rebooting issues

[raveamoeba]

I recently reinstalled a computer for the soul purposed of encoding. So it has a fresh install and i just updated DVD2SVCD. It worked fine before the reinstall, and now it it cant finish anything. It always reboots, this also happens with Gordian Knot. Any suggestions?

[Nick]

Rebooting? Very peculiar.
Have you swapped out any hardware, or just reformatted and reinstalled Windows?

If you have messed with the hardware, check your hardware monitor in the BIOS when it reboots - check none of the temperatures are off the scale. If it's running too hot check your fans, especially the CPU fan are correctly installed and functional.

Obvious one, but if if you have installed Windows 2k or XP, have you installed all the security updates to prevent blaster worm infection etc.?

Also check the Sticky in the PC Hardware forum and test your machine with Prime95 and MemTest86. I would steer clear of CPUburn in the circumstances.

This should help you track down the problem.

[raveamoeba]

thanks, i really think it might be over heating, and since it's a micro case it means im gonna have to do some modding.

[Nick]

I had one of those once. An athlon XP system with a fairly meaty fan kept rebooting. When I took it apart the screws in the top of the CPU fan had left indentations in the PSU housing!

No wonder it was overheating but I bought a PSU case with a hole in it and the system now works fine (if a little hot). Or at least AFAIK it still works I sold it last year. I now have a big fat case with plenty of breathing room.

[DDogg]

This is the reason I am always preaching about "pre-certifying" your machine for encoding by running Memtest (http://www.memtest86.com/) and Prime95 (http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm) for several hours. Prime95 puts an equivalent load on your box as that done by CCE and BeSweet. Normally, if your box does not crash with Prime95 it will not crash when encoding.

[raveamoeba]

yeah it seems that it is my system overheating, i just dont know why it started doing this now, after my reinstall. It is a microATX case and mobo, and it was super hot! Looks like im gonna have to do some sort of case modding. Or arranging, thanks for the help, let me know if you have any ideas for mircoATX cooling.

[Nick]

In my case the problem as I say was proximity of CPU fan to power supply restricting airflow.

Rip the sides off for starters. If your problem may be similar to mine I found as a short term measure, ripping the PSU out and sitting it as a separate entity by the side of your sideless machine worked. Again it's ugly as sin and nearly electrocuted my cat!

If this works - ie giving the CPU fan room to breathe - buy a big fat case with PSU horizontal across the top and transfer the bits from your micro case.

If not, you may need a new heatsink & fan for the CPU - they aren't expensive. Have you removed the fan and replaced it at any time? ie might the fan be installed wrongly, or may it need thermal grease?

[raveamoeba]

yeah i think it is that the fan and psu are so close. I've just been staring at it trying to think of a good way to cool it down. Taking out does sound like a good idea, just not so good on the eyes. Wow i wouldn't wanna kill animals with it. :D i just enjoy the mini case cut it fits well with the rest of my equipment.

[raveamoeba]

Well i think its my proc overheating which i know is a very bad thing. So I think im gonna get a new fan,heatsink, and thermal paste. Anyone recommend any of those products for a duron. Also i think im gonna get a fan for the pci slots. I was also thinking about taking a dremel to the top and bottom and placing fans and grills.

[Stapler]

Thermalright SLK-947 with a 40-50cfm is the best i've seen. I'm running my AMD 2500+ at 2.3 ghz with 1.8v, and never get above 42c. Good luck.

Stapler

[Nick]

Getting off-topic for this forum.
Perhaps a post in the PC Hardware forum would yield more success.

[raveamoeba]

yeah i agree i just didn't know if it was intially a problem with DVD2SVCD.