# pc rebooting randomly?



## zorro69 (Apr 18, 2008)

I'm new here so please bear with me. i recently got a sony vgc-ra820g off of ebay in an 'as-is' auction. The problem is that it reboots randomly. No warning or shutdown screens, just black screen then computer rebooting. I'm guessing it's the psu but not sure. Any other ideas and if it is the psu then what kind do i need to get? Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## PC eye (Apr 18, 2008)

If you are running anything like a game at the time the restarts are seen you could be looking at something overheating or another problem with memory or the board itself. Memory problems are generally more proniunced seeing blue screens while a failing supply or bad cap on the board will simply see a rsudden estart or even complete shutdown. 

A bad cap in the supply or on the board would see the system shutoff if not simply restart when a power drop was experienced. Besides any temp problem with a cpu or video card mainly seen during gaming/ocing a weak battery on a board will cause unexpected restarts when the cmos information can't be maintained but is somehow refreshed upon seeing the system restarted.

The first thing needed here however is what is going on when these are seen. Are you simply letting the system sit idle or running anything that places a good load on the cpu as well as memory, video, and sound? The last thought of course would be some type of Windows or software driver problem being realized where the Windows crash control is set to restart the system to avoid lockups.


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## cohen (Apr 18, 2008)

Cheap the CPU temp.... because mine was doing it and the CPU was getting to hot. Otherwise i would think it is a PSU problem.


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## zorro69 (Apr 18, 2008)

It shut itself down last night. I had left this window open and other than that it was idle all night. My wife uses this computer and she says explorer has been the only thing running when it happens to her. I will open the case tonight after work and check for dust and dirt around the fans and cpu. Thanks, never thought of temp.


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## cohen (Apr 18, 2008)

*Also...*

Check PSU connection to everything... so everything is connected and now moving.....

What sort of PSU have you got????


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## zorro69 (Apr 18, 2008)

i checked the cp temp in bios and it hovers between 120 and122. The power supply is a delta, outputting 364.7 max wattage. All connections are good (fans and so on) Is there a way to check the cpu temp while in windows?


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## StrangleHold (Apr 18, 2008)

Just restarting at random times is more like a P/S or even just a bad driver. With a Sony unless its turned off in the bios you will get a drive you crazy beep tone if the CPU is over heating by default. With a bad video card or memory your more likley to get freezing or lockups. If you want to check your temps you can try these.
http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php
http://www.sisoftware.net/index.html?dir=dload&location=sware_dl_3264


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## PC eye (Apr 19, 2008)

PC Wizard 2008 is generally good there while some may still see false readings at times due to it still being a software. If it goes on and runs ok that will provide cpu, board, and even the gpu temp for video card.

Supplies can overheat at times too not just the cpu or whatever else is on the board. A weak cap there will cause problems just as easily as one on the main board. The hardware monitor in the bios was reporting the cpu at about 50C the equivalent of 120-122F there showing a warm but not unexpected temp for a system running a stock hsf.

The 364.7w is above the very much standard 350w recommended for atx boards and a little more then seen on other prebuilds. Without warning an older build here saw the system restart without warning due to the board simply being hungry for batteries more than anything else! But a supply with a bad cap or transformer wimping out won't sound off any board alarms.


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## zorro69 (Apr 19, 2008)

ok, noob question, how do I know what kind of power supply I need? PC Eye said it's an 'atx board. Anything else I need to look for in the specs? I'm hoping to run 3 hard drives when I'm done so would a 500watt woork. I'm in the middle of timbuktu southern illinois and not much help for this in the area. Probably do another ebay purchase.


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## cohen (Apr 19, 2008)

*Go for this one*



zorro69 said:


> ok, noob question, how do I know what kind of power supply I need? PC Eye said it's an 'atx board. Anything else I need to look for in the specs? I'm hoping to run 3 hard drives when I'm done so would a 500watt woork. I'm in the middle of timbuktu southern illinois and not much help for this in the area. Probably do another ebay purchase.



go for this one - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007


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## PC eye (Apr 19, 2008)

Before simply rushing in on any link for a supply someone tosses at you you may want to review the sticky on supplies for the type of build you have in mind there. There's is also a good and bad list for various makes and models to avoid getting stiffed on buying the wrong thing from the start.  http://www.computerforum.com/90118-useful-psu-case-guides.html

Here I was running two ide hard drives along with two sata models plus two optical drives(cd writer, dvd burner) on a 480w supply until upgrading later to a a 550w model still in use on the old build. I currently use a larger 700w model to allow for expansion while not fully used at the moment. 

