Computer keeps restarting

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I have been having this problem for the last month or so.
My computer starts up fine now if i go on the internet lets say and start down loading or watching a movie the comp restarts. I tried playing a game same thing happens. When it sends a message to microsoft i have gotten two differnt ones , one says that i need to upgrade bios and the other one said there might be a problem with a hardware but doesn't tell which one. I have cleaned out the dust from fans a what not, i have two sticks of ram i took them out and checked to see if that was it. no luck even if i leave the comp on without running any apps it stll restarts on me. pls help i think i can fix it dont have the money to pay to get it fixed plus i like to know what to do.
 
Sorry it took me awhile to respond i dont have a comp at home just work. But anyway i dont think anything changed it just started doing it all of a sudden.
Spec
2.4 ghz intel pent 4
9600 xt ati
2 sticks of ram 512 each
ones a kingston forgot the other one
win xp
i was trying to fix it last night and got that error message that they send to microsoft it said it may be a problem with either ram cpu procesor i think and somthing else.
 
Right click on my computer, then select "manage", then "event viewer".

Take a look around in there for where your errors are happening, and follow the microsoft links to get more detailed info. Hopefully this will give us some more clues as to what is going on.

It may be a good idea to test your ram as well. Download and run www.memtest.org on your system. Let it go for 6 or 7 passes (it'll take a few hours).

Good luck!
 
I started having a similar problem when I installed a USB2.0 card to transfer data to my ipod, although I had problems on startup even before that. I'm 99% sure it was my power supply that was causing the restart. I removed a different card from the mobo and the problem went away.

I'm no computer whiz, but if you're running on the edge of the power supplies limit, maybe starting programs that are demanding on the video card are causing the PSU to "surge", for lack of a better word. Is there anything you can remove from the mobo?

John
 
you probably are referring to a power 'sag', which occurrs when the load increases on low quality supplies, or a supply is being overworked.

and things like that are more common than most people expect. a good psu is really really important for system stability.
 
How can i find out if im at the edge of my power limit? And with disconecting something that has power what like the video card or sound card? Another question if i were to change my psu is it easy? and what kind should i get do i have to get something special thats compatible with my system?
thanks for the help guys. oh and don would downlaod that program and run it but the computer doesn't stay on long enough for it to do any good it will only stay on for maybe 15 20 min.
 
Sorry havn"t responded in a while have not been able to look at the computer for a awhile got a lot of things going on
but wanna thank evry one for thier help if you can thinkl of anything else your more than welcome
happy holidays
 
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