Random Rebooting

[Nuno]

You'll have to dumb that down for me a little, I'm not that great with all this technicality and stuff.

For e.g. SB Audigy, and IRQ. Don't know what they are :-/

Ok. The link I gave to you is a program called Prime95. Install it, run it, then options -> torture test. It´ll do complex calculations, and more, it´ll compare the result with the expected one. If they are different, it´ll abort the test, and there´s something wrong with your machine. In my opinion, all those "random" reboots have always something to do with hardware problems. To avoid most of the reboots, right click on my computer - > properties -> advanced -> (startup and recovery) settings -> uncheck "automatically restart"

A SB Audigy is a Sound Blaster PCI sound card.

IRQ:

IRQ
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
An IRQ or interrupt request is the means by which hardware components request computing time from the CPU.

[edit]
IRQs for IBM PC compatible computers
The modern IBM PC compatible computer has 16 IRQ assignments (0-15), each one representing a different physical (or virtual) piece of hardware. For example, IRQ0 is reserved for the system timer, while IRQ1 is reserved for the keyboard. The lower the number, the more critical the function.

In the past, there were only 8 IRQ assignments (0-7). As the need for more hardware emerged, the need for more IRQs arose. The solution was another 8 IRQs, added by bridging IRQ2 to the new IRQ9.

In Pentium-class (and some 80486-class) computers the IRQs can be handled by the I/O APIC.

The list of IRQs is:

IRQ0 = 8253/8254 interval timer (system timer)
IRQ1 = keyboard
IRQ2 = reserved for the 8259B (tied to IRQ 9)
IRQ3 = COM2 and COM4
IRQ4 = COM1 and COM3
IRQ5 = LPT2 or sound card
IRQ6 = floppy drives
IRQ7 = LPT1
IRQ8 = real-time clock (RTC)
IRQ9 = bridged to IRQ2
IRQ10 = not assigned
IRQ11 = not assigned
IRQ12 = PS/2 mouse
IRQ13 = math coprocessor
IRQ14 = Primary IDE drives
IRQ15 = Secondary IDE drives

IRQ Last modified: Wednesday, September 03, 2003




Abbreviation of interrupt request line, and pronounced I-R-Q. IRQs are hardware lines over which devices can send interrupt signals to the microprocessor. When you add a new device to a PC, you sometimes need to set its IRQ number by setting a DIP switch. This specifies which interrupt line the device may use. IRQ conflicts used to be a common problem when adding expansion boards, but the Plug-and-Play specification has removed this headache in most cases.

So basically it´s a number your system assigns to your devices so they can "call" the CPU whenever they want. IRQ should be shared without problems, but that´s not always the case. Most sound cards and video cards don´t like to share

To see IRQ´s, right click on My computer -> properties -> hardware -> device manager -> view -> devices by type -> double click on "interrupt request (IRQ)" and it´ll show the IRQ´s assigned to your devices. Look for devices using the same IRQ.

On some motherboards you can change IRQ´s manually on bios setting, others you have to swap PCI cards around and hope the system assigns a diferent IRQ to your device. As I said, I had a very similar problem with a Athlon XP / Asus A7N8X-X system (that still is my current one) and after several troubleshooting, I found moving the sound card to another PCi slot completely solved it.

[Ninju]

****, I feel stupid :-/

I revealed all hidden devices and there are, well, lets say a few that have errors.

They are all under Non Plug and Play Drivers, here's a list of them (the ones with problems):

a347scsi
Diskperf
PCIIde
Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller
vspf
vspf_hk

[degrub]

Well that's progress at least.

[degrub]

See if there is a newer version of the MB chipset, IDE drivers and update the driver. If not the IDE controller could be failing. You may be able to narrow it down to either the primary IDE0 controller or the secondary IDE1 controller

[Ninju]

Ok. The link I gave to you is a program called Prime95. Install it, run it, then options -> torture test. It´ll do complex calculations, and more, it´ll compare the result with the expected one. If they are different, it´ll abort the test, and there´s something wrong with your machine. In my opinion, all those "random" reboots have always something to do with hardware problems. To avoid most of the reboots, right click on my computer - > properties -> advanced -> (startup and recovery) settings -> uncheck "automatically restart"

A SB Audigy is a Sound Blaster PCI sound card.

IRQ:




So basically it´s a number your system assigns to your devices so they can "call" the CPU whenever they want. IRQ should be shared without problems, but that´s not always the case. Most sound cards and video cards don´t like to share

To see IRQ´s, right click on My computer -> properties -> hardware -> device manager -> view -> devices by type -> double click on "interrupt request (IRQ)" and it´ll show the IRQ´s assigned to your devices. Look for devices using the same IRQ.

