CPU Randomly restarting

[Guest]

our computer is only about a year and a half old. It is 1.2 Ghz 512 MB Ram
Windows XP. I was away for a year and came back with the computer acting
this way. No hardware was added at any time.

At first i was told that it could be that the power supply is not good.
However, when i load it on safe mode it doesnt die at all (i dont know how to
explain it). Also, the amount of time it can go without automatically
restarting is not fixed... it can go for hours or just minutes. I ran all
sorts of virus scans and it still happens. I am considering just
reinstalling windows.. is this good o r should i try to do something else
first. thanks!

 

[Pat Garard]

G'Day Adrian,

The first thing to do is to disable 'Automatically restart' on System failure:
Right-Click 'My Computer'
Advanced (tab)
Startup and recovery (section)
Settings (button)
System Failure (section)
Automatically restart (UNCHECK the box)
OK
OK

If the system crashes, you will get a BSOD (blue screen of death!) that may
give a clue as to the reason.

Also check the error log.

 

[Pat Garard]

Perhaps if I got it right......

The first thing to do is to disable 'Automatically restart' on System failure:
Right-Click 'My Computer'
Choose 'Properties'
Advanced (tab)
Startup and recovery (section)
Settings (button)
System Failure (section)
Automatically restart (UNCHECK the box)
OK
OK

If the system crashes, you will get a BSOD (blue screen of death!) that may
give a clue as to the reason.

Also check the error log.

 

[Guest]

Hey Pat! thanks for the help. i did what you suggested and i indeed got a
blue screen saying "BAD_CALL_POOL" I have no idea what that is.. tried to
look for it online but cant find anything.. i dont see anything new installed
in this computer for the past year though.. could it just be a virus? thanks
for the help. i really appreciate it.

 

[Pat Garard]

G'Day (again) Adrian,

I think you mean BAD_POOL_CALLER.

See:
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1647
for a bit of help in reading the screen - if it is a bad driver, the file name
is usually lower down the screen (Page 2 of the article).

BAD_POOL_CALLER usually means that a process or driver
attempted some form of incorrect memory operation. Suspect a
faulty driver or badly written software.

See also:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310527/en-us,
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307151/en-us,
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314492/en-us and
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309127/en-us.

Obtain ALL the latest updates for Windows, as well as the latest
versions of all drivers.

Good Luck!