Tip #4271 - Mysterious Restarts
Printer Friendly Version | E-Mail This Tip
Q:
For awhile now, my computer has been restarting itself. It does it
without warning and for no apparent reason. When it happens, all of
my work is lost and I'm getting really frustrated with it. Do you
have any suggestions as to why this might be happening? I'm using
Windows XP. Please help!
A:
I feel your pain! I've never personally had
this happen to me, but I've had some friends who had to deal with
it. I know it was the most frustrating and annoying thing they ever
went through and at the time, I wish I would have had some answers
for them. That was a couple years ago and I've definitely learned
a lot since then, so don't fret, because I do have some good suggestions
for you all today!
Here's
a scenario of what could be happening to you. You're working on your
computer (maybe checking your e-mail, browsing through a couple Web
sites and you have your music player going at full blast) and everything
seems to be going fine. Then all of the sudden, your computer just
shuts down. What happened? Why did it do that? Well, if your computer
is continually restarting itself for no good reason, there are several
things that could be causing that to happen. In this type of situation,
you have to do some troubleshooting to figure it out, but you should
be able to do that rather quickly. Here are some things you can check
on and look out for.
For
starters, if your computer is running at too high of a temperature,
it will turn itself off. If your CPU is running above the 60 degree
(Celsius) mark, you may be close to burning it out and a lot of systems
are set up to turn off automatically when an unsafe level is reached.
So, what could be causing your system to overheat? Well, a big part
of it is the programs you're running. For example, a lot of the music
programs these days (like iTunes and Windows Media Player) use a lot
of processing power when they're working with your music files. So,
if you're using one of those programs a lot, it could cause your CPU
to heat up. That can happen if you're using too many programs all
at the same time as well. It all just depends on what you use.
If
this happens to you, the best thing you can do is get inside your
computer and clean it out. If too much dust is collecting around the
fans in your CPU, it can restrict the airflow and your computer won't
be able to cool down properly. To clean out your CPU, open it up and
either use compressed air or a toothbrush to eliminate some of the
debris. Once you clean some of the dust particles out, the temperature
should drop a great deal and your computer should be back to normal.
Now, if overheating
wasn't your problem, the next thing you'll want to check on is your
memory. If your computer hits a bad spot of RAM memory when it's trying
to access it, it could just go crazy and restart itself. The best
way to test this out is to remove a stick of your memory, one by one,
until you find the culprit. Remove one and then let your system run
for awhile. If your computer seems to be working better, you'll know
the cause and you can then replace that piece of memory for better
results.
If you still haven't
figured out what's wrong with your computer, there is a setting you
can change to see if it helps at all. There's actually a setting within
Windows XP that tells your computer to restart itself when a system
error occurs. So, if you turn that option off, you should be good
to go. To do that, go to Start, Control Panel
and click on the Performance and Maintenance link.
Next, click on the System link and then hit the Advanced
tab. Now, under the Startup and Recovery section,
click on the Settings button. Once there, uncheck
the box that says "Automatically Restart,"
which is located under the System Failure section.
Now, this setting will stop your computer from restarting, so you
may not want to leave it off, but you can at least use it until you
figure out what the true problem may be.
You should also
try to think back to anything you've recently done on your computer.
Maybe you installed a new piece of software or hardware. If so, try
removing that and see if the problem persists. Or, you could try downloading
the latest drivers from the manufacturer. Sometimes that's all it
takes. The restart problem could also be caused by a virus or some
spyware, so make sure you run your scans to see if anything comes
up. You should also go to Start, Control
Panel, Add/Remove Programs and remove any
programs from the list that you don't need. Getting rid of unnecessary
items is always a good thing to do.
Well, there you
have it. Hopefully one of the above suggestions works for you, but
if the problem continues, try contacting the manufacturer of your
computer or try to get some answers from a professional computer repair
store. Either way, I hope your restarting blues are now gone forever!
~ Erin
Want To Comment On This Tip? Click Here! We'd love to hear from you :-)
Like These Tips? Get 'Em Free In Your E-mail
