Just today my computer has begun to restart itself every few minutes. When it comes back on, it says that windows has recovered from a serious error. I've tried to follow the "file a report" thing to see what suggestions they have for fixing the problem, and it mentions things downloaded recently may affect it, etc. I have not installed any new programs recently, so this seems pretty random. It also mentions restoring the system/drive or something. I'm not computer savvy at all and am hoping for some help here.

 

Summary:

 

Computer keeps randomly restarting itself pretty frequently. Windows says it has recovered from a serious error each time it comes back.

 

Thanks in advance for the help.

Did you happen to get one of those e-greetings lately? It claims it's from someone you know or someplace you were, like a high school reunion? If you clicked on that, your computer may have downloaded a virus/software that could be the problem. How to fix? Not sure. Geek Squad???

The random restarting sounds like you might be about to blow some caps. Back-up your system completely if you can to an external drive and call the geek squad. And if that's what it is, start looking around for a new puter.

Just today my computer has begun to restart itself every few minutes. When it comes back on, it says that windows has recovered from a serious error. I've tried to follow the "file a report" thing to see what suggestions they have for fixing the problem, and it mentions things downloaded recently may affect it, etc. I have not installed any new programs recently, so this seems pretty random. It also mentions restoring the system/drive or something. I'm not computer savvy at all and am hoping for some help here.

 

Summary:

 

Computer keeps randomly restarting itself pretty frequently. Windows says it has recovered from a serious error each time it comes back.

 

Thanks in advance for the help.

what are you doing when it restarts?

When your computer boots up, try pressing the F8 button. You should get a menu that allows you to boot into safe mode. If the problem is software related, the rebooting issue shouldn't occur (most likely) when you are in that way. This will allow for more troubleshooting or to move files off of the computer more easily.

 

A couple of possible issues:

Over-heating - Is it in a cramped area, or does it have a lot of dust inside (this is something you should be able to look at)?

Hard-drive about to go - Just a possibilty, probably need a comp tech out to look at then

Memory Issue - Same as hard drive

Motherboard Issue - Same as hard drive

 

If it still has a warranty on it, or it has some tech support available from the vendor, you may want to give them a call.

Edited August 14, 200718 yr by vandy125

Just today my computer has begun to restart itself every few minutes. When it comes back on, it says that windows has recovered from a serious error. I've tried to follow the "file a report" thing to see what suggestions they have for fixing the problem, and it mentions things downloaded recently may affect it, etc. I have not installed any new programs recently, so this seems pretty random. It also mentions restoring the system/drive or something. I'm not computer savvy at all and am hoping for some help here.

 

Summary:

 

Computer keeps randomly restarting itself pretty frequently. Windows says it has recovered from a serious error each time it comes back.

 

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

You may want to check your machine for a virus/malware/trojan.

 

Update your Antivirus, and if you are not using AV(shame on you), then go and download AVG as its free. They also have a antispyware free software.

 

Remember with spyware, the more detection and removal utilities the better. In the antivirus community they companies share signatures and detects. However in the spyware its more competitive and they don't share. This means that you get only a segment of the detects in a product.

 

Here are a few other free products.

 

Spybot Search and Destroy

 

Adaware

 

Xblock online spyware scan - Facetime

 

 

 

 

 

I had the worst trojan ever that led to popups every time I opened a new window. Even though I was browsing with firefox, the popups were all IE. I tried every free product you can think of, the only one that worked for me was kaspersky anti virus. I used the 30 day free trial, cleaned my system, cancelled my account and switched back to AVG

 

 

here is the link

http://www.kaspersky.com/trials

cmd /shutdown

 

will stop the shutdown process, I believe.

 

I had this same problem and just completely redid my pc.

You may want to check your machine for a virus/malware/trojan.

 

Update your Antivirus, and if you are not using AV(shame on you), then go and download AVG as its free. They also have a antispyware free software.

 

Remember with spyware, the more detection and removal utilities the better. In the antivirus community they companies share signatures and detects. However in the spyware its more competitive and they don't share. This means that you get only a segment of the detects in a product.

