Problem with Windows XP Professional Restarting with no Apparent Reason

[mooojojojo]

This has happened several times already and this time I decided to take a look at the Event Log.

So here are 2 events which occured right before the system restarted. One of them was Type: Information, Source: Sentinel. The other - Type: Information, Source - Ati HotKey Poller. They occured within 2 seconds from each other and the next logged event is when the computer was already logging back on. Below is a summary for the 'Sentinel' event. The 'Ati HotKey Poller' doesn't have any details other than 'The service was started.'

I also disabled 'Automatically Restart' option in the System Failure dialog in the System menu.
Also - there was a Sentinel app in the Add/Remove Programs dialog - when I tried to uninstall it it froze but when I ended its task and opened it up again it was not there...

So are these events of any importance and where should I look for a solution? Thanks!

Event Type: Information
Event Source: Sentinel
Event Category: None
Event ID: 1
Date: 9/21/2003
Time: 12:54:58 AM
User: N/A
Computer: MANTA
Description:
The description for Event ID ( 1 ) in Source ( Sentinel ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: .
Data:
0000: 00 00 20 00 01 00 76 00 .. ...v.
0008: 00 00 00 00 01 00 07 40 .......@
0010: db 0a 00 00 00 00 00 00 Û.......
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0028: 4e 54 53 49 4c 49 3a 44 NTSILI
0030: 72 69 76 65 72 45 6e 74 riverEnt
0038: 72 79 3a 6e 75 6d 4f 66 ry:numOf
0040: 44 65 76 69 63 65 73 00 Devices.

 

[ProviaFan]

It may seem obvious, and you may have done this already, but have you run a virus scan with an A/V program with up to date virus definitions? Also, an ad-ware / spy-ware scan might be in order. Sorry I don't have any other ideas (was going to suggest turning off auto restart on errors, but see you've done that already).

 

[mooojojojo]

Originally posted by: jliechty
It may seem obvious, and you may have done this already, but have you run a virus scan with an A/V program with up to date virus definitions? Also, an ad-ware / spy-ware scan might be in order. Sorry I don't have any other ideas (was going to suggest turning off auto restart on errors, but see you've done that already).

Oh - yes.. forgot to mention:
1. I have NAV2003 installed and updated with the latest definitions. I have auto-scan disabled but I have performed a complete system check several days ago and the problem persisted even before it. The scan didn't find anything.
2. On the Ad-aware side - yes it found one intruder but it's from an app I installed a couple of days ago and as I mentioned the problem dates further back in time.. but thanks for reminding me to run the scan for ads though .

I was thinking this Ati HotKey Poller.. perhaps I should update the drivers. Is there any decrease in performance and more importantly - stability or any known issues for the Radeon 9000Pro (what I have) in the latest catalysts? I know that Ati has been concentrating on tweaking them for the new R9600/R9800 and perhaps they put less emphasis on the old cards? Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: mooojojojo
Oh - yes.. forgot to mention:
1. I have NAV2003 installed and updated with the latest definitions. I have auto-scan disabled but I have performed a complete system check several days ago and the problem persisted even before it. The scan didn't find anything.
2. On the Ad-aware side - yes it found one intruder but it's from an app I installed a couple of days ago and as I mentioned the problem dates further back in time.. but thanks for reminding me to run the scan for ads though .

I was thinking this Ati HotKey Poller.. perhaps I should update the drivers. Is there any decrease in performance and more importantly - stability or any known issues for the Radeon 9000Pro (what I have) in the latest catalysts? I know that Ati has been concentrating on tweaking them for the new R9600/R9800 and perhaps they put less emphasis on the old cards? Any ideas? Thanks.

I saw an update for the Radeon 7200 series (a PCI version of which have I) in the latest Cat3.7 drivers, so I don't think they're ignoring the old cards entirely. It's worth a try updating your critical drivers (video, chipset, sound, etc.), especially if they are kind of old.

 

[mooojojojo]

Originally posted by: jliechty
I saw an update for the Radeon 7200 series (a PCI version of which have I) in the latest Cat3.7 drivers, so I don't think they're ignoring the old cards entirely. It's worth a try updating your critical drivers (video, chipset, sound, etc.), especially if they are kind of old.

Well.. I think I'll update the video card drivers.
I'm kinda reluctant to update the chipset and sound. I'm used to using the drivers that came with the motherboard CD. It's an Intel chipset - 845PE - I doubt that there are some critical or important updates.. or maybe I'm wrong. But anyway.. I don't like fiddling too much with the base drivers in windows.