System reboots randomly.

[Guest]

This problem happened 3-4 months ago and then went away until yesterday. It
is very random and sometimes when it is just on but idle, and others when it
is running a program I.E. Ad-aware. When it comes back on it usually goes tru
the motions slower, and stops at a screen that say (amongst others) boot from
CD twice afterwhich it says DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS
ENTER. After doing that it will run again untilit again randomly repeats.
Sometimes in minutes, sometime hours, many times days? I have a pic of the
failure screen if someone can tell me how to post it.

 

[Guest]

What happens before and after restart?
Do you get any error message, any black screen or any unusual message?

There are a number of causes that makes one's pc to reboot again and again.
You may check out these one by one or state in more detail

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310396

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;831431

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;873161

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314466

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP]

This problem happened 3-4 months ago and then went away until
yesterday. It is very random and sometimes when it is just on but
idle, and others when it is running a program I.E. Ad-aware. When it
comes back on it usually goes tru the motions slower, and stops at a
screen that say (amongst others) boot from CD twice afterwhich it
says DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER. After
doing that it will run again untilit again randomly repeats.
Sometimes in minutes, sometime hours, many times days? I have a pic
of the failure screen if someone can tell me how to post it.

Right click My Computer and select Properties.
Go to the Advanced tab.
In the Startup and Recovery section click Settings.
Uncheck Automatically restart.

Now it will show you a blue screen. Tell us the error message.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/

 

[Guest]

The fist thing i would do is make sure there is no CD in your drive, and no
floppy in your floppy drive. this would make the computer thing your trying
to boot from a removable media instead of the hard drive. also it wouldnt'
be a bad idea to do some simple maintenece. Defrag, scan for spyware and
viruses, run "disk cleanup" download and install registry mechanic and run
that at least twice, and run "scan disk" to check your hard drive for errors.

 

[Guest]

Right click My Computer and select Properties.
Go to the Advanced tab.
In the Startup and Recovery section click Settings.
Uncheck Automatically restart.

Now it will show you a blue screen. Tell us the error message.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/

 

[Guest]

Ok looked at all the posts and Microsoft articles. None apply. Lest I didn't
make myself clear, my computer doesn't contiuously try to reboot. It only
tries once in a while, minutes to months, and when it does it does not
complete the reboot but comes up with the message I put in before, then needs
the CD . No floppies or cd are in. I will (un)check the "reboot that Frank
speaks of and advise what it says when it happens. It shouldd be understood
however that it could be months(but probably won't).

 

[Jonah]

This problem happened 3-4 months ago and then went away until yesterday. It
is very random and sometimes when it is just on but idle, and others when it
is running a program I.E. Ad-aware. When it comes back on it usually goes tru
the motions slower, and stops at a screen that say (amongst others) boot from
CD twice afterwhich it says DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS
ENTER. After doing that it will run again untilit again randomly repeats.
Sometimes in minutes, sometime hours, many times days? I have a pic of the
failure screen if someone can tell me how to post it.

Some very technical stuff in this thread not much of which seems
useful to you drew. Its normal to suspect software failiure but I
reckon your problem is more likely to be hardware related.

Check your plug!

I had the same problem years ago, months trying to figure spurious
error messages and it was a loose live wire in the plug, every time
the dog bumped the desk the pooter re-booted.

DOH!

Other causes could be overheating, duff power supply, loose
connections in the PC, MOBO failing, Memory failing. Also huge dust
build ups in the PC lead to overheating, bad connections and guess
what - random re-boots.

Check your hardware



Jonah

 

[Marc]

The fist thing i would do is make sure there is no CD in your drive, and no
floppy in your floppy drive. this would make the computer thing your trying
to boot from a removable media instead of the hard drive. also it wouldnt'
be a bad idea to do some simple maintenece. Defrag, scan for spyware and
viruses, run "disk cleanup" download and install registry mechanic and run
that at least twice, and run "scan disk" to check your hard drive for errors.

Check the RAM is OK FIRST!:
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Very useful app that. Faulty RAM and defragging isn't a good idea.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

The fist thing i would do is make sure there is no CD in your drive, and no
floppy in your floppy drive. this would make the computer thing your trying
to boot from a removable media instead of the hard drive. also it wouldnt'
be a bad idea to do some simple maintenece. Defrag, scan for spyware and
viruses, run "disk cleanup" download and install registry mechanic and run
that at least twice, and run "scan disk" to check your hard drive for errors.

Right steps, dangerously wrooong order...

"boot from a removable media instead of the hard drive" - yes, but
presence of such disks would not cause the system to spontaneouslt
reboot, whereas virtually any system error would, given the duuuhfault
"automatically restart on system errors" setting in XP

"Defrag" - i.e. read everything off HD into RAM, then write it back to
the HD? Before testing your RAM or HD? What was the other idea?

By the same token, you do not want to download and install anything,
or even run Windows, before you know it is safe to write to the HD,
i.e. that the HD is physically defect-free and RAM is error-free.

With a PC that spontaneously reboots, good RAM isn't a given.

With a PC that takes long to reboot, good HD isn't a given either.

"Drew" wrote:

Sounds like your HD's dying...

http://cquirke.mvps.org/pccrisis.htm

If you use Bart PE boot CDR as your maintenance OS, download and plug
in the free HD-Tune utiliy. This shows you HD temperature, S.M.A.R.T.
history detail, and does an OS-agnostic surface scan for defects.

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

The most accurate diagnostic instrument
in medicine is the Retrospectoscope

 

[Guest]

When it shut down this time it had a note"SESSION3_INITIALIZATION_FAILED,
along with info to diable new soft & /or Hdwe. There is nothing new. System
is without dust, I have put the warnings on for fans,and CPU heat. CPU is
running at 51-54 C ; system temp is 40 C. Memory healthy. I did not see or
feel any loose connects. Not sure what is next or when it will go down
again. All your help is appreciated for sure.

 

[Marc]

"Defrag" - i.e. read everything off HD into RAM, then write it back to
the HD? Before testing your RAM or HD? What was the other idea?

That was exactly my point in the post I made!

I've never known a PC reboot bacause it was too fragmented, chug for
ever and ever maybe (and that was back in the FAT16 days)

 

[Guest]

Drew,

In my mothers account the random re-boot only happens in her account and in
my account and another persons account it doesn't randomly re-boot. It only
happens when my mother is using I.E. and no other programs at all. I did the
samething now like what Frank Saunders said was to uncheck the "Automatically
Restart" box from the Advance Tab and click on Settings under Startup and
Recovery. Now, I hope it won't happen anymore in her account.

 

[Guest]

Ok all. I was fairly sure that the problem was the HD going south and I went
to the GEEK Squad and when I showed him the screen that would come up when it
rebooted he confirmed it was the HD. Have put in a new one and after grueling
hours of rebuild it works fine.
Thanks to all for the responses