A larger supply will generally see the extra power connectors for adding additional drives and devices not seen on smaller models. If you are not intending on ocing and heavy gaming or running memory hungry power drawing applications a good 450+w will easily work by seeing a little leftover.


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## dznutz (Apr 19, 2008)

hold on guys lets eliminate the possibility of cpu overheating before buying a bunch of stuff.

do this:  turn off pc, turn off the switch in the back, open the case, use COMPRESSED AIR to blow on the fan/heatsink and other components being sure not to angle the can to spray out liquid, let it sit for 30 min, then turn on the pc.


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## Candy (Apr 19, 2008)

Yeah see how it goes after getting all the dust and crap out. I had the exact same problem not long ago with my old computer and just cleaning it out fixed it. Also my computer was sitting on the floor (on carpet), not a good idea as way more dust will get in and accumulate.


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## PC eye (Apr 19, 2008)

Are you kidding when a friend was having problems on a system I loaded an ide drive out for since he couldn't get XP on a sata model ordered with everything else. His habit of keeping the case on the floor proved disasterous temp wise. Ever see a mountain of dust?!

With a nice wool blanket covering the board I can imagine the drive temps soared a bit!  Just imagine what other problems would have been seen if that wasn't cleaned out before the sata was finally up and running by guess who?! The other drive was obviously cooked!


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## StrangleHold (Apr 19, 2008)

zorro69 said:


> ok, noob question, how do I know what kind of power supply I need? PC Eye said it's an 'atx board. Anything else I need to look for in the specs? I'm hoping to run 3 hard drives when I'm done so would a 500watt woork. I'm in the middle of timbuktu southern illinois and not much help for this in the area. Probably do another ebay purchase.


 
Hold off on that because you really dont know if its the P/S yet. Something as simple as a driver can make it restart.


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## zorro69 (Apr 20, 2008)

ok stopped by a friends this afternoon and he let me borrow a 128mb nvidia graphics card finally installed it and blew out all the dust while i was at it waiting to see what is going to happen. I noticed this morning the picture froze for about half a second before rebooting. If it's the graphics all should be fine now right?


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## PC eye (Apr 20, 2008)

Video drivers will see blue screens and lockups not full restarts while a bad card can cause a number of problems. Generally when a card goes you will hear a long followed by two short beeps when first going to start a system up. An overheated card is a totally different matter where you would see restarts while gaming when it pulls the power down.

With a different card in you would first have to see all of the old drivers removed by way of an uninstall tool provided by the card manufacturer or a 3rd party driver remover. Tnen you install the fresh set for the substitute card now in. 

The question now is the make of the first. If that was an ATI model and you had the Catalyst 7.9 installed that would be a problem version. The 7.10 cleaned up that mess!


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## Candy (Apr 20, 2008)

PC eye said:


> Are you kidding when a friend was having problems on a system I loaded an ide drive out for since he couldn't get XP on a sata model ordered with everything else. His habit of keeping the case on the floor proved disasterous temp wise. Ever see a mountain of dust?!
> 
> With a nice wool blanket covering the board I can imagine the drive temps soared a bit!  Just imagine what other problems would have been seen if that wasn't cleaned out before the sata was finally up and running by guess who?! The other drive was obviously cooked!



Sorry were talking about what i said? Cos i was saying that putting the case on the floor was a BAD idea so naturally i was a bit confused when you said "His habit of keeping the case on the floor proved disastrous temp wise" cos thats exactly what i was saying. Moor dust = higher temps (im sure i dont need to tell you that).


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## PC eye (Apr 20, 2008)

That was simply one example of what can be seen when not setting a case up on something like a stand or desk. The one here has to see a good cleaning monthly. You can imagine what it would look like a case sat on a floor for over a year! 

Evem that isn't the only cause for seeing a number of sudden restarts especially with any BSODs involved. Something seeing high temps would only be thought besides a bad install of drivers, an incorrect version going on, or something else installed and loading along with Windows being a software problem.

