PC reboots for no apparent reason

Gerri

My PC reboots for no apparent reason, it can happen when no programs are running or while programs are running. There is not any pattern to this but the computer is usually left on 24/7. The fan appears to be working fine and there is good air circulation around the PC case. Any thoughts?

azezil

If you're not getting any message to say your machine is going to shut down I'd say its either over heating or faulty hardware.
Just matter of stripping the machine back to its most basic components, trying it out, if its stable like that, add your hardware in one piece at a time till it starts rebooting again, and bingo, you've found your faulty piece of kit

OK-Cancel-Apply

Is that reboot accompanied by an audible clunk, click or clack sound from inside the computer? If so, it could be a faulty HDD.

Gerri

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

Is that reboot accompanied by an audible clunk, click or clack sound from inside the computer? If so, it could be a faulty HDD.

Yes . I suppose that means a new HDD:(

phill106

by any chance do you have windows xp with autoupdate on? sp3 is apparently causing this alot recently.

OK-Cancel-Apply

Gerri wrote: »

Yes . I suppose that means a new HDD:(

Yeah I had this problem once. Luckily I managed to copy most of my important data before the next reboot occurred.

Ghost Train

maybe check system logs see if they indicate anything

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

could be a power supply or motherboard issue
would have expected a hard disk fault to throw up a blue screen with error code

OK-Cancel-Apply

eolhc wrote: »

maybe check system logs see if they indicate anything

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

could be a power supply or motherboard issue
would have expected a hard disk fault to throw up a blue screen with error code

This exact thing happened to me though, and it was caused by the HDD - no BSOD or error message, just a clunk and a reboot. I'll eat my own face if a HDD replacement doesn't fix his problem! :P

Ghost Train

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

This exact thing happened to me though, and it was caused by the HDD - no BSOD or error message, just a clunk and a reboot. I'll eat my own face if a HDD replacement doesn't fix his problem! :P

not saying its not the harddrive, but could be other stuff, the harddrives drawing too much power from one of the powersupply rails maybe

bren2002

If it's a PC as opposed to a laptop you could also have unclean power. Try it somewhere else, ideally in another house, for a few hours.

Gerri

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

This exact thing happened to me though, and it was caused by the HDD - no BSOD or error message, just a clunk and a reboot. I'll eat my own face if a HDD replacement doesn't fix his problem! :P

Information from log. Is it any help?

Type Date Time Source Category Event User Computer
Warning 11/05/2008 19:19:00 EventSystem (52) 4356 N/A FAMILY
Warning 11/05/2008 19:00:32 EventSystem (52) 4356 N/A FAMILY
Warning 11/05/2008 18:37:57 EventSystem (52) 4356 N/A FAMILY
Warning 11/05/2008 18:17:51 EventSystem (52) 4356 N/A FAMILY

Gerri

Gerri wrote: »

Information from log. Is it any help?

The COM+ Event System failed to create an instance of the subscriber partition: {41E90F3E-56C1-4633-81C3-6E8BAC8BDD70}!new:{58FC39EB-9DBD-4EA7-B7B4-9404CC6ACFAB}. CoGetObject returned HRESULT 8000401A.

peckerhead

You could try getting the COM+ Event System to create an instance of the subscriber partition. I'd say that'd sort it. :pac:

Overheal

For Windows XP:

Start > Run > cmd > chkdsk

For Windows Vista:

Start > cmd [RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR] > chkdsk

Restart Computer.
Could also be the power issue but thats an outside chance in my opinion. I have a slightly mismatched laptop charger and every once in a while the AC will cut for a second: without the battery in it would appear like a sudden shutdown alright. Rule out the Hard Disk first.