spontaneous reboot recurring

[Hoxy]

Over the last couple weeks, I have noticed that my Micron desktop is
rebooting spontaneously (fully and successfully so there is no problem
with the reboot just that it is doing it without any prompt). It has
occurred 3X in two weeks. It is not related to updates but will just
go to "restart" on its own for no known reason. I have excellent
security. I am running behind a router & run ESET NOD 32 AV and have
Defender sweep sys daily.
Any wisdom will be appreciated .TIA JH

 

[Xandros]

Spontaneous reboots are often related to hardware problems. Like culprits
are RAM, overheating or overclocking and faulty power supply.

 

[Ronaldo]

Stop the system from rebooting when the error ocurrs and enable error
reporting to know what to look for. Go to Control panel \ System \ Advanced
\ Startup and Recovery \ Settings \ uncheck "Automatically Restart", and
check the link for Error Reporting.


How to: Disable Error Reporting on Windows XP and Windows Server 2003
http://www.windowsnetworking.com/ar...e-Error-Reporting-Windows-XP-Server-2003.html


Enable/Disable Error Reporting in Windows XP
http://www.theeldergeek.com/windows_xp_error_reporting.htm

 

[Randem]

Check the "Event Viewer". Most of the time you will see something
suspicious. It could also be a bad driver, possibly video. What have you
installed lately?

--
Randem Systems
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
http://www.rndem.com/installerproblems.html
http://www.randem.com/vistainstalls.html
http://www.financialtrainingservices.org

 

[Kenny]

Same problem on daughter's PC recently was fixed by cleaning out all the
accumulated dust!

 

[Ronaldo]

Same here a few sweeks ago... I fixed one auto-reboot and daily freez-ups by
cleaning the accumulated dust!.. It wasn't that much but the power supply
inside was particularly covered with dusty lint...


-------------------------------------

 

[Hoxy]

Same here a few sweeks ago... I fixed one auto-reboot and daily freez-upsby
cleaning the accumulated dust!.. It wasn't that much but the power supply
inside was particularly covered with dusty lint...

To all, thank. I tried the various suggested things, to no avail. I am
still getting unpredictable spontaneous rebooting . I checked "Event
Log" and the info there is of little value. I am thinking I may have a
power unit issue, that , even though it is only 2 years old, it may be
getting buggy. What are any other possibilities for this phenomena
occurring?

 

[Bob I]

To all, thank. I tried the various suggested things, to no avail. I am
still getting unpredictable spontaneous rebooting . I checked "Event
Log" and the info there is of little value. I am thinking I may have a
power unit issue, that , even though it is only 2 years old, it may be
getting buggy. What are any other possibilities for this phenomena
occurring?

Someone playing with the power cord.

 

[Unknown]

Did you specifically turn off auto restart? If so, you need to try a new
power supply, assuming of course you have a good ground.

Same here a few sweeks ago... I fixed one auto-reboot and daily freez-ups
by
cleaning the accumulated dust!.. It wasn't that much but the power supply
inside was particularly covered with dusty lint...

To all, thank. I tried the various suggested things, to no avail. I am
still getting unpredictable spontaneous rebooting . I checked "Event
Log" and the info there is of little value. I am thinking I may have a
power unit issue, that , even though it is only 2 years old, it may be
getting buggy. What are any other possibilities for this phenomena
occurring?

 

[Randem]

Could be a heat problem. Clean the dust from the CPU and if needed apply CPU
grease to aid the release of heat.

--
Randem Systems
The Top Inno Setup Script Generator
http://www.randem.com/innoscript.html
http://www.rndem.com/installerproblems.html
http://www.randem.com/vistainstalls.html
http://www.financialtrainingservices.org

 

[westom1]

To all, thank. I tried the various suggested things, to no avail. I am
still getting unpredictable spontaneous rebooting . I checked "Event
Log" and the info there is of little value. I am thinking I may have a
power unit issue, that , even though it is only 2 years old, it may be
getting buggy.

Are no errors in the event log, or did you assume a critical error
message (to others) said nothing? Better is to let others with more
knowledge determine whether the error message is relevant.

Only way to identify the power supply 'system' as definitively good
means a multimeter - a tool often sold in stores that also sell
hammers and for about the same price. In your case, a numbers that
result in no doubts are collected in about 30 seconds. Simply
multitask the machine so that all peripherals are being accessed
simultaneously. For example, play complex graphics (ie a movie) while
downloading from the internet, while searching the hard drive, while
outputting sound, while moving the mouse, while playing a CD-Rom. Now
the machine is ready to have VDC numbers taken on any one of red,
orange, yellow, and purple wires.

How to do this is also described in "When your computer dies without
warning....." starting 6 Feb 2007 in the newsgroup alt.windows-xp
at:
http://tinyurl.com/yvf9vh
Connector chart to locate each color:
http://www.hardwarebook.net/connector/power/atxpower.html

Then post those numbers here so that others with far more knowledge
can answer your 'is a power supply good' question definitively. Once
that 'system' is determined to be good, only then move on to other
suspects and never look back.