PC restarting

[matt1991]

hi,
we have a family computer and it keeps restarting for no reason all the time. it just switches off and restarts. when it is restarting it is not after a specific thing is done. i have run antivirus scans and defraggede d it but doesnt seem to do anything. the compute. here are the main computer specs:

intel P4 2.66 GHz
1024mb ram (2 x 512mb)
80gb seagate hard drive
64mb nvidia

the rest i do not know as this is a packard bell pc and i dont get to look inside it

does anone know what is wrong with the computet?

thanks in advance,
Matt

 

[matt1991]

i have also looked in the bios for the cpu temp and it seems to be staying around 40'C

 

[matt1991]

this pc is still under warrenty so if this isnt a windows problem i can just get them to repair it although they would probably just say to re-install windows.

 

[PartieHonteuse]

If this is Windows XP disable the auto recovery option by going here..

RT click My Computer > Select "Properties" > Click "Advanced" tab > Click "settings" button under "Startup and Recovery" heading > UNcheck "Automatically Restart" under "System Failure" heading > Click "apply" button > click "Ok". Next time it happens you'll at least now get a blue screen (hopefully) and then if/when you get the Blue Screen write down the error and let us know what it says.

Partie™

 

[matt1991]

i have done that and i now get the blue screen with the usual stuff followed by the technical details. the tech details are:

*** STOP 0x0000008E (0x0000005, 0xBF8011C3, 0XF76DDA48, 0X00000000)

*** win32k.sys - Address BF8011C3 base at BF800000, Date stamp 422511a2


the bove above the tech info was too long to write and i dont think it was needed

 

[matt1991]

i was looking on google to repair that file win32k.sys and found that you had to delete it and windows had to replace it. so i turned on my pc and it wouldnt even boot onto windows. it now comes up with ntfs driver is missing. i then press any button to restart and the computer restarts but the moniter stays blank. something is seriosly wrong

 

[Rouen]

If you delete that file, you need to put the new copy in before you shut down, otherwise your PC will not boot. At this point you need to reinstall Windows, or do a repair installation. It wont work because it says the NTFS driver is missing right? NTFS stands for New Technology File System, that is how windows organizes your hard drive. If it doesn't have the drivers to read that filing system, you can't run windows period. Reinstall.

As for the computer restarting... once you reinstall, go to the windows website and manually download ALL updates and patches for windows. Although it mentions win32.sys, I dont think that is the problem. Even if you reformat and reinstall, and that doesn't fix the problem, I think i have a really good idea what is going on here.

I read an article by a PC repair technician about a year ago, it described a computer in a workshop that kept restarting itself at random times. Well, as it turns out, the computer on the inside was completely filthy. All of the fumes and smoke from the workshop accumlated inside and condensated into a grease of some sort onto the components. At some point a stray charge would hit the grease and go where it wasn't supposed to go, and viola! A restart. He disassembled the computer and throughly cleaned each component, reassembled, and it worked like brand new again.

So it might be that there is some serious gunk inside the case. However, if you open the case while the computer is under warranty, you void the warranty.

In short, if a reinstall doesn't work, ship it back.

 

[matt1991]

i didnt get to delete anything anyway becouse it restarted before i could. i will be having to re-install windows. i transfer the docs with a cd bootable linux.

 

[Blitze105]

maybe its kus its a packard bell.... lol sorry
anyhow try a re install without formatting first
then a repair...
the repair wont be fun but i can help you if u decide to do it which wont be to much trouble hopefully

 

[matt1991]

yes. packard bell are crap. we had problems with the old one so we got money back and guess what, we bought another packard bell. i know how to re-install XP on it but just time consuming as restarts about 100 times when it is installing all the drivers. i think i will have to re-install it. i dont know what the family do to that computer