occasional spontaneous reboots

[Sondra]

It doesn't happen every time I use the computer. When it does, it's usually within 20 minutes of turning it on. I've heard of viruses that cause this to happen over and over. Could this still be a virus? Bad ram? Can I test for bad ram--or whatever it might be--myself, without getting too deep into technical stuff?

 

[Soundmanred]

To best diagnose your problem, please provide the following:
Motherboard maker and model
BIOS revision
Processor maker, model and speed
RAM maker, type, speed, capacity
Optical drive maker and model
Hard drive maker and model
Make and model year of the car you drive
How long you've had your system and when the problem occurred

It's probably not a virus, more likely just an unstable system.

 

[robisbell]

please ignore soundman, seems he's having issues.

you can go to http://housecall.trendmicro.com and run a full scan. it should take over an hour, depending on how much you have stored on your HDD(s) and the size of them.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Sondra
It doesn't happen every time I use the computer. When it does, it's usually within 20 minutes of turning it on. I've heard of viruses that cause this to happen over and over. Could this still be a virus? Bad ram? Can I test for bad ram--or whatever it might be--myself, without getting too deep into technical stuff?

Let it happen a time or two more and write down the exact times it happens, down to the second.

Look in the event log (the System portion) and post the events that correspond with the times of the reboots.

Confirm (or deny) that there are files in c:\windows\minidumps that have the same times and dates as the reboots.

Another way is just to run MPSReports (see my .sig), say yes to the prompt, and mail me the resulting yourcomputername.cab file. 🙂

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: robisbell
please ignore soundman, seems he's having issues.

you can go to http://housecall.trendmicro.com and run a full scan. it should take over an hour, depending on how much you have stored on your HDD(s) and the size of them.

Regardless of your opinion of someone, there is no cause for that kind of comment against someone else on AT. He's trying to help. Please be nice.

 

[robisbell]

dclive, that wasn't helping, seems when you kids jump in spouting off fixes without chekcing the hardware 1st, the problem gets worse.

 

[Soundmanred]

Will you please capitalize a random word in a random sentence for my amusement?
And call me a pet name first, I really like that.

 

[robisbell]

boy Jealousy does not sit well with you.

 

[Sondra]

Thanks for the replies. I went to a local computer shop, told them what was happening, and a guy who was visiting said it was probably dust. I removed the dust and the reboots haven't happened again.