On some motherboards you can change IRQ´s manually on bios setting, others you have to swap PCI cards around and hope the system assigns a diferent IRQ to your device. As I said, I had a very similar problem with a Athlon XP / Asus A7N8X-X system (that still is my current one) and after several troubleshooting, I found moving the sound card to another PCi slot completely solved it.

If I go into Device Manager and View Devices by Type, there is no IRQ to double click as you said, but, if I view Resources by Type/Connection, then I can. If you want a list of those I can give you them. If you read my other post though, I think the errors in Device Manager could be the problem.

[Ninju]

Does your graphic card require a separate power connector ? Can you swap back to the old graphic card and test ?

It currently shares a power cord with something else, I'm not sure what. I don't think my Graphics card is the problem at all though. I ran 3D mark 03 and it came up with expected, if not better results, and also, this was happening when I had my old Graphics card that required no power connector.

[degrub]

See if there is a newer version of the MB chipset, IDE drivers and update the driver. If not the IDE controller could be failing. You may be able to narrow it down to either the primary IDE0 controller or the secondary IDE1 controller. You can move the cable with the HD to the other controller and disable the primary controller and see if the errors go away. If you have to attach the CD to the same cable, make sure it is set as slave - everything will run slower, but atleast you can track it down

[Nuno]

Sorry, Not devices but resourses by type.

Maybe, try to uninstall those drivers. Mostly they are virtual non-plug and play drivers installed by third party software that are often left behind with you uninstall them.

Anyway, post that IRQ list. And I would also like to see how Prime95 does on your machine.

[degrub]

Is the MB bios set up to allow the OS to set the IRQs ? It will be under PNP/PCI. If it is set to YES, the win2k can set all the IRQs (PNP OS ?). If not , it will use what the MB tells it. DOesn't sound like the problem yet, but it won't hurt.

[degrub]

Here's the drivers for your MB - looks like a recent update for IDE and win 2k

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/driver/dvr/spt_dvr_detail.php?UID=572&kind=1

i think i got the correct MB.

[Ninju]

Sorry, Not devices but resourses by type.

Maybe, try to uninstall those drivers. Mostly they are virtual non-plug and play drivers installed by third party software that are often left behind with you uninstall them.

Anyway, post that IRQ list. And I would also like to see how Prime95 does on your machine.

Are you absolutely sure that I should "Stop" the drivers I listed as having errors? The thing is, their type is mostly "Boot" and there are some "System" types in there, I thought they may be very important and I want to make sure I am doing the right thing before stopping them.

Here's the IRQ list and I'll let you know how Prime95 does...

The number 20 is the only number being shared:

(PCI) 20 NVIDIA Network Bus Enumerator
(PCI) 20 NVIDIA USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller
(PCI) 20 Realtek AC'97 Audio
(PCI) 20 Standard OpenHCD PCI to USB Host Controller
(PCI) 20 Standard OpenHCD PCI to USB Host Controller

[Ninju]

See if there is a newer version of the MB chipset, IDE drivers and update the driver. If not the IDE controller could be failing. You may be able to narrow it down to either the primary IDE0 controller or the secondary IDE1 controller. You can move the cable with the HD to the other controller and disable the primary controller and see if the errors go away. If you have to attach the CD to the same cable, make sure it is set as slave - everything will run slower, but atleast you can track it down

I'll check in the BIOS later in reply to another post you made. Thanks for the link to the updated Drivers for my MB chipset.

And, my Primary IDE Connector Cable is attached only to my Hard Drive. My Secondary is connected both my DVD Drive and my CD-RW Drive, I believe my DVD Drive is master but I might be wrong, I will check later in the BIOS at the same time I look at the PNP/PCI configuration.

[degrub]

There are also some good looking utilities there - diagnostics, voltages, etc. Might help narrow it down more.

[Ninju]

There are also some good looking utilities there - diagnostics, voltages, etc. Might help narrow it down more.

That's another thing I forgot to mention, my voltages are fine so it's not those.

[degrub]

Good. Does your system take a long long time to shutdown ? If it does that can indicate hardware problems.

Bring up system event viewer (control panel, admin tools, event viewer) and look in system log for error messages. Sometimes bad hardware will start showing up as warnings/errors there before complete failure. IF there was a cable problem, maybe , i would expect to see error messages in the event viewer system log

If you get the device manager driver problems cleared up and the problem persists. Try disabling the secondary IDE controller in the bios (disconnect the cable). If the problem stays, enable the secondary , disable the primary, and move the HD cable to the secondary. If the problem is still there, put the cables back as they started, get your hands on another HD, format it, disconnect the original, do a clean install of W2k, your MB drivers, video driver, etc. and see if that solves it. To me at least , this is sounding more like a driver conflict than hardware, but it can be tough to sort out.