Sudden Rebooting

  • Thread starter Thread starter TrickTrash
  • Start date Start date
T

TrickTrash

Ever since I installed the latest Microsoft Updates for XP (the 12? new
security updates following SP 2) I've had a problem with my system suddenly
rebooting.
I don't know if the two are related but during the updating process I
behaved very impatiently: I had only just turned on Auto-Updating & didn't
pay real attention, so didn't bother to understand it. I kept stopping it,
trying to cancel it & generally buggering about. (Don't ask me why, just a
wally I guess.) Eventually I got them installed. Anyway, I uninstalled each
of these updates but still had the same problem. So now I've reinstalled
them. What all that's worth, I don't know. But now you know.

What seems to happen is that the system seems to come up against an OS
problem or conflict, I think, decides to give up the ghost and reboot. This
most often happens with IE, when I try to go to a new website, whether
following a link or opening a new page. Somtimes immediately after dial-up
to my Home Page. Also, load times have increased hugely & sometimes it just
hangs forever, with the IE progress bar stalled part way, though the
computer still responds outside of IE. It doesn't seem to happen with
Firefox, but I've been getting far more 'Can't find server' messages there,
which I'm suspicious of.

It's not just related to IE however. It also happens when I'm offline;
what seems to happen is, whilst it's doing something I ask of it, whether OS
based or some independant application, I try to interact with the shell/OS
components & it decides it's had enough again, gives up the ghost & reboots.

Beyond those bare facts I can't put my finger on anything more specific,
other than to say that, using X-Setup Pro, I've got the Windows Desktop &
Folder Windows "running in a separate process," if that matters. I have
tried running it without these options, but it doesn't seem to make a
difference, it's just that I think the problem is somewhere in there. And I
suspect that it's easily fixable if I know which settings to tinker with.
But that's just a feeling in my waters.

I need some help to point me in the direction of what to investigate. I
don't know enough to narrow this down -I wouldn't describe myself as a
novice, more like a rank up from that, but being self-taught, there are huge
gaps in my understanding.

I had just done a clean install after updating several hardware components &
the system was working really well.

I'm pretty sure it's not to do with a virus/worm or other nasty; I'm fairly
security minded & run these programs in memory:

Microsoft Antispyware
AVG AntiVirus
Pest Patrol
TrojanHunter
SpywareGuard
SpywareBlaster
ZoneAlarm Security Suite, with AntiVirus

And I regularly run scans of these:

Ad-Aware
Spybot
ewido Security Suite
Ghostbuster
The Cleaner
Stinger
CoolWebShredder
HijackThis

And I recently did a TrendMicro online scan. Of course I realise I could
still be infected, but if I am, have no idea what to do about it beyond the
above.

I'm using XP Pro & have a dial-up connection.
 
TrickTrash said:
Ever since I installed the latest Microsoft Updates for XP (the 12? new
security updates following SP 2) I've had a problem with my system suddenly
rebooting.
Click to expand...

Do you see any errors in the event logs aroundthe time it reboots? Use the
Event Viewer.
 
Have you tried using System Restore to bring your computer back
to a time before you installed all the updates?

If that's not an option, try the following:
Go to Start -> Run and type sysdm.cpl in the Open box.
Click OK.
(Or you can right click on My Computer and select Properties.)
This should bring up System Properties.
On the Advanced page, click on the Settings button in the
"Startup and Recovery" section.
In the "System failure" section of the box that pops up, remove
the check mark from where it says "Automatically restart" .

Now, instead of rebooting, you should see a blue screen with what
hopefully will be an error message. Post back with info about the
stop error. Make sure you note any mention of what looks to be a
driver, something like drivername.sys.

Here's a good place to start troubleshooting stop error messages:

http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm
 
I'd forgotten I'd read somewhere to turn off Automatic Restart & had already
done it, without getting any BSOD, which I've never seen in XP. I also
hadn't been checking memory dumps; now that you've pointed it out to me I've
checked & don't have any.

I'd been checking the Event Viewer, but couldn't initially link any of the
messages to my problem, so had discounted this, which may have been a
mistake.