The problem being seen there however lacks any usable information you would see in the error message since that will point out a specific driver or hardware. Bad caps on the board, a corrupted bios, or even a weak battery can see restarts without any error information being displayed. 

With any bad caps the power levels on the board itself are directly effected. To help rulle that out a good close inspection of the board itself for any bulged out or leaky caps would be an idea. If the system has been in use for over a year a bios update or simple replacement of the battery would be a preferred low cost option there.


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## cohen (Apr 20, 2008)

*Motherboard*



zorro69 said:


> ok stopped by a friends this afternoon and he let me borrow a 128mb nvidia graphics card finally installed it and blew out all the dust while i was at it waiting to see what is going to happen. I noticed this morning the picture froze for about half a second before rebooting. If it's the graphics all should be fine now right?



OK well then buy another video card but i don't see why it doesn't work- it is probably a fault with motherboard. So maybe get a refund and get a different motherboard.


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## maxmad (Apr 20, 2008)

maybe it could be a virus could take that into account....


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## zorro69 (Apr 20, 2008)

rebooted at least 2 times with other graphics card installed. did an uninstall in the drivers section and installed new ones for new board. Didn't notice any freezing one of two restarts. Didn't think to look at the model of the first but I put it back in and took the borrowed one back. PC Eye when you say version 7.9 do you mean board number or driver number? Looking at bad caps and batteries???? On the motherboard? Graphics card?  Power supply? I didn't know they had batteries except for the one to keep the time during outages.


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## zorro69 (Apr 20, 2008)

maxmad, only problem with doing scans for virus is that the thing won't stay on long enough to finish.


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## cohen (Apr 20, 2008)

*it has happened before*

rebooting randomly has happened to my dad's computer before and now for some reason it has stopped...... so i'm not sure what happened.


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## PC eye (Apr 20, 2008)

You never mentioned whether that was an ATI or NVidia model card in use. The Catalyst 7.9 is the software side of the card not just the version of the drivers. That would be similar to the desktop manager seen with NVidia cards.

The 7.9 version was a disaster where ATI released a patch that didn't do anything. This is why that was mentioned in case the software cd also saw that there. The cd here for the card came with the 7.9 on it and ended up in the recycle bin once the 7.10 came out. The 8.3 is the current update.


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## zorro69 (Apr 21, 2008)

it looks to be the original card which sony website says to be an nvidia fx5200. right now i am trying to download all the updates on sony's site. after that i'll look for updates at nvidia


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## dznutz (Apr 21, 2008)

try this:
turn on computer, go into bios, go to temperature sensors, wait and see what happens (note the temps and whether or not it reboots).  if it doesn't reboot for like an hour or so and cpu temps seem normal then it could be viruses.  if temps are normal and it reboots then it's some sort of hardware failure

also, are you beep codes normal?


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## PC eye (Apr 22, 2008)

The latest driver updates won't work on the old GeForce FX5200 model there. You would simply be installing drivers for newer model cards since the last updates for that line are in archives at this late date if found at NVidia.

 When locating the older Sony model you provided the one found on Amazon comes with an ATI X300LE model card there. One look will show if this is a match for the one you have there.  http://www.amazon.com/Sony-VGC-RA82.../B000300A2U/ref=de_a_smtd/104-5534359-1595138

When scrolling the support page at Sony I end up seeing a download for ATI there as well when looking at the bottom of the list found at  http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-list.pl?mdl=VGCRA820G Someone apparently swapped the original card out.

I did locate one site that still carries updates for that model card for Vista as well as XP at  http://www.toggle.com/lv/group/view/kl41251/Driver_Nvidia_GeForce_FX_5200.htm


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## zorro69 (Apr 22, 2008)

i'm not sure what"s going on. I forgot to mention when I checked on sony's website I found a place where it asked to detect model. So i did, and it came up as a vgc-ra710g. Computer was sold on ebay as a vgc-ra820g. I went with what the sony sight said as to the video card which is the nvidia fx5200. i have since finished updating from the sony site,nvidia(done before I read post), and microsoft updates. It shut off on me right before I got this posted, not 5 minutes ago. Tonight is not a good night to watch temps for an hour, I will be asleep long before anything happens.


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## zorro69 (Apr 22, 2008)

ok dznutz, another noob ?    what are beep codes?


