Systems shutting down

[101]

Switched from DSL to RR 3 days ago, not sure if it is related.
But, I have two XP machines and both have shut down during the night for the
last two nights. One shuts down completely, the other reboots. Nothing is
showing up in the logs besides startup information on the machine that
rebooted. The first night it appears that the machine came back up at 6:14
am, last night it came back up at 6:44 am. Both machines have Automatic
Restart checked for system failure option. I have norton internet security
2005 (the one with virus and firewall combined) on the machine that just
shuts down. I have norton PF 2004 and AV 2004 on the machine that reboots. I
don't find any viruses.

Can someone be getting in and shutting them down on me? Is there something I
can setup to see why this is happening. Someway of capturing the shutdown to
the log, or even better, the reason for the shutdown?

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

101 wrote:

Both machines have Automatic Restart checked for system
failure option.

UN-check that option because you may just be having an "stop / error" condition that came up. In any event, you do need to know what the Stop is when (or after) it happens.

Can someone be getting in and shutting them down on me? Is there
something I can setup to see why this is happening. Someway of
capturing the shutdown to the log, or even better, the reason for the
shutdown?

Go into your My Computer >right-click for Properties | System properties | "Advanced" TAB | in the "Startup and Recovery" section....click the "settings" button. "Un-check" the "automatically restart" line.
And in the "Write debugging information" select "NONE". This turns off the error "dumps".(That's a suggestion; most people won't need them). Apply change, make clean exit.

When you get back into XP, pick "Help and Support" from menu. In its search box, type "PC Health". Choose "Get information about your computer". Pick view advanced system information. Then pick view the error log.
Look for "error event" --- by date and time -- closest to your last problem.

Start button/ Run / type
devmgmt.msc <enter> -- or Go to Control Panel ----Device Manager. Take a good look at list of devices. Expand lists & look at each device. Are there any marked with exceptions?