Computer keeps restarting without warning

Question

As the title says, my computer keeps restarting for what seems to be no reason at all.

I have run memory diagnostics and found nothing.

I have reseated all of my components.

Recently I installed a SSD and a new copy of windows, it was happening prior to this installation and had not happened since I installed this new drive until today (1/24/2019).

I have been having this problem for about 2 months, sometimes it happens many times in a day and sometimes I can go days without it happening.

It usually occurs when I am playing a game, however, it has happened while I have been browsing the internet and watching videos.

I am starting to think, given the lack of answers in memory diagnostics and online, that my GPU may be going bad. Is there any way of testing this? I would hate to purchase a new GPU and continue having the same issues.

And no, no BSOD is happening, the computer just reboots like if I had hit restart, though it does bring me to the boot menu and say the computer was improperly restarted.

Any help here would be much appreciated, this is driving me insane.

Answer 1

I have an opposite issue.  After I turn my computer off, it restarts with no warning or request.

I turn it off with either of two ways:

1.  Power button held down for a few seconds.

2.  Select Windows button, power, shut down.

Then the system will shut down and may come back on immediately or later.

I have even disconnected from my wi-fi thinking that someone else was controlling my computer.  No difference.

Answer 2

The system might be experiencing a BSoD but may be configured to just restart automatically when one occurs so you can make a safe adjustment to not do that and generate a crash dump file for analysis should one occur.

Here's how to get started:

On your Desktop right click Computer, Properties, Advanced system settings and make it look like this:

There is no need to create the Minidump folder as Windows will create one if it needs to.

Then click OK enough times to close all the dialog boxes and restart your system for the changes to take effect.  After rebooting you can go back and check the settings again to be sure the adjustments "stick".

In your next reply you can supply more information that will reduce the number of question asking message cycles if you will do this:

If your system is a Dell what is the Service Tag number?

If your system is HP what is the serial number?

Describe your antivirus/antimalware environment.

Can you make the system crash at will - if there is something in particular you do that makes the system crash like watching videos, listening to music, etc. tell us what that something is that causes the system to crash every time.

Click the Start button/orb in the lower-left corner of your screen. Or, press the Windows logo key on your keyboard.

In the box enter:

msinfo32

Select/click msinfo32.exe and the System Information dialog box will open.

Click on System Summary, click Edit, Select All (Ctrl-A), Copy (Ctrl-C) and then paste (Ctrl-V) the information back here in your next reply.

For video driver information, expand the Components, click Display, click Edit, Select All (Ctrl-A), Copy (Ctrl-C) and then paste (Ctrl-V) the information back here.

There will be some personal information (like System Name and User Name), and whatever appears to be private information to you, just delete it from the pasted information.

Then do whatever you have to do get the system to crash again and you should have a crash dump file to upload for analysis.

Sometimes more than one crash dump is needed to pinpoint the cause so send some of the most recent ones.

Use the directions in the following link to upload a few of your most recent crash dump files:

http://www.gerryscomputertips.co.uk/MicrosoftCommunity1.htm

Answer 3

As the title says, my computer keeps restarting for what seems to be no reason at all.

I have run memory diagnostics and found nothing.

I have reseated all of my components.

Recently I installed a SSD and a new copy of windows, it was happening prior to this installation and had not happened since I installed this new drive until today (1/24/2019).

I have been having this problem for about 2 months, sometimes it happens many times in a day and sometimes I can go days without it happening.

It usually occurs when I am playing a game, however, it has happened while I have been browsing the internet and watching videos.

I am starting to think, given the lack of answers in memory diagnostics and online, that my GPU may be going bad. Is there any way of testing this? I would hate to purchase a new GPU and continue having the same issues.

And no, no BSOD is happening, the computer just reboots like if I had hit restart, though it does bring me to the boot menu and say the computer was improperly restarted.

Any help here would be much appreciated, this is driving me insane.

Just a suggestion.

A bad power supply can cause intermittent restart issues such as this as well without showing a error or BSOD.

Test with another good power supply.

Go into your BIOS and let it run for a period to see if it shuts down and re-boots like you have stated.

Possibly replace the 3v button cell CMOS battery if it is the original one and over 3 years old but you will then have to reset your time and day.

Answer 4

As the title says, my computer keeps restarting for what seems to be no reason at all.

I have run memory diagnostics and found nothing.

I have reseated all of my components.

Recently I installed a SSD and a new copy of windows, it was happening prior to this installation and had not happened since I installed this new drive until today (1/24/2019).

I have been having this problem for about 2 months, sometimes it happens many times in a day and sometimes I can go days without it happening.

It usually occurs when I am playing a game, however, it has happened while I have been browsing the internet and watching videos.

