Computers hard rebooting

[Byan]

My parent's company is having computer problems..., they run a small veterenary clinic. They have two computers, a fron and a back one...

The front is the one they use with custimers networked with the back. The front has a laser printer on it. The Back is what I think is the host and has another printer for printing bottle labels...

Right now, I really dont know much about the problem they are having... They are be very vauge and I think I am going to have to go have a look for myslef... It seems that one computer is hard rebooting after a little bit of use, I think it is the front but again they aren't sure. After that the other computer wont work and must be rebooted...

They seem to think that there may be some error before it hard reboots but again isn't sure...

that is really as much as I can gather from it..,

I am thinking either ram errors or overheating...,

I will add details as I know them...

oh yeah, they are running Windows 98, I think it is FE but I am not sure... The software they use is an old MS-DOS program.., the computers have been doing this about once a month but lately they have been acting up...

any suggestions?
thax in advanced,
Byan

[photolady]

To start helping you we need more information. All these "I think's" will need to be filled in.

If you think it might be memory you can use either of the below memory testers to be sure.

www.memtest86.com

or

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

[Train]

Sounds like they are overheating and shuting down. Bet they have never been cleaned out inside either.

Your going to need to get your hands on them and go to work. Don't forget the canned air. Maybe a couple cans for each computer. My take of the situation.

[Johnny Canuck]

A good cleaning is a great place to start especially if both systems are in an animal clinic. Lots of doggy hair, cat hair in the air for sure plus who knows what other animals adding to the mix. JC

[Byan]

I investigated a little bit more and it turns out that what happends is that at about 2-4pm one of the computers starts hard rebooting whenever you get it going... sounds like overheating to me.. Especially since they dont give it time to rest, they just keep trying to restart it...

I think tommorow we are going to grab some of that air and clean both of them out...

thanx again,
Byan

[Cliffh]

Don't know if you've cleaned inside of a case with compressed (canned) air before, but, just to be sure:

Don't let the fans spin. You can hold them with most any non-conductive material, my favorite is a zip-tie.

[Byan]

no I havent cleaned using compressed air...

dont you clean it while the computer is off..., ussually the fans dont spin if the computer isn't plugged in

Maybe I am missing something here...

thanx again,
Byan

[DVOM]

Originally posted by Byan
dont you clean it while the computer is off..., ussually the fans dont spin if the computer isn't plugged in

Yes, you do it with the machine turned off, and yes the fans don't spin when it's turned off.

But if you blow that high speed compressed air at the fan, the air will spin the fan alot faster than the bearings can handle. So you need to hold the fan blades with something. A toothpick, ink pen, pencil, wire tie, etc.