Computer keeps restarting.

[Nicola McIntosh]

its probably a hardware problem, a component overheating or is dead 😕

[Phill Fenton]

Could be a simple case of overheating – if the PC is any more than a few years old an accumulation of dust around the cooling port could be causing it to overheat which will cause a re-boot as you have described

[Simon Strom]

Agree with Phill. I’ve had this happen before. To much dust can cause issues. Also over time from starting up and turning off the computer the constant heating and cooling can slightly unseat components. If the dust cleaning doesn’t do, take the computer apart and re-seat everthing (if you’re handy that way). I have had a few sticks of RAM go bad and a few Video Cards give out on me too. If you do take the machine apart it might be good to check / replace the thermal grease on the CPU chip. I have had mine burn off or ooze out over time and cause problems. I like to use Arctic Silver 5 (it’s cheap for a tube and you only need a dab anyway). http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

[David Rowland]

suggest you get the hoover out and clean the dust from inside the case.

[Paul Seamer]

I have taken the case off and cleaned it out. Turnt it back on and it did the same again. 😕 . After it rebooted I opened Versaworks rather than Corel and then the mouse stopped working then the computer just froze. Couldn’t do anything. Any other ideas? Clean it again?

Help

Paul

[David Rowland]

100% certain it is hardware…. problem is identifying the culprit.

Lets start with the Blue Screen error message and number

[Peter Normington]

error message will tell you naff all, you need to check out the error log that is generated when the computer restarts, but unless you are a real expert it will be all gobbly gook. and even a net search will lead you on a wild goosechase.

if it is an overheating problem there are many free programs or trials that willl show you the temp of your cpu, and warn if it is overheating,

you may need, as said, to remove and refit your heatsink and maybe buy a new one complete with cooling fan,
Peter

[Phill Fenton]

Do you have many devices plugged into the USB ports?

If so – these can be draining a lot of power causing overheating. Unplug them all and see if the problem persists.

If this solves the problem, you will need to install an upgraded PSU to power all of your USB devices.

[David Rowland]

ha…. lol … blue screen error message will be a good start… is it the same message or different one each time

[Cheryl Smith]

im having trouble with mine….the screen just shuts down while the comp still runs…only way i can get it to work again is by shutting down the comp from the on off button and restarting…..losing anything that i havnt saved grrrrr….
anyone know of such a thing and how to fix it?…wonder if its my video card…

[David Rowland]

Cheryl, sounds like ur graphics card might be slightly out of its socket or the lead is loose, something like that… open up lid and push the card down a little to firm it into the socket.

[Peter Normington]

quote Dave Rowland:

Cheryl, sounds like ur graphics card might be slightly out of its socket or the lead is loose, something like that… open up lid and push the card down a little to firm it into the socket.

Turn it off first though,!

Peter

[Cheryl Smith]

thanks guys ill give it a try…

[Paul Seamer]

Don’t know if this is any help. This is what comes up after it restarts.

Problem Event Name : Bluescreen
OS Version: 6.0.6000.2.0.0.768.2
Locale: 2057
C:\WINDOWS\MINIDUMP\MINI010811-02.DMP
C:\WINDOWS\SUPERMXGRAPHICS\APPDATA\LOCAL\TEMP\WER-82025.O.SYSDATA.XML
C:\WINDOWS\SUPERMXGRAPHICS\APPDATA\LOCAL\TEMP\WER9FOC.TMP.VERSION.TXT

[Peter Normington]

Paul, thats just the location of the file, giving the status of your system just before the crashed, created by dr watson, on restart you should get the error message box saying the same.
you need to browse to the file and save it before closing the error box or the file will be deleted.
it will be a txt file with gobbly gook, like I said its hard to find out what it means, but pehaps our dave will know

Peter

[Peter Normington]

Paul what make is your mainboard? it may be worth going to the makers website, they quite often have diagnostic programs and temparature monitors etc.

Peter

[David Rowland]

When the blue screen appears there normally is a reason, unless the bluescreen only appears for 1 second and disappears due to settings

What you given there is just information that is useless…

Here is an example picture

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1647

What I am interested in if it is the same all the time…
What the STOP code is
The bit where it says DRIVER_IRQ_LESS THEN EQUAL
And any WXYZ.SYS information

[Chris Windebank]

install nirsoft that gives you info on the minidump file and what item is causing it