I built my Nephew a new system last week and he is having a couple of problems which I don't know how to fix. Firstly, his PC keeps resetting itself at random times which, I'm sure you will appreciate, is really annoying! Secondly, when he switches the PC off, the mouse and modem lights stay on. Not a massive problem but I would like to try and sort it out anyway.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers.

Si


Nephews System:

Athlon XP 1700 1.47 GHz
Gigabyte GA-7VTXE+ Mobo
256 MB DDR PC2100 RAM
Direct X 8.1
Windows XP Pro
Intellimouse Explorer
40 GB Hard Drive
Sound Blaster Live Value

This is due specifically to one major problem.

The PSU you bought is underpowered. What wattage rating is it? I'd presume it's 200-250w. All you have to do is return, if you can, that current power supply, and buy a new one. I'd reccomend the new one to be anywhere from 350-400w.

Is your nephew using broadband? And is it connected through USB? Your USB may still be sending signals to your mouse and modem for some reason...Try turning his computer off switch off the PSU. Then turn it back on again, see if the USB lights come back on. Odd...This could involve the PSU too.

Hey Vehementi,

The PSU is a Cadogen 350 watt one. He does use broadband but I'm not sure if it's connected via USB. I'll have to check that one. The mouse, on the other hand, is connected to the PS/2 socket.

Any further ideas?

Cheers.

Si

Hmmm.

Well I'm pretty sure the problem w/ resetting is in the PSU. You might want to try a different one in his computer for maybe a day. See if resets.

Since there's still power to your sysbo I'd say that it just keeps sending a signal to your mouse. When his computer is off try putting caps, num, or scroll lock on, and see if the lights on the keyboard come on. I'm sure this is some setting in the BIOS, perhaps "keyboard boot" or something like that, where you can press a button (or series) on your keyboard and have the machine boot up.

I'm sure the modem lights are something like power/status lights. It does the same thing with my DSL gateway, the lights stay on all the time.

Heat could be a factor here, overheating can cause this. What is the cooling configuration of this system?

Also, I remember reading about a random rebooting effect caused by a setting in WinXP but I can't find the reference now. You might try the MSKB.

Good to see your still around StormBringer

MSKB = Microsoft Knowledge Base for those people who might not know what that is