Windows XP Home Edition Unstability Problem

[Strider]

Every so often I will get an fatal error (I can't remember what error message says exactly) under Windows XP. Today was the worse problem I have had with this problem. I was playing Civilization III when a message pop up stating Civ III caused a fatal error, I really didn't pay attention to the error that much because the game seemed to be working right (Big Mistake there) so I ignored it, but 2 seconds later the message stated that the program will shutdown. Well not only did it shutdown, but my computer rebooted. At first I thought it might be temperature problem, but I was skeptical of that because a couple of hours back I just finished a 3-4 hour set of Civilization III with no problems what so ever. Just to be safe I checked Motherboard Monitor which stated a temperature of 116 F (47 C), which is a little warm but not where I was overly concerned. So I decided to play civ III again, and no more that 30 seconds into the games, my computer rebooted for no reason.

Now this really concern me, I thought hmm, maybe it is a temperature issue as it was rebooting. As I was about to check MM5 temperature, the computer rebooted, so now I though it was a temperature problem so I went into the BIOS temperature (Which I found out from this great forum is the most accurate) an found it to be 109 F which is pretty good considering my computer had rebooted a couple of time within a period of about a minute. So I decided it my be Civ III so I decided to uninstall it and I'm not going to bother with an even longer story, but Thank God for system restore. I have a funny feeling that my problem is in Nortorn System Works 2002, for I updated it yesterday and that is when I first started having this problem.. So I uninstalled Norton System works, got myself a different anti-virus checker (Panda makes a good one) and I hope this fixes the problem. However, if anyone of you might have a better idea, please feel free to feel to submit a solution (or cause). Microsoft still hasn't responded to the very first submission (Which if my memory serves me right, that stated they would get back with 48 hours of the error report).

[Steady Teddy]

Strider,
Sorry to hear about your problem. I'm no expert but I had nothing but problems when I was using a previous version of Norton (2001).
I now have Panda Antivirus Platinum and have had no problems whatsoever. The Tech Support and Updates are the best. Make sure you subscribe to the Oxygen 3 Newsletter that they provide.
I also play Civ III and have only experienced one minor crash problem since I installed it. I was playing a game for about 1 1/2 hours without saving and that annoying IE Explorer Error message popped up then crashed back to the desktop. The same message that comes up whenever I'm using IE 6, but I was not online at that time. I play Civ III all the time and have only had that one problem. Nothing as serious as what you described though.
Don't know what the problem could be but I just wanted to let you know that you will be very happy with Panda!
As far as Microsoft getting back to you: You'll be lucky if they respond within 48 years let alone 48 hours!

[HAL9000]

When you installed Norton System Works, did you install the entire package, if so, that was probably the cause of your trouble. ONLY install the antivirus software, maybe Winfax if you need a fax program, but there is one built into XP already, and maybe GHOST for doing backups, but don't install anything else.

[Steady Teddy]

HAL9000 makes a great point. I made the mistake of installing all that other Norton Crap Software instead of just installing the Antivirus. Big Mistake!
But I would still keep the Panda Antivirus over Norton.

[Davidoo1]

How do you check the temperature of your processor? I've heard it referred to several times. I am great with software issues, but not so much hardware. I always assumed there was a device you had to use to measure the temperature with the case open. Some posts make it sound like you can go into your BIOS and it will tell you the temperature? I've been in my BIOS settings many times and never seen this as an option.

[HAL9000]

If you have it in your BIOS, it will be under something like Hardware Monitor, Health Status, Hardware Status, etc. If you don't have anything listed, you're motherboard probably doesn't have temperature sensors.

[Strider]

Just came across something while doing a search on google.com that might help my problem a little bit.

"Disabling the “restart on system failure” feature may permit the exact cause to be isolated: Right-click on My Computer, click Properties, click the Advanced tab. Under “Startup & Recovery,” click Settings. Under “System Failure,” uncheck the box in front of “System reboot.”"

The article states that is for shutdown problems, but it kind of resembles the problem that I'm having, so I'm giving it a try.

Yep, I installed the whole version of Norton System Works 2002, I thought I would have learn my lesson when I was running Windows 98.

Thanks for the help, I'm going be monitoring this problem the next couple of days, I'll post if anything is new.

I really jinx myself the other day at work, I was bragging how stable my computer has been and then this starts happening, I should learn to keep my big mouth shut.

[Strider]

Well, my computer is really messed up now, I can't even get it to re-install windows XP. The above didn't work and it made matters worse. I have a feeling this might be now a hardware issue, now I get a blue screen with a message stating that windows is now shutting down (this happen in safe mode and again when I tried to re-install windows) and to check make sure shadow ram and something else I can't remember is off, or check new hardware or new software (I know this can't be because I now have none) has been installed. I don't think it is a hardware issue, but now I am not so sure. If anyone has a suggestion on where to start first would be very much welcome, of course I going to wait a day to clear my head (and to get rid of this headache). This really bums me out for I use this computer for Digital Video Editing (I installed a firewire card about a month ago, was working fine). My other specs are below: