At least a couple of times a day Windows is shutting down on it's own - been doing it for a few days now. I've spoken to at least 2 other
people who's PC's are also doing this, and it's a new thing.
Any thoughts? Virus or Windows update?
I have AVG free and Adaware Pro installed and sit behind a firewalled router.
Otherwise everything is running fine.
Is it giving you any kind of warning, or a blue screen of death? Try looking at the event logs (right click on my computer, click manage, and then look in the application and system logs under system tools->event viewer) for any warnings or errors at the time the pc has reset itself. You can usually google the event/error codes to get an idea what is going on.
No warning - no error, it's like I hit the reset button, programmes close and you get a proper Windows Shutdown screen. I don't think Outlook closes properly though, as on re-boot it does a data check.
Have you got a keyboard with a shutdown/sleep key on it?
My Aunt's computer did this, got sent back 3 or 4 times, and they couldn't find the fault, turned out to be a fault with the keyboard
shutdown button, swapped the keyboard and it was fine.
Win XP has an option to auto reboot on a 'fatal' error. You can turn it off though and I cant remember where the option is at the moment.
Google will probably yeild the answer tho.
David
quote:
Originally posted by oily85
Have you got a keyboard with a shutdown/sleep key on it?
My Aunt's computer did this, got sent back 3 or 4 times, and they couldn't find the fault, turned out to be a fault with the keyboard shutdown button, swapped the keyboard and it was fine.
some services can reboot if they encounter an error, but you should see if this is happening in the event logs
Where's the events log?
I had a system doing similat things recently - it turned out to be the heatsink needing some heat transfer compound reapplied. The processor was getting a bit hot and having a hissing fit.
If you are sure you are virus free (there are quite a few that can cause a shutdown) then the best bet (as razman says) might be an overheat
condition.
Oulook will complain in this instance as it has been a forced shutdown and has not exited gracefully.
You could try running a monitor program to keep an eye on temps as a starting point.
Cheers
Alex
Blaster worm does this with XP!
quote:
Originally posted by mackei23b
Blaster worm does this with XP!
quote:
Originally posted by Jasper
At least a couple of times a day Windows is shutting down on it's own - been doing it for a few days now. I've spoken to at least 2 other people who's PC's are also doing this, and it's a new thing.
Any thoughts? Virus or Windows update?
I have AVG free and Adaware Pro installed and sit behind a firewalled router.
Otherwise everything is running fine.
Wasn't just dell. There were a large number (many millions) of faulty electrolytic caps around a while back. Turns out someone nicked a secret
formula for the electrolyte from another manufacturer but got it wrong and the caps swell up and explode after a while, it would be funny except for
all the motherboards and graphics cards that have failed.
See http://www.badcaps.net/ for the whole sordid story.
It's under warranty - I'll give Dell a call - thanks chaps
quote:
Originally posted by Jasper
It's under warranty - I'll give Dell a call - thanks chaps
Seems to have stopped doing it for now...... I'll call Dell when I have an hour spare