Computer Randomly Restarts itself?

[Sphere]

I have a Dell computer. Its about a year old. Its been pretty good up to lately. My problem is, it randomly restarts itself. Any time I try to uninstall a program, or run a big program like System Restore..it never finishes and my computer restarts itself. Any ideas what this it?

 

[doofus125]

I have a Dell computer. Its about a year old. Its been pretty good up to lately. My problem is, it randomly restarts itself. Any time I try to uninstall a program, or run a big program like System Restore..it never finishes and my computer restarts itself. Any ideas what this it?

yeah, sounds like you have some spyware/adware or a trojan/worm/virus...... you need to scan your hard drive for viruses and spyware.......

 

[seebs]

There's a couple of possible virus-like things which could be involved, too.

 

[mrgrandyman]

Can't help you with the restart problem.

But if the problem is spyware, download, install and use Ad-aware from Lavasoft. It is the best spyware detection and removal software available and it is free. It operates like anti-viral software does. Lavasoft regularly releases spyware updates ("definitions" if you will) and the Ad-aware scans your system for the spyware and then quarantines the file in question. The quarantine is then made available to be deleted.

If the problem is a virus, download, install and use AVG from Grisoft.com. It is excellent virus detection and removal software and, again, it is free. I have used AVG and a trial version of Nortion Antivirus 2004 side by side. AVG detected a virus in a hidden file on my computer that Norton did not. I have full confidence in AVG.

Adam

 

[seebs]

I think Spybot Search & Destroy is beter than Ad-aware.

It's also free, and it's got a better track record.

 

[Sphere]

Can't help you with the restart problem.

But if the problem is spyware, download, install and use Ad-aware from Lavasoft. It is the best spyware detection and removal software available and it is free. It operates like anti-viral software does. Lavasoft regularly releases spyware updates ("definitions" if you will) and the Ad-aware scans your system for the spyware and then quarantines the file in question. The quarantine is then made available to be deleted.

If the problem is a virus, download, install and use AVG from Grisoft.com. It is excellent virus detection and removal software and, again, it is free. I have used AVG and a trial version of Nortion Antivirus 2004 side by side. AVG detected a virus in a hidden file on my computer that Norton did not. I have full confidence in AVG.

Adam

Yes I use norton, and it has found several virus's in the past on this computer. Also, let me state that before the computer restarts itself, I get a blue screen with a LOT of writing on it. The blue screen flashes for about 1 1/2 seconds, then the boot process continues.

 

[kakumei_keahi]

Spybot Search & Destroy would be the best thing.. I use it all the time personaly.

You can get that here: safer-networking.org/

And for the restarting may I suggest you patch windows? go to microsoft.com and go to update.

 

[SirKenin]

Check this page out and see if it rings a bell with you, Halruaa.

http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/blast.asp

 

[Sharky]

I'm thinking it's a virus.

Another possiblity is that your CPU is overheating BAD. Have you tried over clocking it or even tweaking the bios? If so, then there's a good chance it's the CPU and motherboard.

I know it's extreme, chances are it isn't the case but the stuff you describe match the problems i had in the past. My puter would simply restart or turn off. This was due to the CPU.

But if you're getting a blue screen etc, maybe try reformatting your computer and start from scratch. If it still restarts then it's a hardware problem.

 

[4thwatcher]

I have a Dell computer. Its about a year old. Its been pretty good up to lately. My problem is, it randomly restarts itself. Any time I try to uninstall a program, or run a big program like System Restore..it never finishes and my computer restarts itself. Any ideas what this it?

i do second the motion with what sharky have shared. perhaps the cpu is generating too much heat that the heat sink is not becoming enough to absorb the heat. check your system fan or the heatsink... usually, a retouch of a thermal paste will do the trick ... if the problem persists, reduce the fsb configuration at the bios... or, if it's not a hardware issue, then, that definitely is caused by the blaster virus... dl it straight away .. drfeelgood have provided the link!

 

[gusto5]

If the dell is a year old, i believe you are running on Microsoft Xp Home/Professional OS Software? IF that assumption is correct:

visit Windows and update your Windows with the SP1. The resets are due to a leak in the windows os software through one of its secure access pathways. Service Pack 1 (or sp1) will fix that up for you.

 

[SirKenin]

I'm thinking it's a virus.

Another possiblity is that your CPU is overheating BAD. Have you tried over clocking it or even tweaking the bios? If so, then there's a good chance it's the CPU and motherboard.

