This has driven me crazy, I cant figure it out. The problem happens sometimes right away and then sometimes a day will go by no problems. You'll be just crusin around the internet and then monitor starts blinking, it usually blinks a few times before the computer restarts. After restart everything works fine until it starts blinking again. Please help, Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I have a Windows xp operating system, I recently replaced the hard drive (had a working spare) to no avail. The mobo is an asrock 939 dual sata2. The prcessor is amd 3200+, the hard drive was WD now is maxtor. The graphics card is geforce mx440. I also swapped power supplies and same occurence.

Did you do a Clean Install of XP on the new hard drive?

Have you tried a different monitor?



Also: look in your Event viewer: rt. click My Computer then click Manage then Event Viewer.
Or: Administrative Tools/Event Viewer or Start/Run/ eventvwr
Open the system as well as the application tabs & look for X errors. Click error line for details.
Post back the source & event id & Description especially of errors that seem to coincide with this issue.
Also check the Information lines that might coincide with this issue.

How to view and manage event logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP

Sorry I have not posted in quite some time. I've been very busy. I replaced the video card and the blinking stopped, just random restarts now. I looked at the event viewer and this is what I found.
I have three errors that keep occuring all sources are "LoadPerf" the event id's are: (descriptions follow)

3012: The performance strings in the performance registry value is corrupted when process Performance extension counter provider. BaseIndex value from performance registry is the first DWORD in Data section, Lastcounter value is the second DWORD inData section, and last help value is the third DWORD in Data section.

3011:Unloading the performance counter strings for service WmiApRPL (WmiAPRpl) failed. The error code is the first DWORD in data section.

3001: The performance counter name string value in the registry is in correctly formatted. The bogus string is 2482, The bogus index value is the first DWORD in data section while the last valid index values are the secound and third DWORD in Data section.

These are ussually pretty close to the restarts. I hope this helps somone to help me. OH this is a fresh version of XP, also a different monitor to no avail. The replacement of the video card did stop the blinking but not the restarts.

Thanks for your time,

T.J.

I looked at event viewer and this is what I found

I would suggest running Check Disk for starters:

start | Run cmd

Type: chkdsk /f

You will be told that you cannot do this as the files are in use > Do you want to run on next boot? Y or N

Type: y and then reboot.

Originally Posted by jephree

I would suggest running Check Disk for starters:

start | Run cmd

Type: chkdsk /f

You will be told that you cannot do this as the files are in use > Do you want to run on next boot? Y or N

Type: y and then reboot.

I did this and it found nothing. I think it might be a hardware problem. But the only thing left is the motherboard. Any more suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Originally Posted by jephree

I would suggest running Check Disk for starters:

start | Run cmd

Type: chkdsk /f

You will be told that you cannot do this as the files are in use > Do you want to run on next boot? Y or N

Type: y and then reboot.

up

Turn off Auto Restart in order to get error messages:

Right click My Computer then click Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Settings

Unclick Automatically Restart under System Failure.

This should freeze your screen on an error message.


Also check your Event Viewer again.


Can you get the DATA info listed:
The error code is the first DWORD in data section.

Originally Posted by jephree

Turn off Auto Restart in order to get error messages:

Right click My Computer then click Properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Settings

Unclick Automatically Restart under System Failure.

This should freeze your screen on an error message.


Also check your Event Viewer again.


Can you get the DATA info listed:
The error code is the first DWORD in data section.

I turned off the auto restart but it restarted anyway. I got no error messages it just restarted. I dont know how to get the data info listed. I thank you again for all your help. I am waiting to try anything else.

Try this:

start Run... cmd

Type:

lodctr /r:wmiaprpl

& hit Enter.

And also after that type:

lodctr /r:loadperf

& hit Enter.