Unexplainable shutdown/reboot

Howdy-dooo,

My computer will occasionally just shutdown and reboot, all by itself. Sometimes, I get the screen that asks whether to boot from last good configuration; but not always. AND...sometimes will not turn itself off after attempting a shutdown. This is truly an anomoly. Any thoughts would be most welcome.
Thanks all!

 

Symptom: The system reboots or crashes intermittently

1. Eliminate the power supply as the source. Check the voltage of the power supply. (This requires you to have and know how to operate a voltmeter/multimeter - PM me for instructions, or if you rather, replace the power supply)

2. Visit this thread, and follow all the steps within.

3. Eliminate the unnecessary. Too many devices on a system may be overtaxing the power supply. Too many processes may be interfering with software. Check task manager (for Windows NT/2K/XP) for extraneous processes. Reduce the number of programs running at startup.

4. For Windows 9x, update your drivers where you can to ensure the least number of real-mode drivers possible.

5. Reseat the CPU and memory modules

6. Check the motherboard for damage, shorts, frayed traces or bad connections.

 

also read and follow this trip

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/announcement.php?f=22

 

Thanks for the response!!!
Just an FYI, the OS is XP Home, 768mb ram, 2.6ghz processor. Also, this is used strictly as a gaming computer on a large screen HDTV monitor. The only devices attached are remote receivers for joystick, remote keyboard and mouse.
I do have and know how to operate a voltmeter and i will pm for instructions. I suspected the power supply might be the cause. Just wanted to add that WHEN the system goes down and reboots, it does not repeat itself. I have checked task manager and there are no extraneous processes and there are zero processes on start up. I will take a look at the cpu and memory modules for intergrity.
Thanks again.

 

There are many different ways of tackling these problems trip,checking for hardware faults,checking for overheating ,cleaning out all the dust,cleaning out all the spyware,each must be done properly and eliminated

If the problem is a software problem sometimes the computer will write a mini dump,a log of what happened just before the crash which can clues as to the failure,go to this file and see if there are any mini dumps whos dates corrispond with your last crash,zip them and include with your next post,I or someone else will debug them,

C:\WINDOWS\Minidump

Also go go to control panel\sytem\advanced\startup and recovery and uncheck automatically restart,hopefully you should get a bluescreen at your next crash that will point to a troublesome driver or software component,if you still dont recieve a bluescreen or have any mini dumps the problem may be hardware or spyware related as mada has pointed out