Machine rebooting when cold, I think

AirWolf

AirWolf

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We've got an old windows 98 machine that reboots 3 or 4 times when you switch it on. If you reboot manually after it has been on for a while it starts up fine. But if you let it cool down for about half an hour then it gives the problem again. Any ideas people?:)
 
Check the PSU and dust out the inside of the PC, and check CPU cooling. See if any caps are rusted or bubbled (something about the coast and rust).
 
The fans on my PC doesn't run if it is very cold, but win98 might have a safety feature to reboot the PC if the fans do not run, regardless of the temperature. In your BIOS see if there is a safety feature to do with fans and temperature, to deactivate.
 
Win98 is DUMB... it'll bsod and if you're very lucky it rebooted, unlike win2000/xp/vista which actually has a good idea what the problem is, hides it from the average user and reboots.

Check memory as well (memtest is recommended). I remember an old PC I had rebooting cause of memory (a known suspect dimm, from a lightning enhanced, customer's computer)
 
I didn't have time to work on this today, so outsourced it to out local techy. He checked it out and said there was corrosion on the mobo, and that after a heated up a bit there was a little better contact due to expansion of the gold threads, which is why the machine stayed on after a few attempts.
 
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