 

Here are a few other free products.

 

Spybot Search and Destroy

 

Adaware

 

Xblock online spyware scan - Facetime

I've dealt with a lot of Malware/Viruses and have never had it restart the computer over and over. Although, I will say at this point Malware is pretty much capable of anything.

 

Steffs guess of some leaky capacitors is definitely something to check out first. The capacitors are those cylinder looking things attached to the motherboard. If they are leaking or blown there will be a bulge or some rustish looking gobbly goo on the top of them.

 

Also, if this is happening when you're working the pc hard, it could be overheating...which could be just a matter of blowing out dust, replacing the fan or the heatsink.

 

It could also just be your power supply.

 

It could also be your RAM. If you have two DIMMS, remove one and see if it still happens. If it does, swap the other one back in and test it again.

 

 

 

I've dealt with a lot of Malware/Viruses and have never had it restart the computer over and over. Although, I will say at this point Malware is pretty much capable of anything.

 

Steffs guess of some leaky capacitors is definitely something to check out first. The capacitors are those cylinder looking things attached to the motherboard. If they are leaking or blown there will be a bulge or some rustish looking gobbly goo on the top of them.

 

Also, if this is happening when you're working the pc hard, it could be overheating...which could be just a matter of blowing out dust, replacing the fan or the heatsink.

 

It could also just be your power supply.

 

It could also be your RAM. If you have two DIMMS, remove one and see if it still happens. If it does, swap the other one back in and test it again.

 

I work as a security engineer and have done a lot of research and work with malware/virii/other associated types of random code. I have seen Viruses cause this type of issue where the system constantly reboots. Am I convinced its a virus, no. Then again it could be hardware, or some other OS corruption. But to me, from a troubleshooting model. Its easier to start with the lower hanging fruit. Do a few scans, see if that fixes anything before you start to rip the case apart and replace hardware.

 

Edited August 15, 200718 yr by southsideirish71

Geek Squad said it wasn't going to be worth fixing. Got a new desktop, Compaq. Day one, thing comes up with the "blue screen of death" 3 times in 2 hours. Take that one back, now on this new (x2) one. They were able to salvage all my old stuff which was nice.

 

I'm on Vista now and I feel like I'm on crack while trying to use this thing.

Geek Squad said it wasn't going to be worth fixing. Got a new desktop, Compaq. Day one, thing comes up with the "blue screen of death" 3 times in 2 hours. Take that one back, now on this new (x2) one. They were able to salvage all my old stuff which was nice.

 

I'm on Vista now and I feel like I'm on crack while trying to use this thing.

 

Was it the capacitors? It had to be hardware if they said it wasn't worth fixing?

Edited August 21, 200718 yr by Controlled Chaos

Geek Squad said it wasn't going to be worth fixing. Got a new desktop, Compaq. Day one, thing comes up with the "blue screen of death" 3 times in 2 hours. Take that one back, now on this new (x2) one. They were able to salvage all my old stuff which was nice.

 

I'm on Vista now and I feel like I'm on crack while trying to use this thing.

 

 

Vista takes some getting used to. I've been playing with it for a little over a week and I'm starting to figure out the short cuts. It runs a ton faster than XP though, which I love.

I've had Vista on my laptop for quite some time now. It sucks.

Edited August 21, 200718 yr by Kid Gleason

Was it the capacitors?

 

Were they "fluxing?"

 

 

Geek Squad said it wasn't going to be worth fixing. Got a new desktop, Compaq. Day one, thing comes up with the "blue screen of death" 3 times in 2 hours. Take that one back, now on this new (x2) one. They were able to salvage all my old stuff which was nice.

 

I'm on Vista now and I feel like I'm on crack while trying to use this thing.

 

Of course they'd say that...

 

Next time tell Geek Squad to go f*** themselves and find a real computer technician that won't tell you "just buy a new one" so they will up their sales and earn rewards from the company.

 

Unforutunately finding a real computer tech can be difficult these days.