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## PC eye (Apr 22, 2008)

When you first turn the power on and the screen flickers for the first few seconds and the lights on drives and the keyboard flash you will hear one single beep which is the default single beep for most boards. If you were hear one long and two short you would look at a problem with the video card as one example of a hardware code. 

Anything other then the single default beep heard when first starting up points at a specific problem. Constabt beeping may indicate a faulty dimm or cpu failure. On some systems visual information will come up onscreen for cpu failure or a memory problem depending on make and model while custom case have to go by listening to the precise long and short beeps when heard to refer to a chart for what each points to.

The specfications and online manual come up in pop up windows at http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-documents.pl?mdl=VGCRA710G The July 2005 update is found at http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/swu-download.pl?mdl=VGCRA710G&upd_id=1924&os_id=16


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## zorro69 (Apr 24, 2008)

i'm getting the single beep on startup, and I watched temp in the bios, it reached 127 (53) at one point but never shut off. After letting windows start up, 2 minutes max and it restarted. I've tried three times to download the driver for the video card and it won't stay on long enough to install it. Gonna try again later when our internet speeds go up a little.


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## PC eye (Apr 24, 2008)

The single default is good pointing that the cpu, memory, video card are all good while not pointing at a possible board fault or at least a need to see the bios updated. P4s ran a bit warmer especially with the stock hsf seen on prebuilds ruling 53C out as a problem there. Those were typically seeing upto 185F or 85C!

If you spend any time in the bios a cpu will actually warm up faster since there's nothing there to keep it busy. Most of the time people are simply in and out in a minute or so never seeing a high temp. The newer boards offer energy saving features at times that won't lead to what you might see on old systems with a cpu running full bear while being in there too long.

The fact that the system won't stay on long enough to download an update shows that this is not a driver issue being seen. Even with a bad install you would see Windows lock up or blue screens not constant restarts while sitting idle at the desktop or simply trying to reach the support site.

A bad cao on the board or supply more likely board is the likely suspect. Once Windows is fully loaded something besides the cpu or memory is heating up or simply losing power like a weak cap not maintaining the proper voltage level. A failing bios eprom or chipset would be another thought.


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## sandlotje89 (Apr 24, 2008)

Sorry everyone if this is already suggested -- I had the same issue with my computer and the source turned out to be one of the programs.  I am kind of assuming it is software since it gets through the whole boot process.  What you should do is open the Task Manager and end the explorer.exe process.  Then go to File>run> and type in explorer.exe again.  Then take note of which processes are opened up from there on and see if there is a correlation between the crashes and the programs you open.  Good luck!


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## dznutz (Apr 24, 2008)

53c is a tad high.  did you blow off the hsf/fan well with compressed air as per the instructions given?  where do you live or what are your ambient temps?

i'm leaning more to a virus issue or bad power supply.  since the computer did not restart while in bios then perhaps the power supply needed more stress or the problem is caused by a virus when you load the OS.  lets try downloading memtest to stress out the power supply for an hour or so (or something else anybody can recommend to stress out the power supply).  the primary purpose of this is to stress out the power supply to see if it will restart.  the secondary  purpose will see if the ram has anything to do with the restarts.  if no problems there then we'll go for the virus issue

for the virus issue download "hiren's boot cd" to clean out the virus during boot up (it runs just like memtest)


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## PC eye (Apr 24, 2008)

By the time you use the task manager to manually end each process you could be in the middle of another restart. Booting up in safe mode and opening the msconfig utility to disable all items in the startup group followed by a normal boot and still seeing shutdowns with nothing loading besides Windows would likely point to a hardware problem.

With a bad install of software you would likely end up seeing a blue screen pointing out a driver of some type. Sudden restarts without any blue screens suggests a voltage drop of some type rather then any program installed. 

I've seen numerous bad installs of various programs with different versions of Windows installed and the system in use at the time would still run while something would lock up or crash when going to use it. The only program or rather programming that would be a concern is a shaky bios. But that would likely see the restarts while running a game or something else placing a good load on the cpu and other hardwares due to the demand for power.


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## zorro69 (Apr 24, 2008)

Ok everybody, my wife has put her foot down  - she says to order the darn (used other words) power supply because it hasn't been ruled out after 4 pages. So beings that the rebate has expired on the psu that someone posted earlier in this thread, and I have no clue how to post a link, I was wondering if the psu that newegg has would work for me. It's item # N82E16817371004.


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## PC eye (Apr 24, 2008)

The only thing I come up with at newegg is the Antec 500w model seen at  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371004&Tpk=N82E16817371004

The mail-in rebate on that model is good until the April 30th according to the offer.

http://images10.newegg.com/uploadfilesfornewegg/rebate/SH/Antec17-371-004Apr21Apr3008ll97.pdf

First you have to know if the supply currently used is an atx or AT format since Sony has their own ways of doing things there especially with the case designs. I have to suspect a factory defect was the reason it was being auctioned off in the first place since the original owner was seeing the same problem.

One idea before ordering anything would be seeing if you could borrow a supply from a friend long enough to see if it takes a standard atx supply as well as if the supply and not something else is the actual problem. If the problem persists with a loaner then you have to start looking at a possible board fault.


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## zorro69 (Apr 24, 2008)

Checked with allmy friends and even at work 350 watts is the best anyone else can do.


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## PC eye (Apr 24, 2008)

The minimum shows 364.7w in the specs but for simply leaving the system running at the desktop to see if the restarts are still seen you wouldn't be too underpowered. 350w is pretty much the standard for atx boards to begin with. 

The idea is not to be running everything but find out if simply swapping supplies will work before rushing to order one to find that something else is the actual cause. By briefly running a different supply provided it's not some old supply seeing only a 20pin main power connector...  that won't work to start with you can either point at the need for a new one or rule out the supply completely.


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## sandlotje89 (Apr 25, 2008)

Oh, PC Eye, what I meant is that ending "explorer.exe" (I believe) shuts down all of the user processes.  Like I said, my comp was in a similar situation to Zorro.  I used to have to turn on my computer and it ctrl+alt+del AS SOON as it would let me, then I would race to the processes tab and end explorer.exe.  If I could accomplish all of that within 5-10 seconds, my comp wouldn't reboot.  I took it into a comp shop and the told me it was a program error, but I wasn't too interested since the entire hard drive had to be wiped anyway.  Zorro's situation just seemed so similar.  Plus, it can't hurt.  

Zorro - If I were you, I would buy an external hard drive and load all of the documents and files you really care about onto it, then just reinstalling your OS.  I got my local computer place to burn me a copy of XP for free (of course I had to use the key on the back of my comp).  Reinstalling your OS would completely clean out your computer.  Then you could reinstall programs as you needed them because most people have programs that they don't actually use (well at least I do, but try not to).

(PC Eye) - Anyway, I completely agree with you about the PSU requirements.  I have just switched over from a BTX to an ATX along with a new case and a lot of lights and I am worried about the amount of stress placed on the system under high loads.  I am waiting to get a new PSU before I begin to OC.  It's killin me!

As for you, Zorro!  Follow my procedures regarding the explorer.exe program just for the hell of it.  It won't damage your computer and won't take any longer than 30 seconds (seeing as how you have to end the program within 5-10 if your situation is like mine).  Also, take PC eye's advice seriously about the PSU -- an underpowered system is similar to working out without eating for several days -- it needs its energy!  Also, be sure to check out the sites that put the PSU's through hell and give you their performance; such as "X PSU performed at Y degrees under 100% load with Z decibels."  It is probably a lot smarter than guessing which one will be the best one for you.  

Best of luck!  I'm curious as to what it ends up being.


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## PC eye (Apr 25, 2008)

It won't hurt anything by ending the explorer.exe but could see Windows stall before being able to reload the main gui. The constant restarts without one error message do point more at some type of hardware problem over software however.

The main idea behind trying a different supply is to see if the original has a bad cap or transformer and no good regulation or something on the board is giving out. A close visual inspection of the board for any bulged out or leaky caps even any discolored area would point to a factory defect. 

The main problem was buying a used system on a site like EBay and not having any history on the system itself as far as how it was used and any problems that were seen by the original owner. What was ironic here was upgrading the 480w supply to a 550w model on the last build and loaning the first out to a friend who saw his 480w quit. 

That one also quit sometime later and wasn't more then a year old. The 550w is still going strong however. The old case saw 4 HDs(2 ide, 2 sata) with two optical drives. The current build has an OCZ 700w supply seeing 2 newer optical drives and presently 2 sata HDs unless I add another pair in for a large storage array. The larger supply works out since it sees 6 sata power connectors for a board seeing 6 sata ports.


