Momopi, are these problems hardware or software related?

[Winston]

Dear Momopi,
That refurbished computer I bought last year is constantly crashing and restarting all the time now, even when the computer isn't even running anything! It crashes in a variety of ways now. Sometimes it just locks up, other times the screen just goes blank, or I get a floating box that says "video not supported" or I get the blue screen, or the screen turns into a few bits of scrambled video pixels, or I hear a click and it just restarts.

Before it would only happen during video games. Then it started happening when I played movies and videos on it. Now it happens when I run any software, especially one that scans the computer for errors. And sometimes it restarts immediately after Windows boots up!

I've tried using the Advanced System Care software that you suggested, to fix my computer. It does find many errors and fixes them, but the crashing and restarting still persist. And each time it does, the program finds more errors to fix.

I am trying to reinstall windows to see if that will fix it, but the installation disc seems to be damaged (for some reason, every CD and DVD here seems to deteriorate after a while, EVEN when it's kept inside a protected case and you don't do any damage to it!).

But anyhow, I'm wondering if it's hardware issues. During boot up, I get a message saying that "Hardware monitor reports an error. Hit delete to go to setup for details." When I go into the BIOS, under the Hardware Monitor section, a number under "Voltage" is red. But I'm not sure what that means. When I select it and press enter to disable it, the computer won't boot up at all, so I end up having to leave it the way it is.

Does this mean that one of the parts has incorrect voltage? And is this voltage error in the hardware monitor, whatever it is, capable of causing the CPU to crash and reboot a lot? What is it? And how do I fix it?

Do you need a photo of the area in BIOS that I'm talking about, since I can't provide a screen shot of BIOS since it's in DOS.

Also, I mentioned before that my speed fan software reports that one part of my computer is at 127 degrees F, in red, which seems to indicate that it's too high? If so, is the hardware monitor error and the voltage reading in red in BIOS connected with this error in speed fan?

Any idea?

How can I know if this is a software or hardware issue?

Also, if the problem is with windows, will a complete reinstallation fix it? Or should the hard drive partition that it's in be reformatted as well, before a new installation?

Thanks again,
Winston

[Winston]

PS - Someone told me that plugging things into the USB ports of my computer will break down or corrupt an unstable Windows XP. Is that true? Does using USB plugged devices, like my mouse and joystick or memory stick, really make any difference to the stability of Windows?

[momopi]

Reading your description, I'd make an educated guess that the most likely cause of your problem is a faulty CPU cooling fan. I assume the computer is a tower case with the motherboard mounted sideways. Open the computer case and inspect where the CPU fan is. Typically they're attached by a bracket, see if the bracket is broken.

Another possibility is if the CPU was over-clocked. You could try reducing the speed in the BIOS settings. If the computer is rebooting due to CPU over-heat, it's a built in safety measure to prevent the CPU core from burning. But if the problem had persisted for quite some time, then it's possible that CPU may have sustained heat damage.

Less likely, graphics chip on graphics card over-heating. But this typically just cause display problems.

USB devices should not make Windows run less stable.

[Winston]

Thanks for your practical analysis.

The motherboard is big and only fits vertically, up and down the tower case.

I just finished reinstalling windows again, and even reformatted the hard drive partition that windows was installed in. It seems to run much better now. The restarts happen much less frequently now, but they still happen sometimes during games. I'm keeping my fingers crossed though.

How do I reduce speed in the BIOS?

And what is this hardware monitor error I keep getting at bootup, that I have to hit F1 to bypass? And what does it mean when a number under Voltage in the hardware monitor section of BIOS, is red?

Even my two year old son now knows where to hit the F1 key to bypass that error at bootup and he enjoys pressing it a lot. lol

[Winston]

Momopi,
After I reinstalled Windows and reformatted the hard drive partition it was installed on, there have been few problems. The games run with very few sudden restarts. So it looks like the problems were mostly from corrupted Windows files.

How do you prevent those? The system utilities softwares and registry fixes don't seem to be able to fix corrupted Windows files. I use several good ones combined.

[momopi]

On your hard drive, are you running FAT32 partition or NTFS?

You can use CoreTemp to check the temp of your CPU:
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

If your CPU is running at >50 C, you have a problem.

Before changing the CPU speed, you need to first identify the CPU installed:
http://www.cpuid.com/

After you run software like CPU ID to ID the correct CPU and speed, you can compare with the current speed settings and see if it was set correctly, or overclocked.

If the CPU is overclocked (running faster than intended), you can change the BIOS settings on some machines to reduce the CPU speed:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5171478_change- ... speed.html

[Winston]

Momopi,
It looks like hardware monitor error is connected to the fan and cooling issue after all.

http://www.winforums.com/showthread.php?t=9824

Others have reported the same thing.

How do I clean a heatsink though? And what is that? Where is it exactly?

[Winston]

On your hard drive, are you running FAT32 partition or NTFS?

You can use CoreTemp to check the temp of your CPU:
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

If your CPU is running at >50 C, you have a problem.

Before changing the CPU speed, you need to first identify the CPU installed:
http://www.cpuid.com/

After you run software like CPU ID to ID the correct CPU and speed, you can compare with the current speed settings and see if it was set correctly, or overclocked.

If the CPU is overclocked (running faster than intended), you can change the BIOS settings on some machines to reduce the CPU speed:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5171478_change- ... speed.html

My hard drives are formatted with the NTFS file system. Why?

Ok I will download that and check my computer temperature with it.

Can't I just identify the CPU through windows though?

[momopi]

Momopi,
It looks like hardware monitor error is connected to the fan and cooling issue after all.

http://www.winforums.com/showthread.php?t=9824

Others have reported the same thing.

How do I clean a heatsink though? And what is that? Where is it exactly?

http://www.ehow.com/video_2200471_clean-cpu-fan.html
http://www.ehow.com/video_2200472_clean ... -sink.html

Your CPU heatsink and fan sits on top of the CPU chip. It has a heatsink placed directly on top of the CPU, and a fan on top of the heat sink. I typically open the computer case, take it outside and use compressed air to blow all the dust off.

It's possible that the heatsink and fan is not working well. If you need to replace it, make sure the shop's tech clean off the old thermal paste from the CPU, apply a thin layer of new thermal paste, then place the new heat sink on top. Many new heat sinks come with the thermal paste already applied on the bottom (just peel off), so you only need to clean the old grease off the chip before applying.

http://www.ehow.com/how_4460438_install ... -sink.html

[Winston]

On your hard drive, are you running FAT32 partition or NTFS?

You can use CoreTemp to check the temp of your CPU:
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

If your CPU is running at >50 C, you have a problem.

Before changing the CPU speed, you need to first identify the CPU installed:
http://www.cpuid.com/

After you run software like CPU ID to ID the correct CPU and speed, you can compare with the current speed settings and see if it was set correctly, or overclocked.

If the CPU is overclocked (running faster than intended), you can change the BIOS settings on some machines to reduce the CPU speed:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5171478_change- ... speed.html

My hard drive is using NTFS. I just downloaded the core temp program you linked. When I ran it, it said my core temp was 76C. So is my computer overheating? What can I do about it? Would only a cooling fan help?

I'll try to play with the BIOS to see if I can change the CPU speed.

Thanks.

[momopi]

What CPU are you running?

Generally speaking AMD will run hotter than Intel CPU's.