Crash help???

[organicbmx 0]

just wondering if anyone had heard of/ has any ideas about this:my computer at the moment just likes to restart for no apparent reason about every time i use it. its takes a few hours normally.i think the letters x and p might be part of the problem.one time is came up with a little error reprot box saying plainly that 'windows' was the software with the problemany help/clues??thanks

[Rudy1405241475 0]

Your explanation of your problem is very vague but it sounds like you have a memory problem. Swap out the memory and see if this takes care of the problem.

[Nqon 0]

You could take and copy all the stuff you want from your harddrive over to cd or dvds or whatever and then try to format and install xp over again. If that dosnt work you know your problem is in your hardware and I would suggest the same as Rudy just did.

[qwijibow 0]

What you need here is memtest86.

Memtest86 is a bootabkle floppy, (or CD) that will put your CPU and ram under a very high stress test.

instread of crashing, it will report the address of the memory that fails under high load.
repeating the test serveral times will shoe you which stick of ram is failing.

or possably mya show your CPU to be at fault.

you can download memtest here http://www.memtest.org/
its free, (open source) and there are instruction on how to write it to a bootable cd, or bootable floppy on the site.

if you have a copy of knoppix lying around, that has memtest pre-installed, just enter "memtest" at the boot console.

[organicbmx 0]

memtest wont do anything to any of my files will it?sorry to be stupid about this but im really rubbish at anything hardware.thanks

[power1405241498 0]

No memtest wont even touch ur harddisk it wil just check ram chips so u can be 100% sure ur files wont be messed

[Klass 0]

If event viewer does not show any errors, then it could be spyware/adware, or even a virus that is causing it to restart.

1. Check that your Virus Program is Updated and do a Full System Scan.

2. Download some free Spyware/Adware removal tools:
a. Ad-Aware SE Personal
b. CWShredder
c. HijackThis
d. Microsoft AntiSpyware
e. Spybot - Search & Destroy
f. SpywareBlaster

3. Not free but very good:
a. NoAdware
b. XoftSpy

4. Make sure Windows is Up to date: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/windowsupdate/v6/default.aspx

Search the web and you will find the Microsoft AntiSpyware on Microsoft's site, the link is not allowing me to make it clickable.

[Reaver 0]

Hi just to add to the array of test programs and to maybe also set you in the right direction all at once insted of using memtest even though it is an excellent program why not go the distance before re-installing your operating system and doing anything drastic and get BurnInTest it will do your memory tests as well as harddrive test aswell as floppy cd dvd video so on and so forth all you need to run this program is a full floppy disk inserted (if u have floppy) and a full cd / dvd for every rom you want to test inserted at the time.
It is a free trail of 30 days so im sure it is good enough for you to work on and easy to understand aswell for those not technically inclined. If the program does work and helps you out alot i suggest buying it.

Here are a few features and a link :

# An easy to use point and click interface
# Can be run from a floppy disk or CD (under Windows)
# Summary system information including CPU type, CPU speed & Serial number.
# Temperature monitoring interface (with additional 3rd party Intel Active Monitor, HMonitor, MotherBoardMonitor and SpeedFan software)
# Laptop battery & UPS monitoring interface (with additional BatteryMon software)
# Support for production line automation and detailed logging
# RAM testing beyond the 4GB barrier in Windows 2000 and XP (up to 64GB of RAM)
# Printer testing using raw print files
# Midi and Wave file playback for sound card testing
# Testing of up to 20 hard and floppy disks simultaneously
# Testing of up to 20 CD/DVD drives simultaneously
# CD / DVD testing using specialized test CD/DVDs (or use the complementary CD-Maker software). CD burner testing
# Windows shutdown and cyclic reboot testing (with complementary Rebooter software)
# Scrolling 'H's for Electromagnetic Compliance (EMC) testing to ANSI standard C63.4-1992
# Video RAM testing
# Testing the playback of Videos
# Support for SMART hard disk parameter checking

http://www.passmark.com/products/bit.htm

Hope you fix your problem

[Winchester 0]

Has it always been that way? Did it just started to do that suddenly? If so try to remember if you've installed any new softwares or allowed any new softwares to be load from te internet. Are you running any P2P network software, like say eMule? I know eMule user have been complaining about similar issues.I really think it could be the memory, but you should keep inmind other possible causes.

[organicbmx 0]

thanks for all the advice - i downloaded a .net update from windows update and my pc hasnt restarted since but i havent use it as much either.i did also run memtest from knoppix. does that program ever end or does it go on forever. i ran it for about a day but needed the computer for something and rebooted? seemed to me that it would go on and on.