PC re- booting

[helpme]

My husbands PC keeps re booting, this happens on average 3 times a night. it runs on windows XP. Has anyone got any ideas as to why this is happening, we have tried plugging it into a different power socket, we have even tried another PC but even that one was re booting. We tried a UPS on it but again it re booted. Please help as this is driving my Husband nuts. Thanks

[darth vader]

I presume you mean a natural re-boot? (as in, "it shuts down naturally, then re-boots" rather than the screen going black then re-booting). This is a standard annoyance of XP and (quite probably) nothing to do with power, but is more likely some form of system failure (this is the standard procedure for XP when encountering a failure) - you will need to check the event log for any messages showing hardware/system faults - Start, Settings, Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Event Log. You can if you wish, disable the automatic re-booting - see http://www.aumha.org/a/shtdwnxp.htm for more details

[helpme]

Thanks but no, screen goes black and PC begins rebooting. This can happen 2 minutes after switching on or after several hours. Also, can be fine for several days and then happen umpteen times in one night. It's XP Home version with SP1 installed. In addition, tried unchecking the automatic restart option and same thing.

[j2buttonsw]

What do you mean by another PC? Did you have a perfectly working PC that you borrowed and when you put it on you electrical supply it kept rebooting? If so it looks as though it is your power supply. I appreciate you used a UPS but that may not cut out the spikes/surges of a poor power line. A surge protector could help you out but I would get the electricity board to setup monitoring to see whether you have a serious problem: after all, you do pay for it! Have you had any other trouble with electrical appliances?

[helpme]

It wasn't a PC I knew to be working, it was a brand new PC I went out and bought. I've also bought a surge protector to see if that helped but it hasn't. On the new PC I'd only loaded 1 or 2 applications so I've been able to rule out a rogue application causing the problem. A windows 98 system worked fine btw. No, no other electrical appliance problems.

[darth vader]

If a surge protector was present and a UPS then can we rule out the power supply j2b? The only other area i could suggest is an over-heating problem perhaps? (Aren't CPU's set to re-boot on overheating?) Consider the position of the PC, helpme, and what room it is in - is there any ventilation? are there any boxes/papers etc stacked on or near the computers? Try a desktop fan pointed at the back of the machine and see if the problem re-occurs.

When you say a windows 98 system worked fine are you bringing a third computer into the scenario or was this a previous operating system on your original PC?

[darth vader]

ps. the desktop fan is not a permanent solution - but if the problem goes away we can then suggest how to stop your system overheating in future....

[helpme]

windows 98 was on an old computer that we used about 18 months ago, we cannot re install 98 as we no longer have it , we will try the fan idea, thanks.

[helpme]

I've kinda ruled out overheating too, the BIOS reports on the CPU temperature and it's a fairly steady 40 odd. In addition I've removed the side of the PC and cleared away some cables that may/may not have been blocking airflow, no joy, rebooted again. Also, this can happen within minutes of booting up, again leading me to think it's not overheating.

[darth vader]

It may sound like a daft question but did the event log show anything? (Don't forget to check application, and security logs, as well as system log - see if any activity happened prior to a re-boot)

[helpme]

I checked through the event viewer logs, nothing there that threw any light on it.

[darth vader]

OK well let me know how the fan idea works out before we try something else. Meanwhile i'll have a word with our teccies and see if they can think of anything. You will need to re-post this question soon as "Internet and Technology" is quite popular and questions don't last long in the top 20......