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Spluttery reboot problems

Ganesh

22:26 / 17.08.04

For some months now, we've been having problems when we switch on our PC laptop. We turn it on, it does the whole 'turned off suddenly' error message (even when it was previously switched off perfectly normally) then abruptly switches itself off. We turn it on again, and it reboots then goes off again. On average, it has to be turned on three times before it stays on.

Initially, we reckoned this was due to some sort of virus - but, having upgraded McAfee VirusScan and scanned several times, it's still happening.

Anyone else having this problem? Suggestions?

w1rebaby

22:29 / 17.08.04

Are you running on the battery? Does it make any difference if you use the power adaptor?

specofdust

22:30 / 17.08.04

Re-install windows. If that doesnt work and you suspect its hardware then I'd aim your sights at your power supply unit.

Ganesh

22:32 / 17.08.04

Not running on battery. Ever.

Reinstall Windows? That sounds like a thankless pain-in-the-arse task and a half. Would it be worth it?

w1rebaby

22:35 / 17.08.04

Try booting it on the battery (unless you know for sure that the battery's knackered).

specofdust

22:35 / 17.08.04

Possibly. It's not the most joyus of tasks. It sounds to me like your power supply is a little flakey. But assuming it's not, your windows copy has seen too many moons. If you're prepared to, try re-installing windows. If that doesn't work, a full format(that takes me around a day of work) should take it back to it's original zippiness.

Ganesh

22:37 / 17.08.04

It pretty much always runs on mains power - except on those occasions when I need to disconnect it, open the battery compartment, jiggle the battery about and restart it.

Reinstalling Windows would be a monumental arsepain, considering my father-in-law has the requisite disc, up in Edinburgh...

specofdust

22:39 / 17.08.04

Well, maybe try a battery for a while if you can. If that's not the solution, I'm pretty sure windows is just abit tired. What version of windows is it? If it's ME then my advice is get the CD sent down, burn it, then buy XP.

w1rebaby

22:40 / 17.08.04

Sudden turn-offs not involving Ann Widdecombe are usually to do with the power supply in my experience. If it runs okay on the battery, that's good, you may just need to get a new adaptor. If not, well, you'll probably have to take it in for repair, might be a loose connection somewhere. (If it turned off after a while I'd be thinking "fan" but that doesn't seem to be it.)

Ganesh

22:41 / 17.08.04

Windows XP (Home version).

specofdust

22:42 / 17.08.04

I'm agreeing with fridgemagnet here, computers turning off randomly usually equals a bad power supply.

Ganesh

22:47 / 17.08.04

Thing is, it's not turning off randomly. It happens 2-3 times every time the computer's switched on, and then the thing's fine for howevermany hours. Only ever within 5 minutes of switching on.

Alex's Grandma

22:47 / 17.08.04

This is very likely an assinine question, but have you tried System Restore ?

( Start, All Programmes, System Tools, System Restore, and then follow the instructions. )

If not, it's worth a go.

---

22:49 / 17.08.04

Spyware can sometimes mess up your computer, and also some stuff isn't detected by Mcafee, AVG etc. My PC wouldn't work on the internet without shutting off all the time and i was about to reinstall when i tried ad-aware and ran a check, it doesn't usually find that much but it found loads this time, files folders etc that install running programs that can sometimes slow your computer down that much until it appears to be fucked. It might solve the problem if it's spyware related as some of the stuff installs running programs in your PC without prompting at all.

Ganesh

22:53 / 17.08.04

Mmm. I suspect Spyware might be involved. May give it a go, thanks.

w1rebaby

22:57 / 17.08.04

I've never heard of spyware doing anything like that, but it's worth a scan anyway.

Solitaire Rose as Tom Servo

23:00 / 17.08.04

I had a simlar problem on my laptop, and it was because spyware had installed itself that my processor couldn't handle. I probably had a virus or two on the computer too, since I very rarely use the laptop.

Ganesh

23:03 / 17.08.04

How did you sort it out, Rose?

moonweaver

23:55 / 17.08.04

my computer was dancing the same tune, had a complex one-with-AI-person do wonders and all i could understand was that a bit of the problem was a trojan horse thing,

try a trail version of trojanhunter at http://www.misec.net/ or something similar to see if it helps

Grey Area

06:29 / 18.08.04

Spybot Search & Destroy is good for adware, diallers and trojans too, Find it here (run it's update facility once you've installed it). Once that's done, you might want to try defragmenting and then running scandisk too, just for some regular disk maintenance.

Another vote for your power supply as a culprit. How does it run once it's finished booting and letting you work? Are there lots of crashes, unexplained hangups, programs quitting without warning? How about the display? Is it clean and clear, without interference, funny lines, etc.?

---

02:05 / 19.08.04

I found this about spyware, if anyone's interested in some of the things that it can do to your PC.

Linus Dunce

18:26 / 19.08.04

Hmmm. Isn't Ganesh saying that it works normally most of the time except when it boots up, and then it's reporting a problem with what happened when it last powered down? I'm thinking hardware problem, but more likely located in the hard drive, an uneducated guess being that disk-caching is not working properly. Or summink.

Grey Area

18:47 / 19.08.04

My money's on an intermittent heat-sink fan problem...

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