I am starting to think, given the lack of answers in memory diagnostics and online, that my GPU may be going bad. Is there any way of testing this? I would hate to purchase a new GPU and continue having the same issues.

And no, no BSOD is happening, the computer just reboots like if I had hit restart, though it does bring me to the boot menu and say the computer was improperly restarted.

Any help here would be much appreciated, this is driving me insane.

Some other ideas.

I forgot to mention heat issues due to dust / leaking capacitors and faulty or stuck fans which you can usually visibly see can also cause these issues.

Check for heat sinks being clogged with dust including any fans.

Clean out dust from computer / graphics cards preferably with a can of compressed air.

Make sure the computer is off and unplugged from the wall.

When doing this hold the can a distance away from the motherboard and fans so not to damage anything as it does come out under extreme pressure.

Prevent the fans from spinning gently as you don`t want the compressed air to over spin them.

Leave off for a while so any residual moisture that comes out of the can of compressed air dries off fully.

With power supplies since they are enclosed it is harder to see if they have any leaking or blown capacitors unless you carefully disassemble the outer top cover casing and inspect.

The extraction fans in these clog up quite regularly as well or seize up.

That`s why it is easier to test with a good known working spare power supply if you have one.

Capacitors going bad usually have a bulging top or even a burst top.

Many times they will show with visible leakage on the top or around their base.

This shows as a crusty type of build up.

These can produce the issue as well.

Answer 5

In your next reply you can supply more information that will reduce the number of question asking message cycles if you will do this:

If your system is a Dell what is the Service Tag number? Not a Dell

If your system is HP what is the serial number? Not a HP

Describe your antivirus/antimalware environment.

Can you make the system crash at will - if there is something in particular you do that makes the system crash like watching videos, listening to music, etc. tell us what that something is that causes the system to crash every time.

1. No it is not a Dell or a(n) HP, I built my own computer.
2. I use Spybot SD, CCleaner, and AVG to keep things clear and clean on the virus and malware front.
3. It seems my system will consistently crash if I am watching videos and playing a game in the same sitting. Not sure that this will happen 100% of the time, but it does appear to be happening with consistency.

msinfo32:

OS Name    Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium

Version    6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601

Other OS Description     Not Available

OS Manufacturer    Microsoft Corporation

System Name   

System Manufacturer    To be filled by O.E.M.

System Model    To be filled by O.E.M.

System Type    x64-based PC

Processor    AMD FX(tm)-6100 Six-Core Processor, 3311 Mhz, 3 Core(s), 6 Logical Processor(s)

BIOS Version/Date    American Megatrends Inc. 1208, 4/18/2012

SMBIOS Version    2.7

Windows Directory    C:\Windows

System Directory    C:\Windows\system32

Boot Device    \Device\HarddiskVolume1

Locale    United States

Hardware Abstraction Layer    Version = "6.1.7601.24335"

User Name  

Time Zone   

Installed Physical Memory (RAM)    8.00 GB

Total Physical Memory    7.95 GB

Available Physical Memory    5.75 GB

Total Virtual Memory    15.9 GB

Available Virtual Memory    13.2 GB

Page File Space    7.95 GB

Page File    C:\pagefile.sys

video driver information:

Name    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570

PNP Device ID    PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1086&SUBSYS_83871043&REV_A1\4&23984C36&0&0058

Adapter Type    GeForce GTX 570, NVIDIA compatible

Adapter Description    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570

Adapter RAM    1.25 GB (1,342,177,280 bytes)

Installed Drivers    nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um

Driver Version    23.21.13.9135

INF File    oem3.inf (Section001 section)

Color Planes    Not Available

Color Table Entries    4294967296

Resolution    1600 x 900 x 60 hertz

Bits/Pixel    32

Memory Address    0xFD000000-0xFE0FFFFF

Memory Address    0xF0000000-0xF9FFFFFF

Memory Address    0xF8000000-0xF9FFFFFF

I/O Port    0x0000C000-0x0000CFFF

IRQ Channel    IRQ 32

I/O Port    0x000003B0-0x000003BB

I/O Port    0x000003C0-0x000003DF

Memory Address    0xA0000-0xBFFFF

Driver    c:\windows\system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys (23.21.13.9135, 16.57 MB (17,371,168 bytes), 1/15/2019 3:06 AM)

I want to add that I have followed the step-by-step instructions on the BSOD info page on these forums about what info is needed after a BSOD in order to help someone in the most efficient way possible.To this day my computer has still not created a single crash dump file no matter how many times this happens, I have done everything that the page said to do which is identical to the image you had posted above. I double checked using your graphic and everything matched, still no dump file from this most recent crash (tonight 1/28/2019 as I had just got done watching netflix and went to playing a game and crashed mid-game).