Computer restarting problem (Read 219 times)

[Liffonmelsmork]

For about two months now, my computer has restarted itself at random, and recently it's also started to switch itself off. It started to happen after I installed Firefox, but I don't know if this is connected. Today I uninstalled Firefox and several other programs I installed recently.

The computer always restarts when I set it a task, such as burning a CD or saving a large file, but it also does it for no reason. I can't run a virus scan because it causes it to restart.

When the computer loads up again, the Error Report thing that comes up gives me an option to see technical information about the problem, and though it's a basically a long code, it does say something about a file called TEMP. I'm guessing this is a temporary internet file thing, and deleting it will get rid of the problem, but I have so many folders with "Temp" in the name I don't know what to do.

Can anyone help? Thanks for bothering to read.

[eva]

I could be a number of causes

-windows
-the power source
-the hard disk drive
-memory.

I'm more inclined to this last one since it happens when you try to do something that requires high performance


I think that temp thing that you see it could be a damage file as a result of the re starting. it might be some file that was in use while it happened

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1) which OS do you have?
2) do you see any kind of warning or blue screen before it restarts itself?

3) try starting in safe mode and run the virus scan just in case

[tezza202]

spam.weblogsinc.com/2005/03/18/dumprep-exe-discoveries-is-it-spyware/

Maybe?

[eva]

^^ never heard about that. interesting

[Liffonmelsmork]

Thanks for your replies!

Tezinho, thanks for the link. It turns out that the file-related problem I have is similar, but mine was something to do with something called "minidump". I looked this up and found that actually a lot of people have had the same problem, which is caused by a build-up of dust inside the machine. I'm about take the covers off and break out the Dyson! I'll report back on how it goes, and thanks again for replying.

[amandakate]

Well, if that doesn't help or you still have problems, I did hear there was some "new virus" out there that causes your computer to restart itself at various times. But, problem is..you can't run a virus scanner. It affects windows XP and Windows 2000. For more info check out this website.

vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_125007.htm

[Liffonmelsmork]

It's been a few days and I've had no problems so far. When I opened the casing, the whole thing was clogged up, I'm surprised it worked at all. Having said that my computer is getting on a bit so it's probably more likely to suffer from that sort of thing than recent models, but cheers for your help!