Computer keeps restarting without notice.

[victra♥]

Hi. My computer has been doing fine until a few hours ago when it started continually restarting on its own, without any notice whatsoever. This never happened before, and I'm not sure whats wrong with it. I got a blue screen once as well. Does anyone have any idea on what I can do to fix this?

I'll try my best to get as much info about the error and about my computer and what not as well.

 

[AltF4]

Naturally, my advice would be to do a virus scan. AVG is a good free one if you don't have a scanner already.

If you can't even use the computer long enough to download and use AVG, then try starting the computer in Safe Mode. You should be able to do this by holding F8 as the computer starts up.

 

[victra♥]

The computer seems fine when my family uses it, but it restarts 5-10 minutes in when I use it. Mind you, I'm just browsing smashboards/youtube/facebook when this happens.

But thanks Alt, I'll take your advice. =D

 

[jmlee337]

if you've added any new hardware recently, you could try removing, see if that helps
also, constant restarting could be a power supply problem

 

[AltF4]

Yes, actually. That's a likely suspect as well. Though a new piece of hardware would have been a useful piece of information to have been given in the OP, you know?

 

[victra♥]

=P

I'm not sure if my family has downloaded anything recently, but I did have a Dazzle DVD recorder connected. I'm not sure if that's any help or not though. =/

 

[Raider 88]

I had a similar issue a few years ago. I was running Windows XP and my computer would randomly restart. Right before it restarted, the taskbar would change from the XP style taskbar to the Windows 98 style taskbar. It ended up being a virus.

I had a 10 page paper due in two days and not another computer in the house, so I just did a system restore instead of running the risk of losing my paper while working on it.

Good luck with your issue.

EDIT: Also, when in high school I did some work with troubleshooting school computers. There was an issue very similar to my old issue and your issue, with it restarting and everything. The computer guy at school said all the school computers had Deep Freeze (or something with a similar name like that) on the computer, and nothing would save making the possibility of a virus extremely slim. It ended up being an Windows update was getting downloaded automatically and prompted to restart. Because of the Deep Freeze, the update wouldn't save so the whole process kept looping until he fixed it somehow.

I don't think this really applies to you much at all since I know you don't have the Deep Freeze thing, but I thought I'd share just in case something similar was happening

 

[NickTheGreat]

Are you sure its not automatic updates or something? Because that happened to me once.

 

[victra♥]

Are you sure its not automatic updates or something? Because that happened to me once.

Positive. It was abrupt without any warning or indication of an update. I also had a blue screen show up once as well.

 

[Phelix08]

Is it restarting nicely (as in, it closes all programs, saves settings, powers down) or is it just losing power and powering on again? That could tell a lot about what the problem is.

 

[victra♥]

Is it restarting nicely (as in, it closes all programs, saves settings, powers down) or is it just losing power and powering on again? That could tell a lot about what the problem is.

The monitor just turns off, and then the computer restarts. So yeah, I guess all the programs close. I donno, it might just be losing power. The screen just randomly goes black, and then the whole computer restarts.

 

[Phelix08]

It sounds to me like a problem with your power supply or something to that effect, if you're not getting any warning before it dies. Does the performance change any before it crashes?

 

[victra♥]

No, it's just like it was before.

I'm on the computer atm, and nothings happened in a few hours. So I think your reasoning might be right.

 

[FalcoLeetness]

Couple things it could be

-malware (some sort of backdoor trojan)
-hardware issues
-software conflicts

So process of elimination; take specific note of the BSOD or crash error message, and try to look it up. or even post it here...to solve such a problem we need more information.

 

[jmlee337]

since this has been bumped, have you had any luck with your problem?

 

[Viox]

It could be any of the problems above, it could also be that your hardware is overheating.
Check your fans and CPU fan for dust and make sure the computer is in a ventilated area not on the carpet.

Also try checking your power supply fan, if that gets clogged up you may want to take it out and give it a good clean with a couple of cotton buds and a vaccum cleaner or a can of compressed air.

 

[Orichalcum]

My guesses are on a malfunctioning RAM block. If its that you either get a blue screen or the system will restart on its own, i know you can configure this somewhere but im sorry i forgot.
If you got 2 blocks you can try switching their places or remove one.

If its because of overheating go into bios as soon as it restarts and check the PC health menu. If the core is about 50~60°C thats your problem. You can clean the fan or add additional case fans if needed but dont leave the case open it will only worsen.

Its most likely one of those 2 since you allready checked on viruses

 

[Supernova757]

Definetly a virus. Use firefox.