PC shuts down on its own

[DEFENDER01]

HI
I have a xp home media which shuts down and restarts.
this happens at irregular times it may go weeks no problem then while
browsing or running programs it will just shut down instantly and
restart.

when it shuts down the screen goes black and restarts as if i was
starting it from scratch then runs normally.
this only happens now and then and may go weeks before doing the same
thing again.
Thanks for any help

 

[Xandros]

Try turning off the auto restart feature. When the system crashes you should
get a blue screen with some cryptic information on it which might be
helpful. To turn the auto restart feature off go to Control Panel->System
Properties->Advanced tab->Startup and Recovery Section Settings
Button->uncheck box next to "Automatically restart".

You can also take a look at the Event Viewer and see what error messages are
posted there. Go to Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Event
Viewer->System and see which items have errors related to the time of the
crash.

Post the info back if need be.

 

[Lionel]

I had this problem a long time ago (so it was on different everything) on
workstations I was supporting. It turned out to be the anti-virus software
restarting the computers everytime it did an update. Since they were being
used by customer service people who may be in the middle of taking an order
when it happened, it was not good.

I'd check to see what automatic updates you have running. Could be that.

Lionel

 

[DEFENDER01]

I had this problem a long time ago (so it was on different everything
on
workstations I was supporting. It turned out to be the anti-viru
software
restarting the computers everytime it did an update. Since they wer
being
used by customer service people who may be in the middle of taking a
order
when it happened, it was not good.

I'd check to see what automatic updates you have running. Could b
that.

Lionel

"DEFENDER01" (e-mail address removed) wrote in message

HI
I have a xp home media which shuts down and restarts.
this happens at irregular times it may go weeks no problem then while
browsing or running programs it will just shut down instantly and
restart.

when it shuts down the screen goes black and restarts as if i was
starting it from scratch then runs normally.
this only happens now and then and may go weeks before doing the same
thing again.
Thanks for any help.

Many thanks for the reply's.
i will look into the suggestions and let you know what a find.
problem is it maybe a while before this happens again and like mos
things always at an awkward time ie when in the middle of something

 

[PJG]

You should look at your event viewer in control panel admin tools. Failing a
good error message in there. Your mainboard would have come with some tools
which will tell you how hot your machine is getting. I found normally that if
it's random then it's hardware failure and normally overheating cpu. Product
updates normally warn and give you a timer or message before rebooting even
microsoft updates. You should also make sure you have a stable power source,
UPS is always a good idea, preferebly a "line interactive ups" or better yet
"on-line ups" whatever you can afford, any make will do just ensure you have
one which gives you enough power to run your computer and monitor. If you
find your machine is overheating make sure all the fans a spinning and that
the fans speed up as the cpu gets hotter, the Pentium 4 Dual core CPU's had
some issues with this.

 

[Peter Foldes]

Classic Power Supply warning. Check Power Supply for dust and overheating and failing fan

 

[RMD]

HI
I have a xp home media which shuts down and restarts.
this happens at irregular times it may go weeks no problem then while
browsing or running programs it will just shut down instantly and
restart.

when it shuts down the screen goes black and restarts as if i was
starting it from scratch then runs normally.
this only happens now and then and may go weeks before doing the same
thing again.
Thanks for any help.

It was bad RAM on one of my machines.

The bad RAM showed up on a free RAM tester I used.

Ross