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Spontaneous Restarts

For about 6 months now, my computer has been spontaneously restarting, without any command from myself. I figured it might be a virus causing the problem, but about 20 deep system scans over the past 6 months have led me against that theory. Is there anything within my computer that, could possibly be causing this disruption?

It happens, usuually, where I am in a program, such as Fireworks MX, and attempting to open up a file I need. I click on 'file' and BAM restart. It also happens when I'm using word, which is beyond frustrating, to say the least, and when i use other programs of that nature.

It could just be to do with my power supply, in which case I can replace it. However, I want to make sure that it isn't something internal causing this to happen. If there's anything you might need to know about the computer I'm using, ask away, and I'll attempt answering, I'm not too computer savvy ;[

Cheers,
-Josh
 
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About the power supply, do you leave the switch on, all night and day?

I used to do that on my laptop, and then it just ran out of battery. However, now I always turn all the switches off so that it doesn't run out.

Either that or it could have something to do with this:

http://serebiiforums.com/showthread.php?t=100668

But on reading that it's been happening for 6 months, I doubt it could be the virus mentioned above.
 
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Olyon

Guest
Not too knowledgable on the computer front myself, but there was a point where this happened to my computer.

For me, it did turn out to be a virus, as many other things were messing up (which yours is obviously not), but one of my dads theories was to do with the power supply. He was concerned about the plugs and mentioned something to do with surges.

So, in an attempt to prevent restarts, my father bought a special extension lead type thing, aptly named 'surge guard' which apparently prevented surges from running through the sockets and therefore prevented sudden restarts.

Judging from the info you've given, I'd say a surge-guard plug extension would be a suitable idea. However, like I said, I'm not computer-wise - so be sure to wait until my post is backed up before risking the chance of wating your money >.>;
 

ShiningClefairy

Meteor Trainer
Do you get any sort of error message when your computer boots up? Any sort of driver error or something like that? I once installed drivers for my Nyko Airflo EX, and it caused my computer to crash.

Are you running any specific program when it happens? When I run 3 specific spyware scanners simultaneously, my computer crashes, also giving me the driver error when I boot up.
 
It restarts as it would any other time, completely as normal. It tends to happen when I'm running programs and importing files into those programs from my folders (Such as importing a picture into photoshop).

It could be what Olyon has posted, and be something to do with the power supply, however I have a surge protector already, mind it is around 2 years old.

-Josh
 

Magma Leader Maxie

Non caedor caedo
I had a similar problem. Usually, when I turned on my computer, everything was fine. I ran a virus check and about 8 different spyware removal tools. I deleted a number of infected files, but nothing that could harm my computer too much. Then I used a program called Advanced Registry Tracer. About 2 seconds after it had started running, my computer suddenly, with no warning did a restart. Just as if a dip in the power had ocuured. I did it once more, and got the same result.

Then, about 3 days later, I started up my computer and just as I typed my password and logged on, a restart happened. This kept on happening, again and again, until I finally used system restore to avoid the forced restart.

The problem, I suspect was in my registry, and (I belive) the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT, although I can't say for certain. I had to "break into" the System Volume Information folder at the root of my drive and do a virus scan, which lasted 13 hours and deleted 26893 infected files (consisting of at least 50 different types of worm and virus).

After this, the error no longer happened. However, I removed the Advanced Reg. Tracer, so I don't really know whether or not the problem was fixed. The computer worked fine, but I did a reformat of C: and reinstalled Windows just to make sure.

I really can't say much about what could be happening to your system, but this recount may help put you on the right path to solving the problem.
 
Actually it happened to me before though, and still does it these days from time to time.

To me, I think it is either your power supply connections, maybe check them to make sure everythings in working condition.

I noticed you didn't scan for spywares. My computer had been invaded with spywares before, and it messed up my computer : P Scan for spywares and then get rid of the infected files. Afterwards, you may need to re-install windows or you can try if you can fill in the holes in the Windows update.

All the Best.
 
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I'll check the power supply, because I personally think that it may be the likely cause. I ran a few spyware scans, but, the restarts actually became more abrupt after the computer had been cleaned out, which is rather, odd.

Thanks for the input, I'll hopefully get the whole thing sorted out soon :x

-Josh
 

Clio

Meow
Josh, that already happened with me, and it didn't went out not even after scanning for virus and using Spybot. Turned out I was actually being hacked. That might being happening with you, either. Do you have a good firewall? It has the correct settings? Are there any odd things running as "Tasks" in your computer? Anyway, watch your step with that. Hacking applications can have some nasty side effects if you don't know what you're doing.

Hope it had helped.
 
-Crono- said:
I'll check the power supply, because I personally think that it may be the likely cause. I ran a few spyware scans, but, the restarts actually became more abrupt after the computer had been cleaned out, which is rather, odd.

Thanks for the input, I'll hopefully get the whole thing sorted out soon :x

-Josh

it would make it worst if the spywares affected some crucial registrys : P That's why you would need to re-install Windows or Update it, maybe a clean installation is needed... but that's the last thing you would do.

Oh well, Good Luck ^_^
 

Magma Leader Maxie

Non caedor caedo
IGP: Net Wanderer said:
it would make it worst if the spywares affected some crucial registrys

There's probably some underlying reason, but I don't know a lot about the system registry. The most commonly affected is the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/InternetSettings and some values and keys are often changed here, especially with win32 trojans.
 
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Ethereal

Guest
Interesting. This same thing is happening to my computer. I've had a surge protector from day 1, so I doubt the power supply is the problem. I seriously think some virus or something is the problem, but I don't have any updated scanning programs, so I'm not for sure.

So...my post was rather pointless. Other than eliminating the power supply as the source of the problem...I s'pose.
 

Trip

Former Staff Member
Just because you have a surge protector in the line, that doesn't rule out the power supply. It can break just like anything else in the computer. I've seen more than one computer, on a surge strip, with a bad power supply, just because of age or some other unknown factor.

- Trip
 
I havn't used safe mode since I've got my computer, why do you ask?

I've ran a few more deep systems scans, and nothing is being turned up, so either it isn't there or it isn't being picked up :/

-Josh
 

Magma Leader Maxie

Non caedor caedo
^ Safe mode allows only the most basic applications to be run, that's why it's good to use while getting rid of certain worms, etc.

If the system still restarts for no apparent reason in safe mode, then it's almost certainly the power supply. If it doesn't it's almost certainly some malicious code doing foul things to your computer.
 
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