Is there a way to find out way my computer keeps restarting?

[timtim86]

This might be in the wrong place, but i guess it's probably hardware related...

Twice I've gone to bed and left my computer running with only Azureus downloading. Twice I've come back to find that it has restarted itself at some point during the night. Does anyone know how i can find out what's causing it? It's never happened in the day as far as i'm aware so it could be random power cuts?! who knows? Anyway, some help would be appreciated.

Thanks people.

[dave87]

I had the same last night, it was due to windows updates scheduled at 3 in the morning.

Otherwise, perhaps try running orthos, stressing the CPU and memory independently, see if either of those causes the same problem.

[shaithis]

Firstly, check your event logs (My Computer > Manage > Event Viewer > System)....see if there are any pointers there...

Then check that "Auto Reboot" is disabled. (My Computer > Properties > Startup and recovery)

Now, if you find it on a BSOD you can probably rule-out hardware and concentrate on drivers but if you are still finding it at the os select or login screen you know its probably a hardware issue.......and PSU would be top of the check list.

[MSIC]

I agree with Shaithis. It could, of course, be almost anything but we need more info about your machine.
Specifically, is it overclocked? I was going to ask about age, but I just had a look at your 'my system' specs and can see that you have an X2 and an 8800GTX, running from a 400W PSU.
Are there any stability problems when you are playing games?
400W in itself is fairly close to the mark and probably doesnt meet nvidias recommended spec, however adequate power supplied should show itself when you are straining the machine, not at night.

[timtim86]

Dave, why would windows update restart it?I didn't think it shut down the computer automatically?

Shaithis, thank you for that, I'll give it a try...one thing, I'm running Vista, found the autorestart check box, do you know where the event viewer might be? Couldn't see it there.

Thanks for the fast replies.

[timtim86]

I agree with Shaithis. It could, of course, be almost anything but we need more info about your machine.
Specifically, is it overclocked? I was going to ask about age, but I just had a look at your 'my system' specs and can see that you have an X2 and an 8800GTX, running from a 400W PSU.
Are there any stability problems when you are playing games?
400W in itself is fairly close to the mark and probably doesnt meet nvidias recommended spec, however adequate power supplied should show itself when you are straining the machine, not at night.

Nope, it's not overclocked at all, just the X2 running at 2.6GHz. The 8800 has never ever crashed in a game, I think shuttle PSUs are super-duper and can power them just fine, has for me so far anyways.

P.s. Found event viewer, there are errors in there at the time that the computer probably shutdown. I have no idea what they mean though :/

[dave87]

Dave, why would windows update restart it?I didn't think it shut down the computer automatically?

Don't know, but all 3 of my rigs restarted last night, and all three popped up 'Your Computer has recently been updated' box.

[shaithis]

Can you copy/paste the details of the errors in this thread?

Look for the entries that appear directly before an Event ID 6009.

[timtim86]

This lot?
EventData

BootTsVersion 2
BootStartTime 2007-04-04T02:06:47.687Z
BootEndTime 2007-04-04T02:09:09.620Z
SystemBootInstance 111
UserBootInstance 106
BootTime 84601
MainPathBootTime 49501
BootKernelInitTime 16
BootDriverInitTime 508
BootDevicesInitTime 9904
BootPrefetchInitTime 32518
BootPrefetchBytes 467103744
BootAutoChkTime 0
BootSmssInitTime 12085
BootCriticalServicesInitTime 882
BootUserProfileProcessingTime 351
BootMachineProfileProcessingTime 11
BootExplorerInitTime 1418
BootNumStartupApps 20
BootPostBootTime 35100
BootIsRebootAfterInstall false
BootRootCauseStepImprovementBits 0
BootRootCauseGradualImprovementBits 0
BootRootCauseStepDegradationBits 0
BootRootCauseGradualDegradationBits 0
BootIsDegradation false
BootIsStepDegradation false
BootIsGradualDegradation false
BootImprovementDelta 0
BootDegradationDelta 0
BootIsRootCauseIdentified false

or this:
Windows has started up:
Boot Duration : 84601ms
IsDegradation : false
Incident Time (UTC) : 04/04/2007 02:06:47

[shaithis]

No, look for entries that report errors within a minute or 2 of the 6009 event.

There may not be any if its hardware related and you may just have an entry which states "The previous shutdown was unexpected"

[dangel]

Windows Update if set to automatically download AND install updates will eventually decide to reboot your machine for you if you're not there to say 'not now' when those annoying dialogs pop up. The best way to avoid this is to allow it to download updates but not install them without your permission.

[timtim86]

That's one:

EventData

DisplayDeviceFriendlyNameLength 24
DisplayDeviceFriendlyName NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX
MemoryBandwidth 30589500
MemorySize 768081920
Scenario 2

Here's another:

- EventData

StartTime 2007-04-04T00:20:10.656Z
NameLength 76
Name HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0882&SUBSYS_10ECA201&REV_1001\4&e6323fe&0&0001
FriendlyNameLength 29
FriendlyName High Definition Audio Device
VersionLength 0
Version
TotalTime 760
DegradationTime 433
PathLength 0
Path
ProductNameLength 0
ProductName
CompanyNameLength 0
CompanyName

[Queelis]

Yet still, a 5000+ with an 8800GTX on a 400W PSU seems risky at least.

[timtim86]

Hey, so i just found my computer blue screen of deathing on me again, but i couldn't read the writing. I swapped the 8800 with an X800GTO2 to rule power issues out, but as i said it happened again. The event viewer tells me there was an "unexpected shutdown". and directly under that something about the cd rom not loading. Any idea what could be the problem? Thanks.

[timtim86]

Gentlemen, I need your help! Just ran orthos, and it stopped after 2mins 58secs, hardware failure. Where do I go from here? What do I do? It says consult stress.txt file, but I can't find that...just splog.txt which tells me exactly the same thing. Help me!!!

[shaithis]

Your being way too vague.....either post the proper event errors and/or the complete BSOD, else we are all clutching at straws.