Anyone else have their computer randomly shut down?

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Anyone else have their computer randomly shut down?

Tarq57

156 posts

Master Geek

#36264 22-Jun-2009 12:18

Winter solstice, my XP computer shut down by itself. About 2.45pm. No reason. No message in the event viewer to shed any light. No overheating, no Windows (or other) updates (set to notify but don't...), nothing, zip, nada.
No sign of any power interruption/circuit breaker trip. All the electric clocks fail to show an interruption.
The only clue was after restart, when Firefox was re-opened, it did advise that the last session closed unexpectedly.
Had some friends over afterward. Mentioned it to them.
Their computer did exactly the same thing at 11.34pm, with a similar lack of symptoms/reports. No known power interuption, nothing.
We use different AV's, have the same OS (XP, SP3).

Anyone else have this happen?

Oh God, what've I done to it now??

z2k

321 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 24

Trusted

#227337 22-Jun-2009 12:22

Could it be a windows update? It automatically schedules a reboot.

Tarq57

156 posts

Master Geek

#227339 22-Jun-2009 12:26

z2k: Could it be a windows update? It automatically schedules a reboot.

As said above: Mine are set to "notify me but don't download or install."
And, as expected, the most recent updates were on "patch Tuesday", 9 June.

Oh God, what've I done to it now??

robjg63

4161 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 1425

Subscriber

#227356 22-Jun-2009 13:21

There were some suggestions that the infamous conficker worm caused random shutdowns.
Make sure your antivirus is up to date.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

Tarq57

156 posts

Master Geek

#227360 22-Jun-2009 13:31

The "notorious" conficker worm (and any other malware, apart from a pending file kept zipped pending further action) is absent from this system.
AV, behaviour blocker, 2 way firewall and antispyware are all up to date, as is the OS and all software on it.

Thanks anyway.
I'm really interested to know if anyone else had this happen, or knows of anyone else, especially in the Wellington region, who had it happen.
I suspect a random and brief power interruption. Maybe it wouldn't register on the clocks.

Oh God, what've I done to it now??

Flare

12 posts

Geek

#227593 23-Jun-2009 03:33

check your windows scheduler?
I've seen some computer geek friends do this to my other not-so-computer smart friends, shutting down the system.

but yes, could be a slight power surge on your area, but that's very rare with today's power management systems in the computer, exchange boxes and power station.
Could also be a power surge caused by naughty hands, like my brother accidently unplugging my desktop while I'm at school.

Tarq57

156 posts

Master Geek

#227627 23-Jun-2009 09:22

Thanks, but no scheduled tasks have mysteriously been added by the gnomes.
Wouldn't the shutdown from a scheduled task appear in the event log?

Oh God, what've I done to it now??

Samsung

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serafis

21 posts

Geek

#227986 24-Jun-2009 15:10

Is this a desktop or a laptop? I had a home office desktop that randomly started doing just this. No warning, no error messages, no event log entries, no "Windows has recovered from a serious error", no high temperatures, no weird noises, nothing.

Just like someone pulled the power cord out and put it back in. Click, beep reboot. Didn't do it often, but often enough to be annoying especially when you're right in the middle of doing something important and haven't saved.

Symptoms looked like an overclock, hardware, power or heating issue rather than a Windows one. So restored BIOS to default settings. Swapped RAM with another computer. Checked hardware monitor temperatures. Reseated CPU heatsink with new heat transfer paste. Swapped power supply.

I put it through 72 hour memory, CPU and graphics burn-in torture test, which it passed without a single error and a completely flat power and temperature graph. So put mobo & cpu in a completely different case with completely different peripherals and PCI cards, put it in a different room on a different power spur, FDISK'd, repartitioned and reinstalled Windows from scratch.

And did any of this make any difference at all? No. Nada. Still does it. Looks like it is either the cpuor the mobo, both of which work fine when they work (as 72-hour burnin showed). Could be faulty caps on the mobo but can't see any leakage. None of the other 4 computers in the house do this and they are all on the same versions of Windows, same patch level, antivirus personal firewall, basic software configurations.

So, after checking the obvious (and it sounds like you've done this), if it hasn't happened again you could ignore it until it does. Then, if it starts happening more frequently, check BIOS, RAM, CPU, PSU (if possible swap the last three with another computer). If that doesn't make a difference, image your Windows configuration (e.g. via Ghost or Macrium Reflect {free!}) so you can go back to it, install a Linux distro like Ubuntu 9.04 and see if it still happens. If it still does, then it kinda has to be the mobo as there's nothing else it really could be.

For me, I used it as an opportunity to build a new computer for the office (dearest was getting a tad tetchy when it failed while she was doing the books, can't blame her either) and gave this one to my daughter for when she goes flatting and want s occasional use for MSN, Facebook and iTunes. It still does it sometimes, and she can fix it if she wants (well actually she can't because she knows nothing about computers, but she hasn't complained at getting a free one).

Good luck.

Tarq57

156 posts

Master Geek

#227990 24-Jun-2009 15:21

Thanks for the extensive info.

It's a desktop, had it built from all good parts (2-5yr warranties) and had the power supply replaced last year under warranty.

So far it's only done it that once.
The only reason I posted here was because my friend had the same thing happen a few hours later, so I went all X-file-y on it.

If it doesn't happen again, what I'll do is push the ignore key.

Oh God, what've I done to it now??