PC restarted overnight, not sure why. How can I monitor what happens?

[panther309]

My new build has been stable however it restarted overnight and I'd like to investigate a little bit why it did so. I'm hoping it was a windows update, but I'm not sure.

With that said, any suggestions on software that can monitor, as best as possible, why my computer could potentially:

1. Restart
2. Shutdown
3. BSOD

etc etc

Some type of log maybe?

Thanks.

 

[panther309]

my build:

Intel Core i5-2500K @ 4.6Ghz
CORSAIR CWCH60 Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
GIGABYTE GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
Kingston HyperX SH100S3B/120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III SSD
SAPPHIRE 100326L Radeon HD 6670 1GB 128-bit GDDR5
Apple 27" LED Cinema Display (via displayport)

 

[Absolution75]

Check the windows event viewer (just type event viewer in start). Go to the system filter and filter out all but warning, critical, and error.

That should give you a good start. If it just says the system unexpectedly rebooted, it means that windows didn't even have time to write the log. Your system basically rebooted just as if you hit the reset switched. Either your power went out or general instability is a problem.

 

[Zap]

Patch Tuesday?

 

[Mandres]

My PC was off this morning too. I'm wondering if it was Windows-Update related.

 

[nickb64]

happened to me yesterday at about 3AM, thanks to Patch Tuesday

I had just woken up because my mom couldn't find her keys to go to work and was being loud trying to find them, lol

 

[mfenn]

Patch Tuesday?

Bingo. The event log should say something about restarting to apply updates.

 

[ther00kie16]

Not to steal this thread but at first it reminded me of a problem I've encountered with a SB and then a Nehalem system. Event viewer had 4 criticals mentioning something about kernel and firmware (I'm guessing 1/core) before a restart. The SB system is very new oem so I don't know why it should experience it while the i7 920 only had a modest overclock of 3.4ghz I believe.

 

[Gillbot]

Patch Tuesday?

My PC was off this morning too. I'm wondering if it was Windows-Update related.

this was my guess

 

[mfenn]

Not to steal this thread but at first it reminded me of a problem I've encountered with a SB and then a Nehalem system. Event viewer had 4 criticals mentioning something about kernel and firmware (I'm guessing 1/core) before a restart. The SB system is very new oem so I don't know why it should experience it while the i7 920 only had a modest overclock of 3.4ghz I believe.

Microcode update? That's just a shot in the dark without seeing that actual error though.