Random rebooting

[Omega21]

Hi there,
I have noticed that a "new" computer I built is giving me issues.
I did a dual boot setup as there are a few Windows only games I like. Anyways, it is on WinXP and Gentoo. Both operating systems have been installed and fully setup for months. I've noticed that when using Linux on it, it will randomly reboot. Whether I'm actually using it or it's idling, it will reboot, always within about 10 minutes of a startup. I would think maybe there is some bad memory or something, but a memtest finds nothing wrong. The other thing that makes this really wacky is that it never has ever happened while in windows. I could leave it on for weeks running XP and it wouldn't reboot. The other thing, is I have tried LiveCD's, Gentoo and Ubuntu, and they will also reboot. Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks very much!

(Its a P3 @ 1GHz, ~390MB RAM)
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iMac G4 1GHz :: q6600 //2x 500GB//2GB RAM//8600GT//Gentoo :: MacBook Pro//2.53GHz

[NathanZachary]

The only two things that I can think of are: 1) a bad sector on your HDD (possibly a superblock) where Linux is installed, or 2) a bad block on one of the sticks of RAM that is being accessed by the ramdisk on one of the Linux liveCDs. The fact that memtest didn't find any problems leads me to favour the first of those two possibilities.
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“Truth, like infinity, is to be forever approached but never reached.” --Jean Ayres (1972)
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[Omega21]

The live cd wasn't mounting the linux hard disk though..
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iMac G4 1GHz :: q6600 //2x 500GB//2GB RAM//8600GT//Gentoo :: MacBook Pro//2.53GHz

[NathanZachary]

Man, that really seems like something is wrong with a stick of the RAM. What brand and speed is that RAM? As far as I know, the LiveCDs only use the ramdisk, and it uses a kernel compiled with support for pretty much all hardware. Therefore, it would seem like a problem with the RAM? Have you tried taking each one of the sticks out individually and seeing if the problem persists?
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“Truth, like infinity, is to be forever approached but never reached.” --Jean Ayres (1972)
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[bunder]

i'm thinking its hardware, despite you saying that windows worked fine... sometimes windows ignores lots of crap that linux would normally bitch about. but linux doesn't normally "just reboot"... the kernel would panic, or the box would hardlock. tried checking your power supply?

cheers
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[Omega21]

[NathanZachary]

Sure thing; just let us know when you try removing one stick of RAM at a time. Like Omega21 said, it is bound to be a hardware problem. Personally I don't think it would the PSU because Windows may let a lot of things go, but it does not like improper voltage rails, and those are usually the first things to mess up on a PSU. HOWEVER, that being said, it is possible that it is the PSU. I would try the RAM thing firstly though.
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“Truth, like infinity, is to be forever approached but never reached.” --Jean Ayres (1972)
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[Omega21]

[bunder]

you'd have to either check mobo sensors, or hook up a volt-meter to one of your rails. i'd take out the cold cathodes and see if this helps at all, sometimes the inverters draw too much juice.

cheers
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[NathanZachary]

Oh, I didn't know you had CCs in there. I would definitely take those out for the reason that Omega mentioned. I've had several that have had problems with the inverters.
_________________
“Truth, like infinity, is to be forever approached but never reached.” --Jean Ayres (1972)
---avatar cropped from =AimanStudio---