Dell Inspiron Reboots Intermittently

wjell · 22 Oct 2016

Old Dell Inspiron 530 Reboots (no BSOD) from Windows. More often when I run all 4 cores. Sometimes it will run for a few seconds and reboot. Other times it will go for hours or days. Throttling back to 2 cores seems to help.

* I have replaced the CPU. Cleaned the heat sink. Fan is running. It does not appear to be heat related.
* I installed a graphics card to get away from the onboard Intel.
* Switched the memory around and took out two of the sticks (leaving me with 2 GB)

Why would going to all 4 cores make it worse? I'm baffled.

TechnoMage2016 · 22 Oct 2016

Hi "Baffled",

Have you examined your motherboard and PSU, for any bulging capacitors?

It does sound like either a RAM or Motherboard failure or possibly a PSU failure.

If you're still using the original Power Supply (PSU) it's quite possible that you're seeing a problem in the PSU itself. Dell is not known for its use of HIGH Quality PSU's. I'd open up that PSU and check for any signs of 'Bulging Capacitors'. If there's even one, replace the PSU, with a 400W or better PSU.

Good Luck!
TechnoMage

fireberd · 22 Oct 2016

When you "cleaned the heatsink" did you appy new heatsink compound?

I would more suspect the CPU. I had an Intel i7 CPU that was intermittent, it could work for days before an error and it was always the second or third core. I replaced memory, power supply and even motherboard (these were spare parts I had) and the problem still existed. I replaced the i7 (I had an i5 spare) and the problems went away. Intel replaced the CPU under warranty, I reinstalled the replacement i7 and no more problems.

wjell · 22 Oct 2016

TechnoMage2016 said:

Hi "Baffled",

Have you examined your motherboard and PSU, for any bulging capacitors?

It does sound like either a RAM or Motherboard failure or possibly a PSU failure.

If you're still using the original Power Supply (PSU) it's quite possible that you're seeing a problem in the PSU itself. Dell is not known for its use of HIGH Quality PSU's. I'd open up that PSU and check for any signs of 'Bulging Capacitors'. If there's even one, replace the PSU, with a 400W or better PSU.

Good Luck!
TechnoMage

I'll check on those to see if I notice any bad capacitors. I had forgotten about that problem.I think I'm down to those pieces of hardware. Once those are replaced, the only other thing would be to reinstall WIN 7 PRO.

wjell · 22 Oct 2016

fireberd said:

When you "cleaned the heatsink" did you appy new heatsink compound?

I would more suspect the CPU. I had an Intel i7 CPU that was intermittent, it could work for days before an error and it was always the second or third core. I replaced memory, power supply and even motherboard (these were spare parts I had) and the problem still existed. I replaced the i7 (I had an i5 spare) and the problems went away. Intel replaced the CPU under warranty, I reinstalled the replacement i7 and no more problems.

I vacuumed the cooling fins and put in a new CPU using arctic heat sink paste. Since I have already replaced the CPU, I think that one is ruled out.

Megahertz07 · 22 Oct 2016

Did you do a check disk?
I would also run sfc /scannow.
It scans for windows corrupted files.

fireberd · 22 Oct 2016

I wonder how Linux would run? You can run Ubuntu Linux from a CD. Maybe see if it has a problem with that. If it does, that would tend to rule out the Operating System.