xtra! xtra! crazed computer restarts on its own

[Munted]

hi all, i know this question is HUGELY ambiguous, but my hope is that the same thing's happened to someone else before.
My problem is that my computer, running win XP, every now and then just restats on its own with no warning or anything! its the same as pressing the restart button, but i KNOW im not pressing it. once it has restarted i get the usual "want to send a error report" with the title bar saying the error is to do with "microsoft windows"... i cant have the comp restarting on its own losing important info! if this has happened to anyone before id love to know about it & hear about how u got around it.. thanks to anyone who can help me.

Brendan

 

[Lonman]

I'm thinking it could be heat related. If you have a motherboard that will automatically shut off when the cpu reaches a certain temp then that could be it. There's a couple programs available that will allow you to monitor your temperature from your desktop. Go get MotherBoard Monitor and CoolMon, both are freeware. Install and configure MBM first, then you can configure Coolmon. MBM doesn't need to be running, but it does need to be configured correctly for Coolmon to work right. Coolmon uses a .dll file from MBM to retrieve the information it displays. Let us know what kind of temperatures you're running after you get these installed and then we'll go from there.

 

[Wrathchild]

Monitoring Software for a Shuttle AV40 MB?

Anyone know of any monitoring software that works with a Shuttle AV40 Motherboard?


Thanks,

Rick

 

[Eolis]

Motherboard Monitor won't??? I'd be surprised if it didn't.........

Whta sensor chips do you have on that board???

 

[Wrathchild]

Nope

I have no idea what sensor chips I have, but MM doesn't work with my board. Which is odd really, considering how popular this MB is.

 

[muzikool]

I've had this problem in the past... I think it was with Windows 2000 though. Luckily, I haven't had this happen with XP, but apparently it does happen. I don't think I ever found an explanation, but a reformat and clean install fixed it. Of course, that isn't the route that I would suggest you take yet. The heat issue is a good guess. I would open the side of the case and put a fan of some sort up to it. If the problem ceases, then I'd consider putting another fan in the case.

 

[Hipster Doofus]

Try this before you go to far. Right click my computer then properties\advanced\startup & recovery\settings then under system failure untick automatic restart.
Might still be a good idea to sort the problem out though.

 

[Grayboy]

I have had this problem myself, and I dont think it is heat related, i have left my computer on all night and it hasnt restarted , but it only needs to be on for about 10 mins sometimes and it restarts, but I shall try and untick automatic shutdown and see if it helps.
Thanks very much people, thought it was just my pc goin nuts

DJ

 

[Rigsta]

LOL My old PC used to start up from cold all on it's own, so what are you guys complaining about 😛

 

[GaMMa]

I had the PC randomly restarting problem. People offered all kinds of solutions such as motherboard overheating, loose cable, bad RAM, etc. I checked all the cabling and found my MOBO and ram were running cool and fine. I noticed that the PC would reboot when I clicked IE or did something random. Soon as I turned the "Reboot on system failure" option off I've had no problems with rebooting what so ever. I'm guessing there is a glitch with that option causing Win XP to reboot whenever you do something.

 

[Rigsta]

Theorretically you should see a blue screen telling you the PC's about to turn off, I think. XP has only crashed on me twice in 5 months (who would have beleived it, eh?), notwithstanding when I tried to run a certain 3d demo a coupla times (hehe)

 

[Munted]

Cheers ppl!

Thanks for all ur help guys - the MBM didnt work (not sure why, dont have enough time to figure it out) so i unticked the reboot on system failure and its been running smooth as ever since. 😀

but keep the ideas coming - bcos there probly is a real problem with it... meanwhile im gonna try n see what temps my comp running at. thanks again

 

[CIREFICE]

this happened to me to, one day the computer just started restarting all the time on it's own, we had just bought it, so took it back to the store and got a new one. NO problems since.