AARRGGHH!! Computer re-starts by itself!!

steve-in-kville

steve-in-kville

Joined
Dec 25, 2001
Messages
1,139
My computer has been giving me a lot of grief lately... it re-starts itself without any warning. Thankfully, I haven't lost any files yet. Its a Compaq running Windows XP. I thought my UPS was the source of the trouble, so I replaced it a few days ago and the problem still persists.

Its almost like I have a wierd virus or something that attachs the harddrive. I updated my Norton with no change.

Any ideas from the computer gurus here at BF??

Thanks in advance.

steve
 
Does it just restart itself or do you get a blue screen (bsod) first? It could be, especialy if you are getting the bsod, a problem with the pc's RAM. Particularly if it gives you some message about redundancy errors or anything with an overflow.

It could be virus related but I think that there is only a small chance of that if norton av isn't finding it. You can try downloading a free scanner like avg (just disable the active scanner, having it and norton's running at the same time will create conflict) and running it for redundancy. Sometimes, different av programs find different things.

It could be power supply related as well, especially if you find it restarting mostly when you are running several peripherals at once or anything else that could start to draw a lot of power.

Do you notice it happening at any particular time or is it totally random?



Also, have you run any spyware checks lately? it would be a good idea as well.
 
roughedges- A few days ago I deleted a bunch of programs & files that I no longer used, in an attempt to lighten the load. I also updated my Windows and Norton. I'm still in the stone-age using a dial-up modem. I noticed that I haven't been able to connect as fast as I used to. Maybe thats a moot point, but FWIW.

Also- before the system shuts down, I can hear the system "working" when there's nothing obvious to be processing. Again, it could be that I never noticed it before.

This PC is only four years old, and I've been eyeing a new laptop anyway. Maybe this is just a sign?

steve
 
Computers fall under Gadgets & Gear, don't they?

I thought so. :rolleyes:
 
Could also try Linux. If you download a Live CD, i'd suggest Ubuntu, and boot from it. Let it go for awhile, or play around with it, whatever. See if it reboots. If it does, it's hardware. If it doesn't, it's windows!

But, Compaq's are known for those kind of irritating troubles. I've never owned one, but have heard plenty of complaints from all my fellow computer nerds.
 
15 years experience of messing with and building PCs makes me think you need the following to fix your problem

estwingE16S-E20S.jpg


Theres no need to go so high end, any run of the mill claw or club hammer will probably do the job but that leather handle and forged shaft will just make it that bit easier on the hand and wrist for extended PC fixing sessions. Plus this is gadgets and gear, I cant really recommend a cheap product can i?

seriousley though, when they start to randomly crash there are a number of things it could be. It could well be the RAM, it could also be the hard drive. It could be a problem with the cooling in the case making something overheat.

If its 4 years old I would recommend you try to re install Windows, if that doesnt work save yourself some grief and dump it. My last computer started randomly crashing so I canged the power supply, hard drive, processor, motherboard, ram, graphics card, NIC and added two extra case fans and it still kept crashing. My answer was to buy a laptop and dump the desktop. I dont play high performance games anymore so a laptop is fine, got a basic business model for £500 when it starts to crash it will meet the bin and I'll get another.

Another tip - back up all your imporant data onto a USB hard drive while the computer still works. Oh yeah, and dont be suckered into a 'home user' laptop that seems like it has amazing features for a really low price, you get what you pay for and you will get a much more stable machine if you look at a business range (assuming you dont want blazing fast graphics.)
 
lots of good advice. the first thing we always try is replacing the power supply.

ken
 
Try using "System Restore" to return your computer to an earlier time when you weren't having this problem..........

Good luck!
 
Funny thing is a computer is one thing you can buy brand new and not be surprised when it doesn't work!!!
 
My hard drive is dying but the computer is 4 years old so it's obsolete and slow , not worth fixing . Buy a new one !!
 
If worse comes to worse, recover what you need from the hd and move on. If a laptop seems a reasonable move, the sturdy lenovo n100 can be had for about $650. Check the specs as they can vary.

Best of luck.
 
Try doing a system restore to a restore point that dates prior to when the issue started. This might determine if it is software related. You also might try checking the HD for bad sectors. $.02
 
does the computer turn off as if the plug had been pulled and then restarts? i blew my cpu socket in a power surge a few months ago and that was my problem. check to see if there are any signs of an electrical component failure on the main board. it happens
 
This happened again a few minutes ago. Tried to do a system restore, but it wouldn't go back far enough (at least to before all this started).

The PC sounds like its processing right before it shuts down. It also only happens when I'm online.

Guess we'll start looking at laptops...

steve
 
Check the output votage from the power supplie first, if it drops to low the computer will reboot or shut down.

Leon Pugh
 
You can also check your Event Viewer,
It's under Administrative tools,
If not you can enter this in the RUN dialog box,
just copy and paste,

%SystemRoot%\system32\eventvwr.msc /s
 
steve-in-kville said:
My computer has been giving me a lot of grief lately... it re-starts itself without any warning. Thankfully, I haven't lost any files yet. Its a Compaq running Windows XP. I thought my UPS was the source of the trouble, so I replaced it a few days ago and the problem still persists.

Its almost like I have a wierd virus or something that attachs the harddrive. I updated my Norton with no change.

Any ideas from the computer gurus here at BF??

Thanks in advance.

steve
Click to expand...

Windows is the problem. Uninstall this and you'll be fine.
 
did you say that it happens whenever you get online?
there used to be this virus that gave some message popup and restarted your computer whenever you connected to the net
it was a major PITA that time
 
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