Unexpected and Unprovoked...ARRGHH

[thomas__hb]

Hi all.

Recently bought a new computer and installed WINXP.
All has gone to plan, but for the fact that when using the computer which runs as it should, it unexpectedly and unprovoked, switches off and resets. On reboot it displays the usual XP error report dialog claiming that it has just recovered from a major error.

Im not sure whats causing this...it happens when an action takes place, ie: i click the refresh button on Internet Explorer, or i click the close window button, and it resets itself as if i have pressed the reset button, which i can assure you im not.
Whats more, ive tried pressing the reset button in the middle of use, and when re-booted, windows doesnt give me an error message and request to send a report.

I sent a report in the hope that others have had this problem but the response page was inspecific and unhelpful. It suggested that the issue might be that a device driver may be failing, and to reinstall any new devices i may have, which may be helpful to some, but not me seeing as its brand new from Saturday, and has only had Windows installed since Sunday night.

Im sure its not cooling or power issues, as Windows recognises the problem on re-boot, which it normally wouldn't do with a power failure and also, the PCMONITOR prog says that it's running at a nice 21 degrees celcius in there...(i dont know farenheit, but to put some perspective on it for those concerned, im warmer out in this room that the m/b and chip are in that case.)

For interests sake and if it helps, my stats are;

MSI K7N2 Delta M/B with NFORCE2 Chipset
AMD Athlon 2700+ (Heatsink is cool to touch right now)
2x Western Digital 7200rpm 120gb HDD
2x Kingston 512mb PC2700 RAM Modules
16x DVD
MSI FX5200-T 128mb AGP Card (Heatsink is cool to touch right now)

Any thoughts?

Thomas

(No Nerdy Handle(Which is not to say im not a nerd))

[mairving]

More than likely it is the Blaster worm since you seem to only experience the problem while online. Look in this forum and the Security forum here for more information on the blaster worm.

Welcome to the PCMech.

[morriswindgate]

Yeah you need to get the Security patch and as soon as possible install Service Pack 1 if the OS on the computer did not include it.

[thomas__hb]

Sorry, i wasnt clear, the example of IE was for just that an example...it happens under any circumstances, Word, My Computer, Hot-Keys on my K/B, logging on or off as a local user...it could be any action that seems to trigger it.

and yeh ive got SP1...but i'll get the patch and see what happens.

Thanks anyway Mairving...

In the meantime, does anyone else have any ideas?


Thomas

(No Nerdy Handle(Which isnt to say im not a nerd))

[thomas__hb]

I have run the MS Security Update, and all went well, and also ran the Symantec version of the Blaster Removal Prog. which said there was no virus detected, however the syptoms havent occured in the lsat 10 minutes which they almost always normally do so something has worked in the short-term.

Thanks for your help and i'll re-post if anything more occurs...

Thomas

(No Nerdy Handle(Which isnt to say im not a nerd))

[eldon]

Your computer is set to reboot on all errors,you can disable this feature if you want,I will see where it is located and get back to you if someone else doesnt first.However there is a reason its crashing,you may need to look at your error log in your help and support then under tasks.

[mike breck]

Start > Control Panel > Settings > System (in the Classic-style

Start menu, Control Panel is under Settings).

Click Advanced > System And Recovery > Settings.

In the System Failure section, clear the Automatically Restart

check box, then click OK.

Now instead of rebooting, you will get get a BSOD which will give you a cryptic message which should help to identify the problem.

[morriswindgate]

By the way, I had an intresting one with the blaster worm that I still have not figured out. A lady for whom I built a computer called me when this thing started. What she described was the Blaster worm, so I picked up her computer, knowing that since she was on Dial-up she had not kept up the AV or the Security patches for XP.
I started the computer and never got the RPC Restart window, even though she said that when she called that it would reboot everytime she tried to start it with the Window showing> The only thing that had changed was I had not plugged in the modem or NIC. I patched the system, ran the AV and looked for the blaster files, but could not find anything. Ran the norton removal tool and it could not find it also. The computer has been running fine since she got it back.

[mairving]

Originally posted by morriswindgate By the way, I had an intresting one with the blaster worm that I still have not figured out. A lady for whom I built a computer called me when this thing started. What she described was the Blaster worm, so I picked up her computer, knowing that since she was on Dial-up she had not kept up the AV or the Security patches for XP. I started the computer and never got the RPC Restart window, even though she said that when she called that it would reboot everytime she tried to start it with the Window showing> The only thing that had changed was I had not plugged in the modem or NIC. I patched the system, ran the AV and looked for the blaster files, but could not find anything. Ran the norton removal tool and it could not find it also. The computer has been running fine since she got it back.

I actually had similar problems with a computer here at work. Port 135 was firewalled but this user (my boss by the way) had a modem and AOL installed which would leave him open. He also had PCAnywhere Installed and couldn't connect to it. When he ran a diagnostic on the modem, the system crashed and said that the modem was in use. I disconnected him from the network and the modem and installed the patch and he hasn't had a problem since. Odd I don't know if it was the virus trying to attach or what.

I wonder if your user was on AOL.

[morriswindgate]

Yes the person was a self-disabled person who is afraid to use anything but A"H"OL because surfing the internet is just tooooo hard without it.

[mike breck]

Maybe you scared it away Morris

But seriously, isn't more likely the system was not infected by MSBlast. If the system was infected, msblast.exe should have been present and there should have a registry entry at CurrentVersion\Run.

As far as I know, the MS patch doesn't remove MSBlast, it just plugs the hole.

[el_novato]

morris, what exactly do you mean by "self-disabled"?