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## dznutz (Apr 26, 2008)

i hope buying a new power supply will solve the problem.  however, i still think it's caused by a virus or overheating


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## PC eye (Apr 26, 2008)

Virus scans, spyware removers, hard drive diagnostics have all shown negative results at finding anything. The cpu temps are well within the normal range for a P4 while higher due to the stock hsf Sony threw on. I suspect the reason it was being sold was the first owner was seeing problems and was reluctant to spend any more time or money on it.


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## zorro69 (Apr 26, 2008)

sorry for taking a while to reply. called a few stores out there and no one has any idea (including a doofus at sony) about a replacement psu for this puter that will fit with the special mounting hardware. didn't get psu yet because of this. installed pc wizard and temp while running spyware never went above 50.5c. got a blue screen of death on thursday i think and the puter stayed on for almost an hour. ran adaware, spybot, avast quick scan and windows defender full scan and all came up with nothing wrong. have yet to get avast to do a full scan. the best psu i an get my hands on is a 300w with 24 pins. will that work? I have yet to try the explorer thing. thanks for all the help everyone. i will definitely post what (if anything) finally fixes it.


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## PC eye (Apr 27, 2008)

The specs show a 364.7w requirement for general use while a 300w model could only be used to see if the system stays on without any restarts seen in a short time like something on the board heating up. The BSOD seen on thursday would be one thing to have taken notes on since that will provide information as to a driver or hardware problem being seen depending on the type of error.

So apparently it won't simply see a atx supply go right in without any adapter brackets? by your description there. That points to that being a proprietary AT not now typical ATX type of case. The Vaios are noted for that where you have to replace by Sony like Dell was a few years back with their own bolt pattern different from everyone else where you "had to" buy only their replacement supplies. That stunk then as well.

Besides being too reliant on Avast AVG is a great free program there. But the fact that nothing bug related is coming up suggests it's more likely a hardware or both hardware/software combination. The blue screen points to that more likely.


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## dznutz (Apr 27, 2008)

zorro69 said:


> the best psu i an get my hands on is a 300w with 24 pins. will that work? I have yet to try the explorer thing. thanks for all the help everyone. i will definitely post what (if anything) finally fixes it.



yes and maybe.  the yes is for the pins.  the maybe is for the wattage as it's lower and may not deliver enough power.  it's always better to buy one that matches or is higher in wattage.  

regarding the pin adaptor it should work.   nowadays the 24 pin adaptor is made from a 20 pin and a 4 pin.  so if you have an older board you'll only need only the 20 pin but if you have a more recent board you'll plug in 20 + 4 to make 24.

what you should be concerned about is the size of the power supply for your computer.  it's either atx or matx.  the best way is to open up the pc and look for "atx" words on the sticker of your power supply.

about wattage....  i'd recommend getting one at or above your power supply wattage.  this is especially true if you run a lot of hardware.  check out the psu recommendation guide for good ones.


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## PC eye (Apr 28, 2008)

The problem there is trying to borrow a supply larger then 300w in order to see if that is the actual problem. The 300w would only be used for a quick test and not be used as a replacement for the Sony model. Take a look at how many HPs and Dells as well as other nakes that simply toss a 300-301w supply in with the option for a 350w model.

If the board there has a hardware monitor you can also look at the main voltage for the supply. It that is showing 12.5v -13+v there the supply is working. A low 11.25v output would show the supply needs to be replaced since the output isn't enough. 

As far as a 300w supply you wouldnt plug everything back in like you were going to run the system at full steam ahead. You would run only the basics like boot drive, cpu, memory, video card without running any large programs that would start placing demands on power. If everything seems to run normal without restarts you put the supply on the list. But if the restarts are still being seen at an idle desktop you then rule the supply to look for the actual problem.


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## zorro69 (May 3, 2008)

well, here goes. Last sunday I ordered a power supply (500w). Finally got it on thursday, and found out it had no P2 connector. The P2 connector is a 3 wire (blue,black and white) that plugs into the mobo right next to the 20 pin connector. I can't get an answer from sony support (except a new supply will cost me $132). Work put me on a different shift just for last week so I have had little time to work with it. Will do my best to get to it tomorrow.


