Frequent and Random Restarts

Well, that's it for tonight. I finally figured out how to boot from my USB drive without getting into bios, but I ended up right back into Windows. Nothing started automatically. Okay. I figured I have to actually go into bios for it to work right, so I figured out how to do that, changed the boot order so the computer would boot from the USB. And guess what? I ended up right back in Windows. Nothing started automatically.

I followed the instructions in the tutorial and got everything just as it looked in the tutorial. If I check the USB, I see it has 4 files in it: copying, mt86plus, readme, and syslinux.cfg.

So I'm very confused now on what to do. I can't do anything more tonight as I have to go in to work tomorrow and it's already late. I won't be able to do the memtest now until Wednesday night - assuming I can figure out how to get it to work.

I will say that when I booted into bios, I didn't have the option of booting into the *specific* usb drive I created, but as there was only one plugged in, I don't know how that could matter.

You have more than one USB port that you can try. It might be better to use one of the ports at the back of the desktop unit and also remove all other USB connections (apart from keyboard/mouse) to avoid any confusion with other devices or drives you may have connected.

D'oh! I should have tried a port in the back! Oh well. I'll try that tomorrow night. I'll try it first without disconnecting anything else. If that doesn't work, I'll disconnect all but the mouse and keyboard and see if that works. Sure hope one of those works.

I'm wondering something else now, too. When this first started happening shortly after I got the computer, I not only got the "store exception" and "critical process died" messages, I got a lovely message telling me that a boot drive could not be found. That message came up more and more often. At first I could just restart it. But then the message would come up several times before it would finally boot up. I started unplugging it and then plugging it back in and that seemed to help.

It became so frequent, that I decided to check the connections inside the case. They all looked secure, but I gave them all a little push anyway. I didn't have any problems for days and days, which was great since I had been getting shutdowns several times a day. I started get that message again the other day. And like before, it started happening more often during that shut down/restart process. So I checked the connections in the case again. Same thing. They all looked fine. But again, I gave them all a little push.

This time, though, I noticed something. The plug to the hard drive has an odd wire that splits. One part goes to the hard drive, of course, but another part goes to some other screw. I really can't tell what it is. It doesn't matter, though, because the point is that the second part of the wire seems to be pulling on the part plugged into the hard drive. It doesn't pull the wire out of the hard drive, of course, but I noticed that when I gently push the plug into the hard drive, it comes out a teeny tiny bit on one side. That just means that it's unevenly inserted into the hard drive. It's really not by much. But now I'm wondering if that could actually be causing the problem(s). If it is, I'm not sure how I would be able to fix it. Maybe it's just a coincidence that the problem stopped for days the first time I pushed in all the connections.

Just a thought. I'm not a computer expert!

Tomorrow night I'll try the memtest again. Thanks for your help and quick responses!

Nope. Didn't work. I put the USB drive into a back port. Windows loaded up. I removed other USB devices except for the dongle for my wireless keyboard and mouse. Windows loaded up. I can't get the memtest to load. I'm at a loss now. Might it be better to do this with a CD?

On the bright side, the computer hasn't shut down in two days, not since I got inside the case. I really am starting to think the problem is that one plug not being in the hard drive firmly. I'm thinking that maybe over time, the one wires pulls it too far out and causes problems, including the one of the boot drive not being found. Maybe I should try to adjust those wires somehow so the one doesn't pull on the other to see what happens.

Not sure what I can do about the memtest. Any additional tips would be welcome.

OK, for some reason you are not able to change the order in which the bootable devices operate, or there is a security setting like secure boot enabled in the bios that prevents the USB from working.

Glad it is more stable. Loose connections can cause problems. Post a picture so we can see what is happening.

I bet that's the problem, then. Computer hasn't shut down in days, while it had been shutting down at least 3 X a day. Same thing happened when I first got it. It was okay, then I got a shutdown/restart. Those starting happening more and more often, and then got messages that the boot drive couldn't be found. That's when I did all the diagnostics testing, all of which showed no problems. I pushed in the plugs and no more shutdowns.

Gradually, again, I started getting the shutdowns, which occurred more and more often. Then again started getting the message that the boot drive couldn't be found. In desperation, I tried the plugs again. That's when I noticed that the one plug would not stay put, but kept tilting slightly to one side because of the pull of the second wire. But I haven't had a shutdown now for days.

I will try rotating that wire to see if that stops the problem permanently. If you don't hear from me for a while, that may have fixed the problem. I don't want to mark the problem as solved yet, though, because this could be a coincidence. I want to see if this stability lasts for more than a week or two. If it doesn't, I don't want to have to start a new thread.

Thanks so much for your help!

Three days and not a single shut down. It seems like that one wire pulling on the other is the problem. After all, this is what happened before. The computer worked, then shut down with one of those error messages. The shut downs happened more and more often. Then the computer started having a problem finding the boot drive. When I pushed in the plugs, the problem(s) went away.

After a week or two, the process started all over again. I again pushed the plug into the hard drive. Problem(s) went away.

I haven't yet actually rotated the wire, but I will. Hopefully, that will fix the problem permanently. I thought everyone would like to know in case someone else has this crazy problem. Easy fix would be to look inside the case first. Even though the plugs look securely plugged in, apparently they can be a little off and create a problem.

Just so everyone knows. It's been a week and my computer hasn't restarted. It must have been the connections. Hopefully, the problem is solved.