the usual cause.
Did it just restart or did it Blue Screen then restart?
[Edited on 14-09-2010 by Dom]
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Sam
Moderator
Premium Member
Registered: 24th Dec 99
Location: West Midlands
User status: Offline
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quote:
Originally posted by Firestate88
gave it a good clean out, now theres no response from it powers up but doesnt start up think im just not going to bother and buy a new one in couple months
No worries - something's unplugged/unseated by the sounds of it.
- check the big connector cable from the power supply is connected to the motherboard properly
- check the RAM modules are seated properly
- check all expansion cards like video/sound cards etc. are seated properly
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adiohead
Member
Registered: 28th Sep 01
User status: Offline
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It could be static from the vacuum (if one was used).
I've done this before
Just takes a while to calm down
[Edited on 15-09-2010 by adiohead]
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Root
Member
Registered: 28th Dec 08
User status: Offline
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Back to your original issue, I don't have a solution for you, but my old shitty PC used to do this too sometimes
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