randon shutdowns Vista Bugs and Problems Discuss randon shutdowns in the Windows Vista forums; hey guys, just signed up because i'm having this annoying problem that just started about two days ago. basically, i'm having random shutdowns/reboots for no reason. all ...

[slickslabmcknab]

hey guys, just signed up because i'm having this annoying problem that just started about two days ago.

basically, i'm having random shutdowns/reboots for no reason. all of a sudden it'll sound like the hdd will rev up and then the comp will power off and then reboot. doesn't list any errors when it restarts, just the basic "windows has shut down impropoerly: normal restart, network, safe mode" and whatnot. either that or no hdd sounds and poof, the thing shuts down/reboots. i haven't installed anything as of recent that could cause this, haven't opened anything up, frequent sweeps with trend micro and spy sweeper. there's no lagging when it starts, and it's not biased toward any program, games, adobe, firefox, anything.

typing this makes me think it's a hardware problem, with the reving up and whatnot, but i don't know. any other ideas? similar problems? suggestions?

thanks in advance for any advice.

i've got:
gateway gt5628 vista premium
core 2 quad q600
3 gb ddr2
nvidia geforce 8500 gt
500gb sata 7200 rpm.

dont know what else might help as far as info.

[felix8406]

Difficult to know without doing some troubleshooting, but there's a possibility of heat problem, Either the memory or the CPU or the system heats up and fails. If you don't have temp monitoring software you may want to consider using it; whether from the PC or mobo manufacture or third party software.

There's also the possibility of a loose connection or hardware not properly installed. You may want to open the case and make sure every connection is tight.

[slickslabmcknab]

hmmm. Heat problem sounds damn reasonable, as frequently as it's happening. I'll check out some software and go from there.

I'll check the wires too. Thanks for the advice, right now I'm on my backup on so I'll be able to work on it without too many worries. haha.

[airman]

I would try a mem test or take all but one stick of ram oout and see if it does the restarts still and if not take that one out and put another one in see if that one is causing the problem and so forth to check them for issues or run the vista mem test and go from there overheating is another possible cause

[flyin_in_the_wind]

Overheating does sound like a very strong possiblity since you get the error about improper shut down and all of that. I would check out the programs you have installed (possibly those running in the background) alot of progams and anti-virus included have the option to shutdown the computer after a particular task or a scan so if you have something set to do an automatic task or scan in the background and this setting is enabled it could be shutting down afterward without your knowledge and may not be shutting down correctly so I would suggest checking all of your installed programs and look closely at all of the options to ensure this is not the culpret.

Also there's a possiblity that if you have EVER had a virus, worm, malware etc. in the past it may have added a registry key which tells the computer to shutdown or restart after a certain task or period of time, this is less likely, but still a possiblity so it's worth checking. Run a registry cleaner to help remove invalid entries and obsolete keys.

Another possiblity is your power settings, this is even less likely because if your power settings were causing shutdowns or restarts you almost certaintly wouldn't be getting the error message about shutting down incorrectly, but still it is something that you can check none the less.

Another unlikely possiblity is windows update, is it possible that after installing updates your pc is being automatically restarted? This is a very slight possiblity because after the install windows puts an icon in your system tray and then notifies you to restart so I'm pretty sure this is not the problem, but it may be worth taking a look at.

These are just my first thoughts, if I think of something else later I will repost.

[HeavyB3]

Originally Posted by slickslabmcknab

hey guys, just signed up because i'm having this annoying problem that just started about two days ago.

basically, i'm having random shutdowns/reboots for no reason. all of a sudden it'll sound like the hdd will rev up and then the comp will power off and then reboot. doesn't list any errors when it restarts, just the basic "windows has shut down impropoerly: normal restart, network, safe mode" and whatnot. either that or no hdd sounds and poof, the thing shuts down/reboots. i haven't installed anything as of recent that could cause this, haven't opened anything up, frequent sweeps with trend micro and spy sweeper. there's no lagging when it starts, and it's not biased toward any program, games, adobe, firefox, anything.

typing this makes me think it's a hardware problem, with the reving up and whatnot, but i don't know. any other ideas? similar problems? suggestions?

thanks in advance for any advice.

i've got:
gateway gt5628 vista premium
core 2 quad q600
3 gb ddr2
nvidia geforce 8500 gt
500gb sata 7200 rpm.

dont know what else might help as far as info.

I have the same computer and the same problem. I checked CPU temps in bios and the CPU was running at 40C. Motherboard at 44C. I'll have to download a temp monitoring program.

[HeavyB3]

I downloaded the latest Nvidia beta drivers and my computer hasn't rebooted since. Seems to fix the problem.

[Znod]

Sounds like he should try the new beta drivers. Are they really betas still for the 8500? And, poster, you could try running the memory test from your install DVD.