My computer hates me

[April]

Or maybe it's possessed.

Seriously though, what can make a computer spontaneously reboot?

I'm 99% sure there is no virus involved. So let's sidestep that issue, okay?
I was typing in one window, and loading yahoo weather in another. Computer reboots itself. I get pissed and go downstairs for a couple minutes. When I come back upstairs, it's just getting to the desktop. So I wonder what the hell it was doing in the meantime. And why did it reboot itself?

Stupid thing.

 

[Kazin]

Momentary power outage? That can cause it, it's happened to me before. Power goes out long enough to cause a flicker in the lights but not long enough to cause a full shut down, Computer gets confused and reboots.

 

[falcon29]

If you're using Internet Explorer, then Bill Gates now knows your underwear preferences and size. If you use Netscape, we all know the same info, because your pictures are in the email by the next day. When your computer reboots on its own, it opens all the ports that don't have a current plug in them to become webcams. The ports that have something jacked into them report whatever they can. Didn't everybody know that?

 

[bknight2602]

If you are using Windows ME, I suggest moving to something else, it is the worst op system built by MS. Ihad similar problems, until I swithched to Win 2000, not for the fant of heart. Win 98, might be better, but get some help MS leaves alot of trails in the registry.

 

[Debbie]

Typically when an uninitiated reboot occures it is a hardware or driver conflict. Have you installed any new hardware or drivers prior to the behavior?

Hi April

 

[LukkyKnight]

In addition to the other points mentioned

Many computers are petulant about their enslavement to the human race. They preach sedition and other scurrilous ideas to their kind, and practice civil disobedience (although sometimes it's not so civil.) If this is the case it needs to be taken to the nearest re-training center and taught the error of its ways so it can be more fulfilled by performing its natural duty in your servitude.

You may have an unreliable power supply, or a small fissure in a board which changes as the internal temperature rises in the CPU housing, or even an aging circuit breaker in the house which is the issue.

As a personal note, I would not counsel trying to move from WinME backwards to 98, but if its what your exorcist counsels you can certainly consider it.

 

[ShamelessFlirt]

I have to agree with Debbie and Lukky.

I went nuts once (OK, still but that's another story) uninstalling software trying to chase down an intermitten reboot. It turned out one of the memory chips was shot.

Good luck, just make sure you don't change too many things at once or you won't know what's causing it. If you're lucky it's not more than one thing.

Do it piecemeal and make sure you can put things back the way they were!

 

[crystalizedjoy]

I had a similar problem.. I was attempting to ressurect a dead PC.. mother board still worked, half of the other thigns were burned out tho.. after much cutting and re-wiring, I hit the power button, and vroom, life! eureka! but every five minutes or so, it would reboot itself. no reason that 2 hours of work could discover. my solution?

I took it outside and blasted it with my shotgun.

fuckin computers.

 

[ShamelessFlirt]

so this is yours then ...

 

[crystalizedjoy]

so this is yours then ...

not too far off, really.. 12 guage slugs leave ALOT bigger holes tho

 

[April]

I didn't notice any lights flickering, but it is possible that it was a momentary power outage. The wind here is crazy.

I haven't changed anything lately. I downloaded a zip file last night, but haven't got around to touching it. Running Win 98, Netscape and IE. I never use IE. Evil software.

Once or twice a year the computer does this. Everything else is fine. It also has a habit of not loading the keyboard once in a while, so I have to reboot it.

If it continues this bad behavior, it will be "retrained". My way. I already have a replacement.

 

[sabbathstorm]

I have to agree with Debbie and Lukky.

I went nuts once (OK, still but that's another story) uninstalling software trying to chase down an intermitten reboot. It turned out one of the memory chips was shot.

Good luck, just make sure you don't change too many things at once or you won't know what's causing it. If you're lucky it's not more than one thing.

Do it piecemeal and make sure you can put things back the way they were!

Hey stranger

 

[Shiner]

I had problem like that once and it turned out to be my table lamp, the lamp had a transformer built into the base and when there was a power surge the magnetic waves from the lamp would wipe out my PC.

I bought an anglepoise lamp with an old fasioned light bulb in it and never suffered a reboot again.......well not until I ran into that Indigo. Rose troll and her virus linked sig-line

 

[Weird Harold]

Once or twice a year the computer does this. Everything else is fine. It also has a habit of not loading the keyboard once in a while, so I have to reboot it.

If it's not a frequent occurance, then it's probably software related and the result of data corruption in a program or web-page. There are a lot of things that can cause random data corruption -- anything from squirming in your chair to cosmic radiation.

If it is harware related, it's probably your RAM memory, although it could be a bad spot on your hard-drive or an intermittant problem with the hard-drive controller.

I've had similar problems -- usually when loading a web-page but since it's infrequent and not duplicable, I usually just cuss a bit and carry on.