Computer Restarting

[Richy]

Hey everyone, I was just posting to ask if anyone knew what might cause your computer to constantly restart. It's not like instantly, just like after about 10 minutes of the computer being on. It flashes a blue screen for like a half a second and I can't even have a chance to read anything (because it always restarts randomly). Also my volume in the master controls seems to get turned down by itself somehow. I have been scanning for virus's all the time so im pretty sure it's not a virus, I just don't want to reformat because I have a lot of files that I need on this computer. Anyway, would anyone know what could be causing these wierd behaviors in my comp? Thanks

 

[LeeJend]

To list a few -

Overheat.
Defective hardware.
Malware (virus or excessive spyware).
Bad power quality from the wall socket.
Corrupted software install.

The good news is that you can make that Blue screen stay up long enough to read it or you can look in the windows error log and post the info back here for help.

To specify what Windows does if the system stops unexpectedly

You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings might also prevent you from completing this procedure.

1. Open System in Control Panel.
2. On the Advanced tab, under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
3. Under System Failure, select the check boxes that correspond to the actions you want Windows to perform if a Stop error occurs:

Using Event Viewer

Event Viewer maintains logs about program, security, and system events on your computer. You can use Event Viewer to view and manage the event logs, gather information about hardware and software problems, and monitor Windows security events.
Open Event Viewer.

Notes

• To open Event Viewer, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Event Viewer.
• For information about using Event Viewer, in Event Viewer, on the Action menu, click Help.
• For more information, click Related Topics.

You can check the temperature using a free utility that comes with the PC, in Bios right after a crash or using a free dowenload like SISOFT Sandra. 35- 55 deg C is normal. The P4 CPUs can run a little hotter than that. If you have high speed graphics the newer cards have a utility in their control panel to read temp.

 

[Punkychan]

May I post here ?? I do have the same problem now...but mine doesn't turn to blue screen..it just restart while I'm doing my work or web surfing...do you think it is advisable to take off my cards and then re insert it again one by one ? I got the feeling it's my vid card is giving me that problem...

 

[Mainframeguy]

Personally - I would check the event viewer first - may save you some time and effort...

Plus if you suspect overheating remove case siding and see if it persists.

 

[mlakrid]

I am not ruling it out, but I would go with what LeeJend already suggested...

I would venture to say about 95% of all symptoms describing what is happening to you are heat related...

"and do not be fooled by saying but it is only 2 minutes after I turn it on"

I have had quite the chuckle when I have asked:
"have you actually touched the heatsink, right after it shhuts itself down?"

and shortly thereafter I get a pretty negative response that I should not tell people to do something which could harm them, my response was:
"I guess it WAS overheating"

I am betting that is your problem as well...

If not some of the other things Leejend suggested are good ideas...

A normal cleaning is in order straight away...

When you dont clean out your PC regularly ...
(and I am just as guilty as the next person)
Then it tends to heat up much faster, almost exclusively because the fins are jam packed full of dirt/dust/lint...

Goto your local PC shop, buy a can of canned air, and spray outthe fins surounding your CPU and video processor..

let us know how this turns out, and as always if we have helped...
providing us some reputation is thakns enough...
<--- look for and press the little yellow star to help us if we helped you...