Lords of Death Forums Lords of Death Forums LoD General Discussion computer question - random reboot

so i've been having problems with my computer just randomly restarting. generally speaking, it occurs when i boot up and immediately open firefox after it loads. Before firefox actually opens, the computer then resets itself and boots right back into windows with no problems.
on more than two occassions in the last month I can recall the computer booting up and a windows error box being there saying "This computer has recovered from a critical error".
I've scanned for viruses and spyware but nothing comes up. I have heard the hard drive making some funky noises, is that a possibility? any suggestions what i should try or what may be the problem?

I don't know what it is but my computer did something similar this past week. Open up a proggy and bam computer would completely freeze and then finally completely died. The hard drive had dead segments or something like that in a small part of the drive. I ran maxblast utilities and it couldn't even fix it with a low level. Replaced the HD and it's fine now. Old drive wouldn't even let me re-install shit. If you can back up your shit now, if it's the same case as me. I noticed also the drive began makin slight noises a couple weeks back but didn't pay much attention to it since it wasn't too often and didn't seem at the time a problem.

I startup my computer and it freezes in like 10 seconds after entering windows.
The bottom toolbar just freezes for no reason. I can click around on the desktop. I can click to try and open My Computer or anything else on my desktop and I get the little timer but nothing loads. I keep rebooting it and nothing works.
I am in safe mode w/networking right now trying to figure it out. It's strange too it just happened this past morning and I dont remember downloading/changing any settings that would cause this.
I also use FireFox, I wonder if they updated and chobbed it up or something?

turn off hard reboots.. It will help if you can grab the blue screen error and post it here. More people will be able to help you if you can get that

http://www.microsoft.com/updates/codecpaks/482752c.htm

it just reboots and sometimes (not every time), windows pops up the message that states that it had recovered from a critical error...if I get that again I'll post it, but as far as i can remember there was no other text aside from that..and the "contact microsoft support where we won't help you but we'll charge you 900 bazillion dollars!"

is on my other hard drive, this one is just windows and mad space...but i just picked it up within the last 6 months, i'll be pissed if it is dead already :P

That's because in Windows you can either have the computer display a Blue screen or auto reboot if there is an OS error. That's what I was trying to get at, sorry I guess I didnt explain it well enough.
Anyway, here is how to do it in WinXP (which I guess you are using). Next time your computer WONT restart, it will display a blue screen. Take this info from the blue screen, write it down and post it here and we will be able to help you better <img src="/~stretch/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
Right click on My Computer
Select Properties
Select the Advanced Tab->Startup & Recovery section
Select the Settings button
uncheck "Automatically restart" Apply".
This will give you a blue screen with the error message rather than rebooting the computer.
If you need more explanation just pm me

How hot is your computer running?

Spontaneous reboots are usually caused from overheating. Check your CPU heat sync and touch it make sure it's not super hot, it should only be luke warm at the most.
Reboots also are caused by faulty memory, try taking 1 stick out.
Try updating your motherboard chipset, that could be another reason.
It also could happen from a poor quality power supply or one that is going out.
Power supply or overheating are the 2 likely culprits, check both.