Computer Restarts Itself

Category: Hardware

"My PC running on Windows XP frequently restarts it self for no apparent reason. Any files or internet pages I have been working on are lost. The PC reboots to the desktop and I have to redo all my work. Any ideas please?"


Baby, It's Hot in There

computer restarts itself Sometimes this can be caused by an overheating situation. Itunes, RealPlayer, Windows Media player, etc. require a lot of processing power to decompress and decode music files, which can cause the processor or hard drive to get hot.

If your CPU is running at over 60 degrees (C) you might be at risk of burning it out. Some systems shut down automatically when the temperature reaches an unsafe level. Every few weeks I open my system unit and clean the fins on the heat sink that sits under the CPU. When they collect dust it restricts the airflow and prevents proper cooling. You can use a can of compressed air (look at your local office supply store) or an old toothbrush. I just did that on my system and the CPU temperature dropped by ten degrees!

Download the free Speedfan utility and it will tell you the temperature at which your CPU and hard drives are running.

Memory Fails Me...

If you determine that overheating is not the problem, the most likely suspect is bad memory. Trying to access a bad spot in your system memory (RAM) can cause the computer to freak out and restart. The best way to find the culprit is to pop open the system unit, remove (or replace) one RAM stick and see if the problem is solved. Run your system for a while and if the problem goes away, you win! If not... lather, rinse and repeat for each RAM stick until you find the one that's misbehaving.

Don't Do Me Any Favors

There's a setting buried in Windows XP that tells your computer to restart when a system error occurs. If you turn off that option, you may solve your automatic reboot problem.

  • Click Start, then open Control Panel
  • Click Performance and Maintenance
  • Click System
  • Click on the Advanced Tab
  • Click Settings in the Startup and Recovery section
  • Uncheck Automatically Restart in the System failure section

    Note that this may prevent the system from restarting, but it can also mask the true problem. As an alternative to this measure, consider what has recently changed on your system. If you have installed new hardware or software, remove it and see if the annoying restart persists. Sometimes downloading the latest driver software from the manufacturer's website will fix hardware incompatibility problems that cause restarts.

    Computer Restarts After Download?

    Some folks have written to me complaining that their computer automatically restarts itself after every download. And interestingly, most (if not all) mentioned they were using the Firefox browser. If you are using a download manager or download accelerator, this could be causing the problem. Check all the settings in the download manager and tweak if necessary. Or get rid of the download manager and see if the problem remains.

    This can also be a virus or spyware problem. I suggest you go through your Control Panel / Add or Remove Programs list and remove any programs you don't need, then run thorough anti-virus and anti-spyware scans. It could even be your anti-virus program fighting with the browser or download manager. Switching to a new anti-virus might help also. See my recommendations for the best free anti-virus software for help with that.

    Other Things to Consider

    Failing or under-rated power supplies can also cause your computer to restart at seemingly random intervals. Switching out a power supply is really not too hard. Turn off the computer, open the case, disconnect the power cable from the power supply to the motherboard. Unscrew the power supply from the case, and reverse the process to install a new power supply. A 300-watt power supply will be fine in most computers.

    And as one reader kindly pointed out, bad capacitors on the motherboard can also cause random reboots. But unless you're kinda geeky and handy with a soldering iron, it's tough to identify and fix this problem. You can find lots more helpful info on bad capacitors at badcaps.net. For most mere mortals, replacing the motherboard as a last resort will be easier than replacing a capacitor.

    I also encourage you to read ALL of the comments below, before you rip your hair out, or rip your computer to shreds. It boils down to this... most restart problems are caused by overheating, bad ram, malware, or some other failing component. It can be difficult and time-consuming to identify WHICH of those things is the culprit. The only good solution is to test each one, in sequence (removing and replacing components if necessary), to identify the problem.




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    Posted by Bob Rankin on February 21, 2006 10:21 PM


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    Related Keywords: Hardware   automatic   computer restart   reboot   cpu temperature   download   firefox  

    Most recent comments on "Computer Restarts Itself"

    (See all 171 comments for this article.)

    Posted by:
    RODNEE
    14 Mar 2009

    myPC is continuously rebooting itself. WHAT CAN BE THE CAUSE OF THIS


    Posted by:
    arman8pm
    18 Mar 2009

    dear it is the problem of ur pc's processor,s fan . open pc then clean and refit the fan .
    it restarts
    due 2 heat in processor.
    THANK YOU


    Posted by:
    Don Xiong
    27 Mar 2009

    Ok here goes... my computer started restarting every 5 minutes or so... It restarts fine windows loads up and goes to the desktop but i notice that the internet isn't connected and most programs won't work. No internet browsers or programs freeze up and go to that window where they ask if you wanna send the problem thinger. I can do some scans with spybot or CCleaner and avg, but avg can't finish because it restarts lol almost exactly every 5 minutes or so like it was timed. It just automatically turns black... sometimes a flashed blue screen. No log out restart screen or anything just off then restart. As if i hit the restart button. I have cleaned it out with air spray, reapplied thermo paste, and cleaned and dusted everything but it still does it. I can start in safe mode and i did all the scans again. It doesn't restart in safe mode. I'm running a avg scan in safe mode right now it caught one or two trojans and put them in virus vault and i deleted them but dunno if it will work after this. I hope this is just the problem lol i had this problem before and I bought a new hard drive. Transferred all my data onto that then i had to format my other hard drive. It was a pain in the ass lol and it worked fine again until about now, it is happening again... could it be something i downloaded... a program? power supply? heating? virus? i don't know... =( I have a amd athlon 65 and i have a 300 gig hard drive and now a 500 gig hard drive. Apart from the powersupply fan i have one for heat sink and one in front. I dunno about anything else since i have kinda computer hardware illiterate lol I also have a lot of movies on my computer and use bittorrents and download alot of mp3s. Anyways... i was thinking of also trying to run system restore because i have windows xp, in safe mode to the day or before this started happening... but only if i have too... any ideas?

