Computer Restarts without warning

[tonyisenhoff]

I have an issue on a few PC's where the computer will just shut down and restart without warning.

Windows XP Pro
Latest Build of Revit w WU2
3 gig ram

Here are some of the scenerios I've seen where a shutdown occurs:

1. When actively working in Revit.
2. Revit's open, but not the active app.
3. Revit's open, but user walked away from their PC. When they return, the PC restarted.
4. Once the restart occured, but Revit was not even open. This one made me wonder if Revit's the problem...

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[eric.piotrowicz]

Adequate cooling? I've seen afew smaller boxes without alot of ventilation that would trip the CPU tempature sensor causing a shutdown or reboot to prevent damage from overheating.

[tonyisenhoff]

Adequate cooling? I've seen afew smaller boxes without alot of ventilation that would trip the CPU tempature sensor causing a shutdown or reboot to prevent damage from overheating.

Interesting thought. Can I see that in the event log? If not, how can I determine if that is happening?

[eric.piotrowicz]

I don't think it gets logged but I could be wrong about that since I didn't dig that far. Just happened to check the system temp monitor on one system out of curiousity and noticed it was running at about 90 Celcius when idle and started checking some of the other problem boxes and noticed similar conditions. Generally I don't like seeing this over 65-70 during peak processing but max temps vary per chip so I can't tell you for sure what is normal-high for your systems. Also I'd recommend checking for excessive dust build up on cooling compents.

[Railrose]

My supervisor ran into that with his laptop. He put a cooling pad under it, & it settled out. Start by putting a desk fan behind it to see if that fixes it.

[tonyisenhoff]

I don't think it gets logged but I could be wrong about that since I didn't dig that far. Just happened to check the system temp monitor on one system out of curiousity and noticed it was running at about 90 Celcius when idle and started checking some of the other problem boxes and noticed similar conditions. Generally I don't like seeing this over 65-70 during peak processing but max temps vary per chip so I can't tell you for sure what is normal-high for your systems. Also I'd recommend checking for excessive dust build up on cooling compents.

Sorry for the dumb questions, but how do you check the temperature of the CPU?

[eric.piotrowicz]

Well you ask it nicely to open its mouth and say ahhh, then... sorry I couldn't resist.
Actually this is a good question, I came across this problem at the company I used to work for and their machines had a motherboar monitor utility running in the system tray. The firm I'm with now doesn't have this utility and unfortunately the user rights are locked down to a point that I can't do much playing. From what I've read there are several free utilities vailable online (google: CPU temp monitors) and you might need to make a change in the BIOS so that all of the motherboard sensor data is available. Some utilities may make any necessary changes while the program is installing but I thought it was worth knowing.
Hope this helps

[Railrose]

I tripped on that on a laptop, but forget how I did it. It already had an app loaded to tell me the details. I'll post it, if I can find anything.