PC spontaneously rebooting

[Leslie]

My XP pc keeps spontaneously rebooting itself. This began
a couple of months ago but has gradually increased in
frequency. A few days ago, it was rebooting within
seconds of booting up. I managed to do a system restore
to a restore point from November and the system is more
stable but the problem continues, rebooting after anything
from a few minutes to a few hours. PC is connected to a
UPS so I don't think it's a power issue. Here's what I
have done so far:
1)scanned for viruses with latest Norton update, none
found.
2)ran scandisk on HD, found and repaired 3 bad clusters.
3)checked system administration event logs, but find
NOTHING logged at the times the system reboots.
4)booted up in Safe Mode, but it spontaneously rebooted
there also.

Any suggestions? The fact that returning to an earlier
restore point suggests to me a registry problem. Or am I
looking at a hardware problem. Would like to avoid a
complete system reload.

 

[dev]

Leslie said:

My XP pc keeps spontaneously rebooting itself. This began
a couple of months ago but has gradually increased in
frequency. A few days ago, it was rebooting within
seconds of booting up. I managed to do a system restore
to a restore point from November and the system is more
stable but the problem continues, rebooting after anything
from a few minutes to a few hours. PC is connected to a
UPS so I don't think it's a power issue. Here's what I
have done so far:
1)scanned for viruses with latest Norton update, none
found.
2)ran scandisk on HD, found and repaired 3 bad clusters.
3)checked system administration event logs, but find
NOTHING logged at the times the system reboots.
4)booted up in Safe Mode, but it spontaneously rebooted
there also.

Any suggestions? The fact that returning to an earlier
restore point suggests to me a registry problem. Or am I
looking at a hardware problem. Would like to avoid a
complete system reload.

Uncheck "automatically restart", under Control Panel|SYSTEM|ADVANCED|START
UP & RECOVERY.
Instead of rebooting, a error message should then appear when the problem
arises, which will at least give you an opportunity to track down the problem.

This site should help with that...
http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm

Also consult the MS Knowledge Base, which can be reached via the link below.

 

[Malke]

Leslie said:



Uncheck "automatically restart", under Control
Panel|SYSTEM|ADVANCED|START UP & RECOVERY.
Instead of rebooting, a error message should then appear when the
problem arises, which will at least give you an opportunity to track
down the problem.

This site should help with that...
http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm

Certainly trying to get the stop error is a good idea, but from your
description it certainly sounds to me like you are having a hardware
failure that is just getting worse. Your chkdsk findings would indicate
that the hard drive might be the culprit. I'd back up any important
data immediately. Here are some generic steps for troubleshooting
hardware problems:

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) test the motherboard. If you can't do this testing
yourself, take the machine to a good local computer repair shop (not a
CompUSA or Best Buy type of store).

Best of luck,

Malke

 

[Alex Nichol]

My XP pc keeps spontaneously rebooting itself. This began
a couple of months ago but has gradually increased in
frequency. A few days ago, it was rebooting within
seconds of booting up.

You have something that is crashing - and the system's 'automatically
restart' is cutting in. Turn this off: in Control Panel - System -
Advanced, click Settings in the Startup and Recovery section. There
uncheck 'automatically restart'. You can also usefully change the
'write debugging information' to (none) unless you are actively needing
a dump for debugging something, or to 'minidump' if you are getting
errors that you wish to report on to Microsoft. You will now probably
get a Blue screen failure instead, but at least will get some guidance
as to what is happening

It will most likely be trouble with a driver - in that case the bottom
line of the blue screen will show the file - something.sys
Look for that in Windows\system32\drivers, r-click, Properties and the
Version page should indicate what device it is for. Get an updated
version from the maker's site. You may have had an unsatisfactory one
installed automatically by Windows Update; I would not take drivers from
there.