Spontaneous BSOD/Reset

I've recently started experiencing sudden BSODs and then my machine reboots for no obvious reason.

Machine Spec is as follows:

AMD 64 X2 4800

200gb Maxtor HDD

3 gig Ram

Asus 7900GS gfx card

XP SP2


Any advice/Clues would be gratefully received

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It's hard to say without the full details, as a BSOD can occour for a number of reasons, but I was having similar problems when I first built my current rig, a couple of years ago.

In my case, it turned out to be a cooling / ventilation problem (bad design on my part). If you've not changed anything with your setup, it might be worthwhile checking to see if any of your fans have packed up. You could also get some temp monitoring software to see if anything's heating up.

Of course, it might not be a temprature problem, so I might not be right here. One of the more 'dedicated' gurus around these parts might have a better thought on this.

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Cheers, @RoboTank

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Sent from my HAL 9000

Hi Scarlet. It seems possible that you're suffering the same BSOD that a lot of nVidia owners are getting lately, especially with the last few batches of video drivers. The main cause of the problem seems to be to do with the old drivers not uninstalling correctly, and requires a manual driver removal to fix. I've posted the procedure elsewhere, but I'll repeat it below for you.

1. Uninstall drivers. Do NOT install the new ones at this point.
2. Reboot and start Windows in Safe Mode (Tap F8 after the computer starts to get the Windows boot menu)
3. Open Explorer and search for *nv4*.* These are the nVidia driver files.
4. Delete all files it finds.
5. Reboot Windows back to normal mode
6. Install the new drivers.

Hopefully, this will resolve your issue.

Incidentally, the automatic restart is a default setting in Windows when a Blue Screen occurs. You can stop this by turning the option off, which will enable you to actually see the error message, and confirm if it is the nvidia drivers crashing (most likely scenario). You can do this as below.

1. Right click My Computer and choose Properties from the menu.
2. Go to the Advanced tab and click the Settings button under Startup and Recovery
3. Uncheck the "Automatically Restart" option. This will disable the automatic reboot, but you will have to power off to recover from the BSOD.

I hope this helps.

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@FloatingFatMan

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thanks FFM

to my knowledge I don't think I've got the latest drivers - but I'll give that a go.

I'm not sure I'll understand the code from the BSOD, but I'll do what you advise and give it a once over. Is there anything specific I should be looking for?

Cheers

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The error should tell you in what driver the error is occuring. Odds are, it's one of the nvidia driver files.

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@FloatingFatMan

Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.