The last I checked, Dell's didn't ship with the ability to overclock and the fan met spec. Things could have changed though

 

[WeakButHopeful]

Something that happened to me once (on my WinXP system): after the installation of new software I was getting constant reboots. I eventually discovered (on Google) that WinXP may have been setup to automatically reboot on serious errors. To check this out, right click on My Computer, pick Properties, Advanced tab, click the Settings button in the Startup and Recovery box and under System Failure see if the checkbox for Automatically Restart is checked.

I agree it could be a virus, but I just thought I should mention this because when it's happening to you it sure seems like you've been bitten by a bug. Another place to look is the System Event Viewer (assuming you're on WinXP, Win2000 or WinNT). That may tell you if serious stuff is going on.

Which brings me to the last point. Please take this in the spirit of constructive criticism. I mean no insult, please believe me. But saying you have a Dell that is 1 year old is not very helpful. It's good to get in the habit of starting any request for help with your computer by stating at least the operating system you are using, and the major hardware attributes (CPU, memory, video card). This is the equivalent of "I own a 2000 Honda Civic 4 cylinder manual transmission" as opposed to "I have a late model Honda". It just helps us help you.

 

[Sphere]

Thanks to those who took the time to respond. My apologies for not being more specific on my computer so here goes:

Dell Dimension 4550
2.0 ghz intel processor
512 DDR ram
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420
Windows XP Home Edition (OS)

I got that AVG free virus program now running with my Norton as virus protection. Also to the person who mentioned that blast worm from a few months ago, I did patch my computer when that worm was being reported.

However I have not patched it since, maybe i'll visit windowsupdate.com and get anything new. Also, I have never overclocked my CPU or anything on this computer.

Now, since posting this thread, my computer has not restarted itself. At least all the times i've been watching it I'll also note again, that when it did restart; it would only restart while uninstalling a program or in any attempt to use System Restore. When it did restart, a quick blue screen with a lot of writing would flash for about 2 seconds, then the boot would continue. Also there were times when I would leave the room--come back and it was somehow in the process of restarting itself.

So, that is where I currently stand. Any thoughts?

 

[Sphere]

Update, I ran system restore 2 minutes ago and it didnt restart during the process. Which has me relieved.

 

[RTM]

Have you run AdAware or Spybot yet? I've encountered quite a few systems that exhibit the same symptoms yours does, and the culprit is usually a crapload of spyware/adware/malware installed on the system.

Also, did your PC reboot after trying to uninstall a specific program, or does it do it any time you try to uninstall ANY program?

 

[SirNivek]

For the removal of viruses, its often easier to use Stinger, a virus removal app (free).

http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

This is not a replacement for antivirus software, which should prevent such problems, but once you have the problem stinger is better.

 

[WeakButHopeful]

See my earlier post. Did you look to see if the "Automatically Restart" checkbox is checked, by following that procedure I described?

Also, you may want to right click on My Computer and pick "Manage" (actually I have WinXP Pro, I'm not sure if Home has the same options). Assuming you can select "Manage" up will come the Computer Management window. Look at the tree view on the left and under System Tools, then under Event Viewer click on Application and later System. Each time you click look at the right hand display. Do you see "Error" notifications around the date/time when your system rebooted?

By the way, the screen you are describing (blue with a lot of writing) might be the infamous BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) which Microsoft pops up when there's a serious error. The trouble is, many virus writers thought it funny to imitate that screen to scare people, so it's hard to know whether you have a real one due to a hardware or software conflict, or a fake one caused by a virus. Hence the other folks comments.

 

[Sphere]

See my earlier post. Did you look to see if the "Automatically Restart" checkbox is checked, by following that procedure I described?

Also, you may want to right click on My Computer and pick "Manage" (actually I have WinXP Pro, I'm not sure if Home has the same options). Assuming you can select "Manage" up will come the Computer Management window. Look at the tree view on the left and under System Tools, then under Event Viewer click on Application and later System. Each time you click look at the right hand display. Do you see "Error" notifications around the date/time when your system rebooted?

Alright, Ichecked what you told me earlier, no that "Automatically Restart" was not checked. Also, I do have that log you, and yes there are some errors in those logs but im not sure if they're around the time I was having problems.

By the way, the screen you are describing (blue with a lot of writing) might be the infamous BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) which Microsoft pops up when there's a serious error. The trouble is, many virus writers thought it funny to imitate that screen to scare people, so it's hard to know whether you have a real one due to a hardware or software conflict, or a fake one caused by a virus. Hence the other folks comments.

Well my computer hasn't restarted itself since about 1 or 2 days now, which is good. So apparently whatever it was is quite possibly fixed.

 

[Priest]

Sounds like a virus or trojan or worm, scan for them, or if it's a DEll it's highly unlikey a BIOS setting which is wrong unless your a do it yourselfer and tried tweaking it.