Spontaneous Restart

  • Thread starter Thread starter William Pine
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William Pine

My computer has begun restarting spontaneously. I haven't noticed it to be
associated with a specific action. Just now, I was searching for game files
(start | search | games). The time before that, I was writing a Word
document.

Microsoft error reporting says it is a driver. I haven't added hardware
since months before the problm began. Does that mean it's probably
software?

The problem happens at irregular interals. I'm reluctant to uninstall
things in reverse order of installation untill to identify the problems,
because upgrades for Norton Antivirus, Zone Alarm, Pest Patron, and Ad-aware
are among the most recent. There's no telling how long I'd have to leave
any of these uninstalled since the problem occures at irregular intervals.

Is there a way to find out which driver is the problem without uninstalling
each in turn?

Bill Pine
 
Have you tried scanning your computer for virus? There are viruses known
to restart infected computers repeatedly.
 
What is the exact error message? (Please include technical information and
possibly a driver file name if it presents one.
 
William said:
My computer has begun restarting spontaneously. I haven't noticed it
to be
associated with a specific action. Just now, I was searching for game
files
(start | search | games). The time before that, I was writing a Word
document.

Microsoft error reporting says it is a driver. I haven't added
hardware
since months before the problm began. Does that mean it's probably
software?

The problem happens at irregular interals. I'm reluctant to uninstall
things in reverse order of installation untill to identify the
problems, because upgrades for Norton Antivirus, Zone Alarm, Pest
Patron, and Ad-aware
are among the most recent. There's no telling how long I'd have to
leave any of these uninstalled since the problem occures at irregular
intervals.

Is there a way to find out which driver is the problem without
uninstalling each in turn?

Bill Pine
Click to expand...

There are a few things to do for troubleshooting this. Usually, when you
get random errors the first thing to look at is hardware. The other
thing you should do is turn off the automatic restarting so you can get
the Stop Error (Blue Screen of Death) and write down the error details.
This will help narrow down the troubleshooting. Here's how to do that:

Control Panel>System>Advanced>Startup and Recovery>Settings and under
System Failure uncheck "Automatically Restart".

Here are some general hardware troubleshooting steps:

1) Open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing). Obviously
you can't do this with a laptop, but you can hear if the fan is running
and feel if the laptop is getting too hot.

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 - this isn't applicable to a laptop, of course.

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
 
In
William Pine said:
My computer has begun restarting spontaneously. I haven't
noticed it
to be associated with a specific action. Just now, I was
searching
for game files (start | search | games). The time before that,
I was
writing a Word document.

Microsoft error reporting says it is a driver. I haven't added
hardware since months before the problm began. Does that mean
it's
probably software?
Click to expand...


It can be lots of things, but it is very likely hardware.

You are presumably blue-screening, and you are set to reboot
whenever that happens. Right-click My Computer, and choose
Properties. On the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and
Recovery. Under System failure, uncheck the box "Automatically
restart."

Now when the problem occurs again, instaed of blue-screening, you
will get the blue screen with diagnostic information. Post back
with those details for more help.
 
I didn't note the most recent error info. I don't get an error message, per
se. I get the info generated by the Windows error reporting process.

The time before most recently, I got this:

C:\DOCUME~1\Owner\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER27d5.dir00\mini\20204.01.dmp
C:\DOCUME~1\Owner\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER27d5.dir00\Sysdata.xml

The error signature was
BCCode:19BCP1:00000020 BCP2:819FD40 BCP3:8194EEE0 BCP4:OA1E0015
osver:5_1_2600 SP:2_0 Product 8768_1

The Microsoft report also said the error was caused by a device driver.

I sure appreciate any further help. As I mentioned, this problem occurs
irregularly, e.g., two week intervals, so I can't duplicate it at will.
Removing one driver at a time will be a very long process, because I'll be
unable to tell in any predictable time whether the test has found the
problem.

Thanks again.
Bill Pine
 
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