Massive PC Problem

[Cygnus X-1]

Ok, so my pc keeps rebooting itself at random intervals and for no apparent reason. After running a couple of spyware programs and digging through my registry, there appears to be nothing at fault...

Has this happened to anyone else? I'm stuck as to where to go from here...

[Quietus]

All I can say is Ctrl+Alt+Del, then Google all the processess you see and check if any are spyware/adware/malware...

[Lemur]

Could be a heat problem, depending on which proc you have. If the fan on your heatsink is turning off, that would send you into a reboot.

Oh heck, it could be a ton of things. Just don't forget to investigate the hardware angle in addition to the usual software suspects.

[KukriKhan]

^^the Lemur nailed the primary culprit: heat. Secondary suspect is often: dust (which produces heat). Not every PC problem is software-related, which we often forget.

If, after you've cleaned, aired, and checked all your hardware, you still keep rebooting, be suspicious of your attached printers and/or scanners; they often are (by default) set to phone home for updates, and can cause XP to be confused about which task you want done first - thus causing a BSD/reboot.

Good luck.

[LeftEyeNine]

Yep : Reboots of non-particular intervals are mostly heat problems. Check your fan, heatsink, your case's air flow etc. Grab your vacuum cleaner and hold it close to CPU and system fans, it'll suck the overloaded dust. And if necessary, you may take a cotton ear cleaner and wipe the fans to perfection ~:)

[doc_bean]

I had a similar thing happening when my RAM died, but it didn't happen often before the PC just refused to boot though.

[Cygnus X-1]

Thanks for the help. I'll try out all possible solutions and get back to ya.

Cheers! ~:cheers:

[KukriKhan]

doc_bean raises a good point. Sometimes random reboots can indicate the impending failure of a component.

This place http://www.pcpitstop.com/ has a suite of tests and a good afteraction report; I highly recommend it for a quick (no more than 10 minutes) series of tests that will point up potential hardware & software issues. NOTE: it will require you to authorize the download of their ActiveX testing module, to conduct the tests. I promise it's harmless.

[LeftEyeNine]

Such RAM problems are accompanied by "blue screen" errors as well. If you have happened to see some lately, yes, RAM problem is a possibility. For the first trial, eject and re-insert RAM modules, PC problems do not always have to be complex ~:)