computer turns on by itself (WIN XP PRO)

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My computer is restarting all by itself. I leave the system on and after a while it restartsby itself. No power surge or outage is involved. I am running a DELL 733 mhz. I have WIN XP PRO on drive D and WIN 98 SE on drive C.

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Does this happen in both OS’s?

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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I really only run WIN XP so not sure if it happens in both OSs.

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If it happens in both I would say that the CPU was getting hot and shutting down.
Since you are running XP, the following is from the help section:

To specify what Windows does if the system stops unexpectedly
You must be logged on as an administrator or a member of the Administrators group in order to complete this procedure. If your computer is connected to a network, network policy settings may also prevent you from completing this procedure.

Open System in Control Panel.
On the Advanced tab, under Startup and Recovery, click Settings.
Under System Failure, select the check boxes that correspond to the actions you want Windows to perform if a Stop error occurs:
Write an event to the system log specifies that event information will be recorded in the system log.
Send an administrative alert specifies that your system administrator will be notified.
Automatically reboot specifies that Windows will automatically restart your computer.
Under Write Debugging Information, choose the type of information you want Windows to record when the system stops unexpectedly:
Small Memory Dump records the smallest amount of information that will help identify the problem. This option requires a paging file of at least 2 MB on the boot volume of your computer and specifies that Windows will create a new file each time the system stops unexpectedly. A history of these files is stored in the directory listed under Small Dump Directory.
Kernel Memory Dump records only kernel memory, which speeds up the process of recording information in a log when the system stops unexpectedly. Depending on the amount of RAM in your computer, you must have 50 MB to 800 MB available for the paging file on the boot volume. The file is stored in the directory listed under Dump File.
Complete Memory Dump records the entire contents of system memory when the system stops unexpectedly. If you choose this option you must have a paging file on the boot volume large enough to hold all of the physical RAM plus one megabyte (MB). The file is stored in the directory listed under Dump File.
Notes

To open System, click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.
You must have at least a 2-MB paging file on the computer’s boot volume if you select Write an event to the system log or Send an administrative alert.
If you choose either Kernel Memory Dump or Complete Memory Dump and select the Overwrite any existing file check box, Windows always writes to the same file name. To save individual dump files, clear the Overwrite any existing file check box and change the file name after each Stop error.
You can save some memory if you clear the Write an event to the system log and Send an administrative alert check boxes. The memory saved depends on the computer, but typically about 60 KB to 70 KB are required by these features.
If you contact Microsoft Product Support Services about a Stop error, they might ask for the system-memory dump file generated by the Write Debugging Information option.
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DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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Dave,

That is an excellent help file but what did you search for to find it in XP

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I think I found it using “system stops “.

The entry you need to change is “Automatically reboot specifies that Windows will automatically restart your computer. ”

Turn this feature off, as it is set at a low level of tolerance.

DaveA I am so far behind, I think I am First
Genealogy....confusing the dead and annoying the living

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This same problem was posted on a windows mailing list a few weeks ago and after some testing, discovered it was only on the winxp side. (He had 2 drives and removed the winxp drive.) I don’t recall if anyone solved what was turning it on, but after looking at task scheduler logs, he determined it might have been related to Norton’s net detect utility. Or at least that was running when when he thought it was turned off. It generated a long discussion about what “on” and “off” really meant, but no one really had any answers.

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I may not have been as clear as I could have on the problem. The computer “restarts” by itself. It is already on and will just restart for no good reason. It is not “turning on” – it “restarts”.

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oh.. then follow dave’s instructions for disabling the restart on bugchecks. You’ll see the blue screen and be able to see what/why it faults, which helps to determine the cause.

you can also check the event viewer, but if it’s like my restarts, it’s too quick for the event to be written. (typing in word and hitting enter key occassionally causes my system to reboot – no event is recorded)

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When my computer started to behave like this it turned out to be a faulty socket on the processor. I was using a SLOT to SOCKET converter for a Celeron processor. A proper PIII and the problem went away.

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