Computer rebooting itself

[Owkmann]

I'm running Windows XP with all the latest updates. Without warning my
computer will reboot itself. I'll be in the middle of browsing the web or
checking My Documents and suddenly the screen will go blank, and then a
complete reboot will start, starting with the BIOS information screen. I
can't seem to tie it to any particular software issue, so I'm assuming it's
hardware.

What would cause this to happen? Could my BIOS be detecting a problem? Could
it be a Hard Disk failure?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Owkmann

 

[David B.]

Make sure the CPU heat sink isn't full of dust and the fan is working, then
start with memory and hard drive diagnostics.

 

[Gerry]

Is there a Stop Error Report?

Disable automatic restart on system failure. This should help by
allowing time to write down the STOP code properly. Right click on
the My Computer icon on the Desktop and select Properties, Advanced,
Start-Up and Recovery, System Failure and uncheck box before
Automatically Restart.

Do not re-enable automatic restart on system failure even after you have
solved the problem as it's better disabled. Check for variants of the
Stop Error message.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Owkmann]

Thanks Gerry. I unchecked "Automatically restart" under the Startup and
Recovery settings. I noticed that the "Write an event to the system log" is
checked under System failure, and that "Small memory dump(64 KB) is selected
under the "Write debugging information" option. The Small dump directory is
%SystemRoot%\Minidump. After searching for and finding the MInidump files, I
opened them with Notepad and found them unreadable. Is there a program
available that will let me look at these files? I noticed the files were
created about the time of my random reboots...

Owkmann

 

[JS]

Do you have Live OneCare installed?

JS

 

[Gerry]

Minidump files are difficult to interpret. I have tried and failed.

You will find the crashs are recorded in Event Viewer.

Please post copies of all Error and Warning Reports appearing in
the System and Application logs in Event Viewer for the last boot. No
Information Reports or Duplicates please. Indicate which also appear in
a previous boot.

You can access Event Viewer by selecting Start, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, and Event Viewer. When researching the meaning
of the error, information regarding Event ID, Source and Description
are important.

HOW TO: View and Manage Event Logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427/en-us

Part of the Description of the error will include a link, which you
should double click for further information. You can copy using copy
and paste. Often the link will, however, say there is no further
information.
http://go.microsoft.com/fw.link/events.asp
(Please note the hyperlink above is for illustration purposes only)

A tip for posting copies of Error Reports! Run Event Viewer and double
click on the error you want to copy. In the window, which appears is a
button resembling two pages. Click the button and close Event
Viewer.Now start your message (email) and do a paste into the body of
the message. Make sure this is the first paste after exiting from
Event Viewer.


--



Hope this helps.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[Owkmann]

Thanks everyone for your help. I pulled the fan off the CPU heatsink and
found solid dust covering half of it.

Owkmann