This is to all of the Computer Technicians out there.
When I work on my customers’ computers, I have been noticing a trend. Those computers that mysteriously reboot for no reason, in the middle of anything or nothing, are most likely running any version of Windows XP, and have an AMD processor. The only exception is if the processor is actually an AMD XP processor.
Has anyone else noticed this trend, or seen documentation describing it?
I apologize for the terrible grammar in my OP.
To elaborate, I have noticed that computers running any version of Windows XP, and which have an AMD Athlon or Duron processor, are more prone to randomly reboot for apparently no reason. I have not noticed this instant rebooting happening with an AMD XP processor. Have any other computer techs out there noticed this same trend?
Any thoughts on this?
It’s not really related to the CPU at all. It’s just that AMD processors, by virtue of their pricing, tend to end up in cheaper systems that use poor quality motherboards, RAM, and power supplies. You’re guaranteed that the CPU will work flawlessly (barring poor cooling or a defective product), but other components can simply be flaky. The reason systems with Athlon XPs tend to be more stable is that the march of technological advance has made better motherboards and power supplies within the pricerange of even cheap vendors. In short, what’s considered crap today was midrange a year or so ago.
Oddly enough, I had all kinds of random reboot problems when I was running Win98 SE and an Athlon XP (2600+), but since switching to XP (admittedly a week ago) the system has been way more stable.
I also started experiencing this phenomena when I upgraded an Athlon based pc to XP Pro earlier this year. The reboots were so numerous and difficult to diagnose that I ended up buying a new Dell in frustration. It could also be (as Alereon suggested) due to the cheaper quality mobo and other components in my older system. I do have an Athlon XP1800 system at work that has been running XP flawlessly for several months now.
Well, I have a 2 year old laptop that has taken to mysteriously and suddenly just shutting down (while plugged in; it is not running out of steam). It has an “Intel Inside” sticker and uses Win2000, FWIW. I think it is a Pentium 3.