computer restarts by itself

[bob]

Twice in the last 2 days my computer has restarted
itself. I am running on Windows XP home, using Norton
antivirus. I have updated all security patches, checked
for the sasser worm (not present) and yet it still
restarts itself. Any ideas what could be causing this?

 

[Mike]

-----Original Message-----
Twice in the last 2 days my computer has restarted
itself. I am running on Windows XP home, using Norton
antivirus. I have updated all security patches, checked
for the sasser worm (not present) and yet it still
restarts itself. Any ideas what could be causing this?
.

Mine has been doing the same for several weeks, and also
freezing completely (ie mouse pointer will not move).
Also running Norton with auto updates. Have checcked for
new drivers, and removed drawing tablet which I thought
might be the culprit, but no change.
It does not seem to be function related, occurring in
different users, with differing applications running, and
differing demands on store.

 

[peter]

My computer...right click properties.....advanced..startup&recovery..settings
uncheck....automatically restart
that wont solve your problem but at least now you will get a specific error
message
copy it and post back
peter

 

[Malke]

Mine has been doing the same for several weeks, and also
freezing completely (ie mouse pointer will not move).
Also running Norton with auto updates. Have checcked for
new drivers, and removed drawing tablet which I thought
might be the culprit, but no change.
It does not seem to be function related, occurring in
different users, with differing applications running, and
differing demands on store.

Mike, I know you didn't mean to do this, but you hijacked Bob's thread.
You may or may not have the same problem, but you should start your own
thread so the two issues can be addressed.

Bob - Do you get any error messages? Does this happen randomly? What
errors do you see in Event Viewer (from the Administrative Tools applet
in Control Panel)? If the computer is really clean of all viruses and
spyware (and you haven't told us anything that would confirm that for
sure), then you may be having hardware issues.

Mike - Your problems may be hardware related also. Below are generic
troubleshooting steps for hardware. Mike, if you want to continue
getting help with your issue, please repost in a new, separate thread
and include lots of detail about your computer specs. Always be sure to
tell us what you've already done to troubleshoot, also.

1) open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing); 2) test
the RAM - I like Memtest86 from www.memtest86.com - let the test run
for an extended (like overnight) period of time - unless errors are
seen immediately; 3) test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility from
the mftr.; 4) the power supply may be going bad or be inadequate for
the devices you have in the system; 5) test the motherboard with
something like TuffTest from www.tufftest.com. Testing hardware
failures often involves swapping out suspected parts with known-good
parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are uncomfortable
opening your computer, take the machine to a good local computer repair
shop (not a CompUSA or Best Buy type of store).

Malke

 

[Sharon F]

Twice in the last 2 days my computer has restarted
itself. I am running on Windows XP home, using Norton
antivirus. I have updated all security patches, checked
for the sasser worm (not present) and yet it still
restarts itself. Any ideas what could be causing this?

Start> Run> eventvwr.msc
Double click error items (marked with red) that have the same date/time
stamp as when the restarts occurred. A new screen will appear with more
information regarding the errors.

Also, in System Properties> Advanced> Startup and Recovery> Settings.
Uncheck the box to restart on errors. This does not eliminate the error but
will stop XP from automatically restarting and you may see a blue screen
error with a more detailed message.

Armed with what error information you can find, you can look up the error
messages and, hopefully, find a solution and/or troubleshooting
suggestions.