    EDITOR'S NOTE: Defintely clean up the malware and do a System Restore. Have you run SpeedFan?


    Posted by:
    ubunaru
    27 Mar 2009

    its a very weird situation. it usually happens after 20+ hours of being turned on. i never shut down my pc unless i have to. the components are somewhat old - around 5yrs old i think pentium4 3000, geforce3 (used for about 6-7 yrs), asus motherboard w. intel chipset, and 512 + 128 ddr1 (ram is really old, more like 8 yrs - im thinking that that might be the problem) theres also a leadtek tv card that caused me some problems before but new drivers fixed it, and soundblaster live! 5.1 (also used for about 6-7 years)
    the psu (600W) is new and is of a good quality
    the cpu cooler is running fine i think. i clean it every once in a while (but thats certainly not the problem as you will see) i have 2 ata and 1 sata HD, they all run fine

    the funny thing is - it never restarts itself unless im doing something on it (so for example i can go for a 7 days trip, leave the pc on and when i come back i see the applications are still running, stuff is still downloading and it hasnt restarted itself, but when i check out my mail or do something else - it restarts)
    after it restarts it will take another 20+ hrs before it restarts itself again (its never less than 20+ hrs and rarely more than 30) - so its not cpu overheating
    i never do anything that uses a lot of cpu or gpu power (i never play games, i very rarely use photoshop). i only use it for downloading and surfing (and listening to music and reading)
    i noticed that it mostly restarts itself while i use firefox (or possibly always but im not sure, because firefox is always opened)
    i have a nod32 and it doesnt detect any malware
    i'm not experiencing anything strange other than spontaneous restarting and everything is stable and otherwise fine
    also, i noticed that it always first crashes and loops the last bit of sound that was playing and when thats over (it lasts for a second or two) it definitely crashes.

    thats it. i would appreciate your help very much.


    Posted by:
    Colleen
    03 Apr 2009

    I'm helping a friend with her resarting computer. It doesn't restart in safe mode, and it always does it right when desktop is loaded and other programs are loading. Tried system restore, ran avg in safe mode, cleaned it - but didn't take fan off yet OR test fan speed. Do you know a good way to do that? Guess I can check BIOS? Anyway I turned off Auto restart and it would then shut down and get blue screen. Blue screen always says..PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
    then it shows technical information:
    ***STOP: 0x00000050 (0xED77AF35, 0x00000000, 0x8053CE32, 0x00000000)
    Does this give a hint to the problem? THanks

    EDITOR'S NOTE: Page Fault errors sometimes indicate bad RAM. Try swapping out the RAM.


    Posted by:
    Guru
    21 Apr 2009

    Hi!!!! First time on this site, already like it... Weird problem of mine, first of all... my PC is a Core2due 2.4, 4 GB Ram (2GB 2 sticks), Windows XP, No Graphics card extra....

    PC Restarts specifically when i play a game... Football Manager, and then it keep restarting every 2 mins until i shut it down for a hour or more... and then it started spreading to other games and now... it restarts even when i jus open Firefox...

    Its not over Heating : Checked with speed fan and couple of other ones... its not overheating for sure. Its Not Ram : took out each ram and tried... still restarts... Auto restart is un ticked, got Anti Virus and Firewall installed as well,

    I have tried everything... nothing has worked out till now, Can you please suggest me something?

    EDITOR'S NOTE: This can be very tricky to diagnose, as you are seeing. Have you ruled out the power supply, and looked into bad capacitors or motherboard problem?


    Posted by:
    Logic Computer Services
    19 May 2009

    system re-start caused by ram.. this is a nightmare im currently having but not sure if its the ram or caused by a fault with the motherboard cmos not re-setting properly.


    Posted by:
    hanna
    19 May 2009

    hi i have installed a new RAM into my pc and from that time the pc restart from time to time.note that the RAM is new.
    Can you help me please?

    EDITOR'S NOTE: A classic example of the Pain story... PATIENT: "Doctor, it hurts when I install RAM in my computer." DOCTOR: "Stop doing that."


    Posted by:
    sudharsun
    30 May 2009

    My system is restarting itself ...if i insert os cd also its not accepting...it restarting and giving some option like safe mode,safe mode networking,good configuration etc...if i select safe mode or any other option means its not working...please help me from this ...

    EDITOR'S NOTE: Try changing the BIOS to specify boot from the CDROM.


    Posted by:
    raiza barredo
    14 Jun 2009

    I already reformat my PC after having a series of automatic shutdown.while I'm in the middle of reformat.my PC hang at around 99%!.i wonder why it happened.then after my 2nd attempt I heard the CPU making an error tone...is it the RAM that is making my PC worse?...


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