Computer Automatically Rebooting? HELP!
 

My computer started to randomly reboot for no reason. :(

First I thought it could be the CPU overheating, nope. (Replaced the CPU fan just in case). Then I thought the harddrive was failing, nope, slapped in a brand new Barracuda.

It is NOT a BSOD (blue screen) because there are NO errors reported in the Event Viewer and I have XP setup to show the BSOD instead of restart automatically.

It is NOT an issue with the drivers, or the hardware. I was thinking power supply maybe but I highly doubt that. It is an Antec True 550W... superb power supply and it's running fine right now.

What really scares me is that the computer next to me just started doing the EXACT same thing, as well as Alex's computer.

This is very random, it happened 5 times this morning but now my computer has been up for the last 3 hours without any problems.

I updated all drivers, BIOS, everything. I'm totally confused by this, please help!

Does anyone have any ideas?

:helpme

If all three are doing it sounds like a power issue.

One of the worms that spread alot lately did this, can't recall the name.

maybe lovesun?!

Updated Norton definitions and did a FULL scan (it took almost 2 hours).

Moose, what do you mean by power issue? What kind of power issue could it be? That would be one hell of a coinsidence if all 3 Antec power supplies are going bad, don't you think?

have you updated windows (if you run windows) and run there sasser worm tool/fix ... some versions of sasser does that.

Also set your firewall in windows on.

A virus or your power is fucked up.

What is lovesun?

Looking into the sasser worm.. Norton doesn't pick it up?

(wait, isn't the sasser worm that RCP exploit? where it counts down 60 seconds to shut down?)

i mean are all three plugged into the same source?
are the reboots happneing at the same time?

No... completely different offices, reboots are totally random for each computer.

edit: it's not the sasser worm, did the online test here:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/incident/sasser.mspx

how about power fluctuation (subsequent unstable supply of power) in your area? does it make any sense? this is just a guess but its very possible the fact that you crossed out other causes...

Wouldn't this cause EVERY computer in our building to do this? It's only 3 computers in the office so far that are doing this...

To add to the power supply prediction, I am also on battery backup.

The virus Lovsan could be the problem

http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/msblast.shtml

its a virus. try using McAfee AVERT Stinger to detect it. http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/

Could there be something wrong with your network? I don't know much about this stuff, just a blind suggestion.

Hmm then I don't know.

Back to virus scanning.

The virus Lovsan could be the problem

fix here!

:)
http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/msblast.shtml

There are atleast 7 other computers on the same network that are not having any problems :(

Keep in mind, this is a brand new harddrive with a fresh XP install with ALL the currently available updates and I have done a full system scan with Norton.

This SUCKS!

:(

I have already covered this, it is not the RCP exploit (MSBlast) / worm because I do not get a "shutdown box".

I wish it was though! :(

are your fingers resting on control+alt+delete?

Well it seems it could be completely coincidental, but it sounds like your machines all have bad power supplies ..How old are they ?? do you by chance have ATX power supplies in them??


*shrug*

Nothing! :(

Yes, they are all ATX. I have an Antec True 550W in mine and Antec 400W's in the other 2.

I'm all out of ideas, anyone else?

bump for you

Mine does the same thing....Matt hit me on ICQ 59325690.




Mike.........

Just added you Mike..

I'm wondering if this is some new virus that no one has been able to report yet? This is totally bizarre. I think the fact that it is so completely random means it can't be the hardware.

This is the longest amount of time my computer has been up in the last 3 days... think i've made it about 3-4 hours now without any problems yet it reboot 6 times this morning alone.

Weird.

did you upgrade to sp2 by chance ??

maybe you need to roll back

Nope, brand new harddrive, fresh XP install with all the updates.

I'd suspect your power supply. Try switching it out with a supply from another machine.

What sites were you on recently? That russian virus was on a lot of really high traffic sites and all you had to do was visit the page.

They are still trying to figure out what it was loading onto people's PCs.

So far they've found trojans, and key loggers, but there could be some other shit as well.

Virus writers should be shot dead on the spot. :BangBang:

GFY and Microsoft are the only sites i've been on today since I installed the new harddrive. If it is a virus, it has to be in the BIOS/Memory, which Norton can't find.

Let me get all the facts ..

The machines are new .. in different rooms ..


were they all built at the same time >??

Does it completely power down ?? or Locks up??

No Exploits ...

CPU and RAM problems usually cause locks

the only things involved in the power process are the power supply, the motherboard, and the switch for the most part

I suppose it could be a bad switch too, but not likely, easy enough to test

just unplug the switch from the motherboard and use a paperclip to short the two pins and power it up


***I'm not responsible for any electrocution that may occur

it's really low voltage, but I'd stil use a peice of paper or something as an insulator, but you don't have to, I've done it both ways, a small screwdriver works well too


Good luck

Just a thought, but check the manufacturers website for any bios updates.

Even if they're spanking brand gleeming new.

Is your building's electiricty grounded? If not, it should be...

If it's an electricity/wiring issue with the building, it could explain it. Not all machine will get affected, we have the same situation and found out its because the building wasn't grounded (so we're getting that done tomorrow).

However if you have a backup power source / UPS installed and it doesn't help, probably a BIOS virus or bad motherboard. More likely the virus since it would be pretty coincidental all 3 computers' motherboards are fucked.

Power Supply is still my #1 suspision but I highly doubt it. If it happens again, I will replace it and see. The computer never loses power completely, it just reboots randomly. :helpme

edit: BIOS is fully updated, I used the ASUS update utility. I'm going to look into that grounding thing but we have been in this office almost 2 years now and never had this problem.

yesterday my computer kept freezing up on me here at GFY. it happened about 3 times. when I rebooted, i got the "wait while windows changes the file settings" My computer would freeze up every 10 min. so I did system restore 3 times and all three times worked. but I do know it was from here.





I wasn't gonna mention it cuz i thought it was something else

''Right click on my computer, click on properties, then advanced tab. Click on startup and recovery settings box, then uncheck restart under system failure to allow you to see the blue screen that comes up when it restarts............should give some info indicating where the problem is........(driver related, power related, etc.) That's the best place to start troubleshooting from as you have to know what is causing the problem before you can fix it.........it won't always tell you there where to look, but a lot of times it will.''

Just a copy paste from some other board ... but could maybe help to find teh source of the problem .. rather then keep on guessing
:2 cents:

I stated in the original post it is not a BSOD and it does not leave any system errors in the event viewer. I also have that box unchecked already, I hate not being able to see BSOD errors.

Thanks tho, anyone else having similar problems?