Windows stops/starts/restarts unexpectedly.

[sharper]

I am looking for some help with a problem that is driving me mad.

I have a desktop PC running XP SP2 which is behaving very strangely. At
seeingly random intervals the computer will either shutdown or restart, and
on occasions has started up on its own some time after having been powered
down.

I have run virus/spyware checks which have not turned up anything abnormal.
I have also opened up the box and cleaned out dust/checked for loose
connected, and have also run speedfan which doesn't show any abnormal
temperatures, although voltages are not showing up.

I'm not exactly sure what to look for in Event viewer, but I have notice
that Machine Check seems to come up quite often when this proble occurs, but
I don't now if that is a normal part of logging out. I have however observed
that Windows calculator quite often opens suddenly just prior to a shutdown.
I tried to disable Calculator, but this is still occuring.

Can anyone shed any light on probable causes?

Thanks,

S.

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Press WinKey-Break,(or start/run 'sysdm.cpl'), click Advanced Tab, Start
Up... area, Settings button, Remove check from "Automatically Restart" On the
next reboot, you will be able to read what caused the restart (when it
errors) You are looking for a filename of a driver that is the problem.
Search for it, and rightclick it to read the Properties, and the name of the
maker.

Go to Start/Run, and type DEVMGMT.MSC , highlight the problem device, Action
menu, "Uninstall", then restart Windows, to find the device drivers again
automatically.

 

[nass]

Open a Notepad, customize or minimize to the taskbar as you will need it
later for this step to copy the error message on it.
Open a run command and type in:
eventvwr.msc click [OK] you will get the Event viewer control Panel.
click on each of these:
Application
System
Security
Look in the right Pane/window for error message with red (X) or Yellow
exclamation mark /!\ , double click each one to get more info about the
causer.
On the Event error properties message you will see:
Up Arrow
Down arrow
Two pages
Click on the two pages to copy the error message then bring up the Notepad
you opened earlier and right click on the first line and select Paste from
the list, this will paste the error message on a Notepad.
Please don't duplicate the error message one of each kind will be sufficient.
HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

Please we need just the error messages with Red (X) and don't repeat the
error, just one of each kind and post them back in your next post.

How to perform a clean boot in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310353
A description of the Safe Mode Boot options in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315222/en-us
HTH.
nass