I keep seeing 2 types of error message here-

Under Application : PerfNet Event ID 2002 Can't open Redirector service &
PerfNet Event ID 2004 Can't open Server service. Neither seemed to apply to
me as they seem to refer to Workstations & servers & I'm a lone Desktop.

Under System:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: DCOM
Event Category: None
Event ID: 10005
User: NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM
Description:
DCOM got error "The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled
or because it has no enabled devices associated with it. " attempting to
start the service IISADMIN with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{******************}

Again I thought nothing of this as I've got DCOM Server Process Launcher
running automatically and this error seemed a regular occurence, not always
associated with a reboot. I'd also become blase about the services, having
poured over Black Viper's recommendations & thought I'd got these sussed,
although in truth I don't always understand them.

I should also point out that I remember doing something with the IIS Admin
service after I thought I got them all sorted, I think I was tinkering with
the 'add Windows components' wizard & added the Internet Information
Services snap-in, thinking it would give me some interesting performance
info, only to disable the IIS Admin Service when I failed to understand it.
( Are they related?)

Could any of the above error messages be pointing to the problem? Am I
talking out of my hat?

So far I seem to be going around in not very productive circles. Is there
anything else I should be doing to narrow down the field of suspects?


Nepatsfan said:
Have you tried using System Restore to bring your computer back to a time
before you installed all the updates?

If that's not an option, try the following:
Go to Start -> Run and type sysdm.cpl in the Open box.
Click OK.
(Or you can right click on My Computer and select Properties.)
This should bring up System Properties.
On the Advanced page, click on the Settings button in the "Startup and
Recovery" section.
In the "System failure" section of the box that pops up, remove the check
mark from where it says "Automatically restart" .

Now, instead of rebooting, you should see a blue screen with what
hopefully will be an error message. Post back with info about the stop
error. Make sure you note any mention of what looks to be a driver,
something like drivername.sys.

Here's a good place to start troubleshooting stop error messages:

http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm
Click to expand...
 
TrickTrash said:
I'd forgotten I'd read somewhere to turn off Automatic Restart & had already
done it, without getting any BSOD, which I've never seen in XP. I also
hadn't been checking memory dumps; now that you've pointed it out to me I've
checked & don't have any.

I'd been checking the Event Viewer, but couldn't initially link any of the
messages to my problem, so had discounted this, which may have been a
mistake.
Click to expand...

If you are getting spontaneous reboots and you have turned off the
setting for automatic restarts then there are two prime suspects:

1. Virus/spyware infestation, although I haven't heard of one that
causes this type of behavior.

2. Hardware fault, such as a motherboard or CPU problem.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP"
 
Ron

Yeah, I hear you. It doesn't feel lik an infection, but could be a hardware
issue. I'd had that in the back of my mind, but had been avoiding it as I
just forked out a load of shekels for all this shiny new gear!

I had been running my system for 3 months with the new gear, without having
done a clean install, using a workaround I'd seen on TweakXP.com, which
involved using generic IDE/ATA Controllers, booting to Safe Mode, & then
updating with the new M\B Controllers. I'd done this as I expected to have
a problem with 'votes' for new additions of hardware & expected it to be a
big hassle to update activation. Although I wasn't happy with it from the
point of view of the Software/Drivers & have since done a clean install, the
new gear ran without any defects.

I'd hoped to be able to have one of you clever buggers wave a magic wand &
sort my problem, but I think I'll need to do another clean install to get
over this. I'm sure if I was a bit more knowledgeable I'd be able to
explain myself more clearly & suddenly the fog would clear & all would be
revealed.

Alas, I'll have to live with my imperfections. I'll be damned if I'll let
this heap of junk get the better of me though.

Yours in bitter optimism...

Thanks for the help.
 
TrickTrash said:
CW:

Thank's for the reply. I'm trying to decipher what the article means!
Click to expand...

Well it says the DCOM error is caused IIS Admin service isn't running but
the rest of that article just tells you how to reproduce the error message
not fix it!

I've just looked on my PC and can't see the IIS service running so I'm
stuck.
 
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