random restarts

[mrrogers]

I have just reinstalled windows and still get random restarts. the only system change i have made is advanced power management to make the comp shut off after i shut down. I have no errors in event viewer.
I had hoped reinstalling windows would fix the problem,(no luck).
can anyone help?

[baquila]

How long has this been happening? Sometimes a power supply problem will cause this. Too many attachments to the motherboard ie: several PCI cards, AGP card, several USB devices chained together through a USB hub, etc. If you have a lot of attachments, try removing one at a time and see if it continues to happen. I used to get random restarts when I tried using a USB connection to my cable modem instead of an ethernet card. It happened on my mom's computer because of that also. Getting an ethernet card fixed the problem for both of us. A friend of mine is a tech at Gateway. He says he has seen hard drives that cause this too. He couldn't explain why though. He said a new hard drive fixed the problem (shrug). From what I've heard it seems that random restarts are usually a hardware problem, not usually software but make sure there are no conflicts (yellow question marks) listed next to any hardware in the device manager. These are just a few ideas to start with. Keep us informed.

[mrrogers]

Thank you i don't have much for atachments but i do have an ethernet card that is disabled and has a yello question mark in front of it. i will try fixing that and see what happens.

[baquila]

Yeah, let me know. Could be that internet explorer is trying to use the modem to connect to the intenet if it doesn't recognize the card. Install the driver for that card and we'll go from there.

[baquila]

OMG! I doubt that is the cause of it but correct the driver problem, of course. I got your problem mixed up with a guy who can't get his modem to work. Sorry. But let me know if u get that driver installed and the card up and running.

[mrrogers]

well i'v got everything updated to latest drivers and all work fine.BUT, it still restarts.I'm not sure if this is related dut in event viewer under system log i hav a log event stating log was started.the next event says microsoft(R)windows 2000(R)5.02195 service pack 2 uniprocesor free.then another avent that event log stoped.these are not errors just information logs.
any ideas what that is?
thanks for the help.

[baquila]

What type of connection are u using to the internet. You aren't by chance using a cable or DSL modem through a USB port are you? Also, what about a surge protecter or UPS? I would surely disable ANY AND ALL power saving functions you have on. Go into control panel and in power management make sure you disable any abilities the computer has of powering down. Then go into device manager and go through the properties of each device you have and disable anything that lets them power down including your network card, modem, hard drive, video and sound card if these options are shown.

Memory shortages can also cause restarts. Right click on a blank spot on the bottom of your screen (toolbar) and choose task manager. Hit the performance tab and just let it run in the background for a bit. In the meantime, open a few files and run a program or 2. Then look at the graph and see if your memory is being used up. Also, right click on my computer-choose properties-advanced-performance options-click the change button. In the window click once on the drive you are on, then in the box labeled "initial size" type 300. Then in the box labeled maximum size also type 300. Then click the "set" button. Click OK for all the windows and it will tell you to restart. It will also give you a warning about changing your virtual memory size. Just click ok.

One last thing - defragment your hard drive and run disk cleanup. Make sure you have at least 500 MB of free space on your drive.

These fixes will eliminate the possibility of power management or (most) memory problems. There are more things to try so don't give up. There is an answer - sometimes you get lucky and hit on it quick, sometimes it takes a bit. Be patient. Let me know as much as you can about what you see. I'll be watching for your post

[killroy]

Go to control panel/system/Advanced tab/Start Up and Recovery. See if Automatically reboot is checked and if so, uncheck it. This is somebodys idea af a useful item that if something goes haywire, the machine automatically restarts without giving you a choice. I had the same problem as you have and this cured it. After wards, i began to see entried in the system log about what was causing the problems, and i got the guidance here to cure those problems