Your computer reboots unexpectedly

If your computer reboots unexpectedly there are a couple things you can do to troubleshoot. First, try and figure out as much as you can about why the computer is rebooting. Does the computer reboot only when you run certain applications? Does it only happen when you use the internet, printer, or any other peripheral? Does this problem prevent you from booting into Windows? Well if you answered yes to any of the above questions then your solution may be here!

Reboots only when I use certain applications Run a quick virus scan to verify that your computer is clear of viruses. Start from a clean slate, so to speak... Next you want to try and isolate the problem as best you can -- what applications are running, how much memory does my computer have, what operating system am I running, is there something, in particular (some key stroke, some function within the application) that makes my computer reboot. Answers to these questions can be extremely helpful when troubleshooting. For example: My computer runs Windows XP, a complex math application and only has 128MB of RAM. I try to execute a certain function within the application and the computer reboots. Because I'm aware of the circumstances I can easily deduce that lack of memory most likely has something to do with the reboot. A couple of ways to solve said problem. First, you could always buy more memory. Make sure you speak with a professional before you go out and by Gigs of memory only to realize that your system can only support 512MB. A second solution, which I would also recommend at least looking into, is to get a comparable application - by a different vendor. And yet the last possible solution that I present to you is: CPU temperature! A common reason for our CPU overheating would be over clocking our CPU. Other possible reasons could be a broken fan, poor air circulation, incorrect case, or simply just a hot environment.

Reboots when I use the internet, a printer, or some other peripheral Run a quick virus scan to verify that your computer is clear of viruses. If your computer still reboots unexpectedly when you use, or try to use a peripheral device then you want to check the device's driver. The driver is the low level software that communicates with the hardware. You need to open the Device Manager. You can locate the Device Manager by right clicking the My Computer icon on your desktop and then select properties. Or by opening the System control Panel. In the properties window select Hardware and from the Hardware window select Device Manager. In the list of installed devices you are looking for anything that has a red circle with a white X within it. You may also see yellow circles with exclamation mark within them, both these icons mean that something is either wrong with the device or the device driver. Right click on the device in the list and go to properties to view more information about the device or drive. A re-install of the device or an upgrade of the device driver can potentially be the necessary solution to this unexpected reboot problem.

Can't even login to Windows If you can't even boot up into Windows before the computer reboots then your CPU is most likely over clocked. You should speak with a professional about this and let them fix this problem as the solution requires work in the system BIOS. Changes to the BIOS should only be made by those who know what they are doing!

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