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Inspiron 560MT restarting without warning
I got an Inspiron 560MT (Inspiron 560 MT : Intel Core 2 Quad-Core Q8300(2.50GHz,1333MHz,4MB) Running Windows 7) last May and ever since I set it up it spontaneously reboots with no warning. It is always at random moments, sometimes only a couple of times a month and sometimes up to five times a day and I can find no reason for this. I've had a techie friend run all sorts of diagnostics and have updated the BIOS but no joy. I tried turning off the 'automatic restart' option in the Control Panel but am still getting no blue screen to explain what's going wrong.
I'm not a huge techie type so would appreciate any advice people could give me to resolve the problem, or at least diagnose it. My machine is out of warranty so I can't go to Dell directly.
fireberd
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January 15th, 2012 08:00
As you are not getting any indication (e.g. blue screen) my guess would be power supply and/or the AC power line. This model probably has the typical "Active PFC" type power supply and they are more sensitive to AC power line variations. If you are using a UPS system that provides power to the PC during power line interruptions it has to either be one with a less than 4 ms switch over time or one that has a "pure sine wave" output or there can be PC power interruptions when the UPS switches to the battery backup.
If you are using a AC power strip, change to a different one and even change to powering the PC from an AC power outlet that is on a different feed from your Power Panel and even one on a different phase if you can find one. I would even replace the AC power cord for the PC (the one that plugs into the power supply on the back) with a different cable and make sure it's fully inserted.
There are Dell hardware diagnostics accessed by F12 at power on and that will run the hardware diagnostics, but with an intermittent problem it wouldn't show anything unless the intermittent problem popped up, and if it has anything to do with the Power Supply or AC power line the diagnostics would not show anything.
Back to the power supply, unfortunately the only way to troubleshoot a suspected power supply problem is to replace it with a known good supply. Fortunately this model uses a standard ATX power supply and not a Dell custom.
I thought Dell warranties were for a year? and if that is the case you are still in warranty.
EssaelBosch
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January 15th, 2012 08:00
A lot of that went over my head, but I'm sure if I send it to my techie mate he can make sense of it.
On the matter of the warranty, how time flies! Turns out I bought it in May 2010 (not 2011)!
EssaelBosch
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May 21st, 2016 12:00
Back after a long while. I at some point found someone who said that they had fixed the issue by disabling one of the processors, which I went ahead and did, and it totally fixed the restarting issue, though not exactly an ideal fix, as it dropped my processing speed! I'm now at a point (for other reasons) where I have to do a factory reset on the machine, and I predict that I will have to go back in and disable the *** processor again. However, I have Googled until I'm blue in the face, and can't find the source of the fix recommendation, as it was years ago, and I can't remember how I disabled the processor the first time around. Anyone have any ideas?