Computer restarts

[Igotthemostprob]

I just got my computer back from the shop yesterday. It was running slow and would reboot itself. now its running faster and still reboots itself. I have ddr pc2700 (333mhz) ram in my system. I did a memtest and it said it was ddr266 (133mhz) is that right?

 

[Tedster]

If you have mix-matched ram sticks, the ram will run at the slowest speed.

 

[Igotthemostprob]

I just got it back from the shop. the guy said everything in the ram is ok. He switched the timings and it seemed to work fine until I go it home and started to uninstall programs because I am low on hard drive space. Could the computer restart because corrupted files possibly or not having a scandisk or defrag done in a long time? I havent done one since the computer started to restart itself a while ago

 

[Condor]

try run in safe mode then restart your pc, it help me sometime.

 

[Tedster]

most definately. I would get a copy of norton systemworks 2003 or earlier. (Anything later is crap). Run registry repair, disk checker, and optimize the drive.

It's a tool I use on EVERY computer. I don't install the anti-virus as I use their corporate version.

 

[Igotthemostprob]

I cannot do a scandisk because I cannot install service pack 1 or 2. I can do an optimize. Do you think it would be easier for me to just format the drive? If I do that is there a good chance the restarts will go away?

 

[nork]

I saw another post here at techspot where the fellow was having the same problems. I told him to run the fdisk program. I googled the info from here and here it is:

From this trusty website:
http://www.ntfs.com/mbr-damaged.htm

The simplest way to repair or re-create MBR is to run Microsoft's standard utility called FDISK with a parameter /MBR, like
A:\> FDISK.EXE /MBR
FDISK is a standard utility included in MS-DOS, Windows 95, 98, ME.

If you have Windows NT / 2000 / XP, you can boot from startup floppy disks or CD-ROM, choose repair option during setup, and run Recovery Console. When you are logged on, you can run FIXMBR command to fix MBR.

end

Personally, though, I just use a win98 boot disk, even in win xp. Set bios to boot from floppy and use win 98 boot disk. Use the same fdisk command.
The command i use is: "fdisk /mbr" , without the quotes.

That is the correct procedure, although you can also do it using the win xp recovery console. I only use the win 98 boot floppy because that is what i have done for years.

This may solve your problems.

Is your ram matched or is it different speeds? Something is wrong there, so perhaps you might want to get that straightened out before doing the fdisk to repair your mbr (master boot record).

Do you have any antivirus program on your pc? Run that and have it check your mbr and it should show you if there is a problem with your mbr. If you dont have one you should. You can download a free a\virus prog from AVG, but you likely already know that and you likely do have an antivirus prog.

Again, i would save the mbr work until after you have dealt with the ram issue and checked your mbr with your antivirus prog.

 

[nork]

Another thing, a new install of your os wont help if your mbr on your hard drive is bad. Even a reformat wont help if you have a virus or trojan in your mbr.