Random restarts

When i use my computer it randomly restarts. However it does not restart when
i am either playing a game or using it in safe mode. I have reinstalled
windows 98 after formating the hard drive but it still continues to restart.

See my reply to the post just before yours, Subject: "Likes to hiccup
and then reset"

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Steve" wrote in message
...
When i use my computer it randomly restarts. However it does not
restart when
i am either playing a game or using it in safe mode. I have
reinstalled
windows 98 after formating the hard drive but it still continues to
restart.

Thanks for the help but i neeed some more as i am a novice when i come round
to fixing problems.I looked at the previous reply and i dont think it has
anything to do with overheating as it would restart when i am playing games
would it not? Plus my computer is quite new (its a IBM netvista if thats any
help). Can the power supply already be going bad? I have also tried the
window support help troubleshooter where you use msconfig to change the
startup apps, system.ini, etc.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

See my reply to the post just before yours, Subject: "Likes to hiccup
and then reset"

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Steve" wrote in message
...
When i use my computer it randomly restarts. However it does not
restart when
i am either playing a game or using it in safe mode. I have
reinstalled
windows 98 after formating the hard drive but it still continues to
restart.

Did the trouble-shooting produce any results? When you stripped out
startup apps, did the system still randomly reboot?

"When I am playing games" is rather nebulous. What kinds of games are
you talking about? Old ones? New ones? Do they restart in MSDOS mode
before running?

To be honest, there is no easy way to diagnose these things. But my
*guess* is a problem in the video card. Both MS-DOS games and Safe Mode
tend to use video cards differently than normal mode. Perhaps, a run of
DXDIAG tests would help confirm that guess.

Other possibilities that come to mind are RAM, USB device(s), and
network adapter.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Steve" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the help but i neeed some more as i am a novice when i come
round
to fixing problems.I looked at the previous reply and i dont think it
has
anything to do with overheating as it would restart when i am playing
games
would it not? Plus my computer is quite new (its a IBM netvista if
thats any
help). Can the power supply already be going bad? I have also tried
the
window support help troubleshooter where you use msconfig to change
the
startup apps, system.ini, etc.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

See my reply to the post just before yours, Subject: "Likes to
hiccup
and then reset"

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Steve" wrote in message
...
When i use my computer it randomly restarts. However it does not
restart when
i am either playing a game or using it in safe mode. I have
reinstalled
windows 98 after formating the hard drive but it still continues
to
restart.

If it's quite new, then why not ask IBM to fix it? If they can rule out a
hardware problem then you have at least narrowed down the areas to be
looking at.

Note that modern chipsets implement sophisticated power management schemes,
which means that the power used (and therefore the heat generated) is very
dependant on the tasks being performed. This makes it quite possible to have
heat-related problems that are associated with specific tasks.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Steve" wrote in message
...
Thanks for the help but i neeed some more as i am a novice when i come
round
to fixing problems.I looked at the previous reply and i dont think it has
anything to do with overheating as it would restart when i am playing
games
would it not? Plus my computer is quite new (its a IBM netvista if thats
any
help). Can the power supply already be going bad? I have also tried the
window support help troubleshooter where you use msconfig to change the
startup apps, system.ini, etc.

"Gary S. Terhune" wrote:

See my reply to the post just before yours, Subject: "Likes to hiccup
and then reset"

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Steve" wrote in message
...
When i use my computer it randomly restarts. However it does not
restart when
i am either playing a game or using it in safe mode. I have
reinstalled
windows 98 after formating the hard drive but it still continues to
restart.