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## dznutz (May 4, 2008)

http://www.computing.net/answers/hardware/power-supply-p2-connector/46350.html

basically this guy says it's not necessary.  all it does is monitor and regulate the ps fan speed and can be turned off through bios.  just go into bios and disable PS fan speed monitoring.  this is assuming that you plugged in the cables for all the other stuff correctly


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## zorro69 (May 9, 2008)

Here goes again, I tried the new power supply wednesday. Rebooted in the first 15 minutes. Then again in another 5. I got a new hard drive from seagate and used their program to clone the hdd already in it. Just for the heck of it I cloned another drive so I could do a system restore. I tried the explorer.exe thing and everything was running before any restarts. After the restore it ran for better than 2 hours before rebooting. Doesn't this eliminate everything except for a mobo?


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## dznutz (May 10, 2008)

perhaps.  but we still haven't totally eliminated the virus issue.  i'm still thinking virus as your virus scanner may not be up to date.  if you have an OS disk use it on the new seagate drive as a new installation.  if the new installation doesn't reboot then it was caused by a virus.  if it does then perhaps mobo.  this is assuming you don't have a spare mobo on hand


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## zorro69 (May 10, 2008)

dznutz, doesn't the system restore wipe the drive clean and then reinstall everything back to factory? If not then I'll try another restore and then use the 90 day norton trial to try and check it. After norton should I try avg or something else? I've never done it but I think I could gut the computer to check for board problems and then get it back together.


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## dznutz (May 10, 2008)

i personally never had any positive use of system restore.  some examples are:  removing internet explorer and not being able to get it back through it.  also using system restore multiple times in one sitting somehow deactivated my system restore.  i find it useless so i don't have it activated.  maybe someone here knows if this "should" take care of a possible virus problem.

===
back to the situation at hand.  from what you told me it possibly could be a spare mobo.  but i'd like to do some tests before buying one.  these tests will not cost you any money but time.  the other positive is that you'll learn something new:

if you have an OS disk that came with your computer use that for your new drive.  if it does restart then your problem is caused by another hardware possibly mobo.  proceed to bare boot and or memtest.

if you don't have an OS disk then just use whatever scanning programs you used before but in safemode.  did you try safemode?

if that fails then try bare booting your computer.  for instance you remove the unecessary connections like cd drive, floppy, flash readers, an extra stick of ram, sound card (if you have one), vid card (if your mobo has vid output), etc.  if going bare works then plug the others back one by one to determine the problem hardware.

bad ram can also cause this problem.  download memtest and burn the iso using an image burning program:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/AleGr_MEMTEST_d3257.html
it will be an iso file so you'll have to BURN THE IMAGE not a regular data burn.

however, if you have a spare mobo you can directly find out if the mobo is the cause.  just know that the hd will probably need to be reformatted (maybe even give you a blue screen) as windows will detect new hardware and not boot.  i'd use this as a last resort unless you have a spare mobo lying around.  

if you have another pc you can try swapping hard drives.  but see above for a potential problem.

sorry to not give you the direct answer but the actual "doing" is quite fast and logical.  if this happened to my pc i would've: cleaned the heatsink/fan with compressed air and monitor temps and cpu frequency to see if the reboots were caused by overheating first, scanned in safemode or bios for possible viruses 2nd, look for physical damages or odd smells from the pc thirdly, memtest for bad ram fourth, and if all else fails bare boot to determine the problem.


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## zorro69 (May 11, 2008)

hopefully i get these in the right order,i do not have the os disk so that one is out. How do I get it to boot in safe mode? I thought of 'barebooting' it but wasn't sure if it would work.
I have a total of four sticks of ram, what does burning an iso do? does it tell me if there is a problem or just gives me a report of some kind? I will try to pull 3 in the morning and if it reboots then try a different one.
No spare mobo's either. 
Lastly, no reason to be sorry, you are helping me get somewhere with this problem and learn how to do things as I go. I sincerely appreciate the help.
I blew the case out with an air compressor.
I checked temps and lately it has been rebooting at temps around 41c.
I pulled nearly everything out that i could and found no damaged parts on any boards. i couldn't get to the back side of the mobo(lack of time to take apart that far and still get back together).
I will try the bareboot in the morning.


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## dznutz (May 11, 2008)

zorro69 said:


> hopefully i get these in the right order,i do not have the os disk so that one is out. How do I get it to boot in safe mode?



2 ways.  first is to tap ALT+F4 key combination when you've already loaded windows.  the other is to repeatedly tap f8 right after you restart or just turn on the computer.  in safe mode windows will only load the necessary programs and the screen should be much smaller.  from there you can scan.  there will also be an option to "load last good configuration."  i'd do a scan in safe mode first and if that doesn't solve the problem try the "last good configuration."



zorro69 said:


> I thought of 'barebooting' it but wasn't sure if it would work.
> I have a total of four sticks of ram, what does burning an iso do? does it tell me if there is a problem or just gives me a report of some kind? I will try to pull 3 in the morning and if it reboots then try a different one.



barebooting is used to find out which is the troubled hardware.  lets say a sound card is crapping out and causing weird problems.  you'd be able to isolate that easily when barebooting.

yes, it would be best to pull out 3 and try to see which is bad.  alternate until you find good ones.  typically making a memtest disk will tell you if you have bad ram.  bad ram will cause restarts but usually accompanied with a blue screen.  but some people have the blue screen disabled for quick rebooting.  lets hold off burning the .iso file for now and try the "1 stick at a time" techniqe.

best case scenario is the problem is either a virus or ram issue.  that way you don't have to spend any money.

i'm not really sure what kind of hardware you have in your computer but try scanning in safe mode.  if that doesn't solve the problem then bareboot your pc.  that means taking out 3 sticks of ram (remember to turn off the power in the back of the computer and try pressing the on switch to discharge excess electricity when messing with any hardware) and unplug the power for any floppies/cd drives.  perhaps a picture of your hardware can help us determine what you have.  be sure to get the internal hardware and the backside of the computer (so we can see if it has the intergrated video connection).



zorro69 said:


> Lastly, no reason to be sorry, you are helping me get somewhere with this problem and learn how to do things as I go. I sincerely appreciate the help.



and no probs.  i'm really curious what's the true cause of this.


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## zorro69 (May 11, 2008)

Computer has not rebooted in 6 hours. I've had antivirus, spybot and adaware running at the same time. I hope all is good. As of right now the whole problem was in the ram. It came with 2g, problem was that 3 were the correct type of ddr 400 pc3200 and 1 was ddr 266. I took three of the sticks out and noticed one had a different sticker than the rest. Upon closer inspection, i saw that one was wrong. Since removing the wrong one all has run like a dream. To all of you out there that helped, THANK YOU!! I have learned a lot these past few weeks and hopefully I'll be able to help someone else sometime in the future.


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## dznutz (May 12, 2008)

you may have removed the bad ram.  however, just know that you can use ram of different frequencies together as long as they fit into the mobo.  so technically your 400 and 266 can be put together.  the computer will then default to the lowest frequency for each ram (in your case 266mhz).  lets hope that the ram you have is the bad one.  there may be other bad ones as well.  if so just repeat the removal process as mentioned.  also, this is a good time to run memtest for ram diagnostics on your good/working ram.  but i think you've had enough headaches for now.  if it works then leave it be

on the bright side......... you got a shiny new power supply


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## zorro69 (May 12, 2008)

I will try to do the memtest tonight. I think I'm going to pass on building anything around that shiny new power supply for quite some time.


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## PC eye (May 12, 2008)

zorro69 said:


> dznutz, doesn't the system restore wipe the drive clean and then reinstall everything back to factory? If not then I'll try another restore and then use the 90 day norton trial to try and check it. After norton should I try avg or something else? I've never done it but I think I could gut the computer to check for board problems and then get it back together.


 
The system restore feature backclocks the system registry by calendar providing a good woring restore point is available. A total wipe of the primary would entail the need for the recovery disks if available or the full system restoration to factory by a preassigned key combination at post time like many new prebuilds are seeing.

Dump the Norton 90 day blonder and go for a working program! You'll hear that fast from just about anyone here. The latest AVG 8.0 now offers an IE security toolbar for IE 7 along with replacing the previously separately installed anti-rootkit tool it seems. The download link that will bring you to download.com to lighten the load on Grisoft's servers apparently is seen at http://free.grisoft.com/ww.download?prd=afe


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