both my computers restarted by themselves last night--how can I prevent this

[paulsailer]

Last night during the middle of the night sometime after 3.49 am both my computers apparantly restarted by themselves.

They are on a two computer network, connected to a router to my adelphia cable serivice.

I use Mozilla not google.

Everything I had minimized in outlook express and in Mozilla was off the screens, and I had just the startup screen on both computers.


I wonder if this was an automatic windows update that might have automatically restarted my computers , or some other scheduled task,

I have no scheduled task that starts on Wednesday or the 15th of the month.

I do an automatic norton update and antivirus check every night but this doesn't normally restart my computers.

Any suggestions as to what to check and how to keep this from happening again.

This same problem has happened from time to time before. Sometimes one computer restarts, sometimes both.

 

[Chett]

perhaps there was a power surge or outage of some type, it may have went out for just a slipt second, not even reseting your clock, but restarting your computers... just a thought

you may also want to check the suge protectors used on the computer. If it is bad, replace it.

 

[MFDnNC]

Hope you are running a firewall!

 

[paulsailer]

I have firewall on my router, and my windows setting

I guess power surge or outage is possible,

Is there any other possible explanation

 

[n7Epsilon]

Hi,
Maybe a STOP error occured for some reason and you have Windows automatically restart (if you are using XP), turn off the automatic restart and then, if it does that again, you can see the STOP error, which you can post on this forum to see the reason (though I am not an expert at that).
Turn off the Automatic restart in XP:

1. Right-click "My Computer" and choose "Properties..."
2. Select the "Advanced" tab
3. In "StartUp and Recovery" select "Settings"
4. Make sure the "Automatic Restart" checkbox is unchecked....

If you find it already unchecked, then this eliminates the STOP error possibility...

 

[paulsailer]

Thanks for the suggestion, but the automatic restart box is unchecked
so that wasn't the problem

 

[BigRed]

I have to keep the phone line unplugged at night so mine doesn't restart itself. Apparently phone lines have power surges, too! ( Even plugged into a surge protector, it does this) BigRed

 

[Dust Sailor]

Hi Paulsailor Dont know if I am reading this right , but it sounds like your computer is shut off during the time you want an update and virus scan . If it is idling in stanby it will start up to carry out the scheduled tasks . If it is shutdown , Nothing should happen .Is it possible it is on standby during that period ?

 

[diver46]

do you believe in ghosts? Thats the only thing I can figure from what I just read

 

[n7Epsilon]

Hi,
Maybe there's some sort of "memory leak" in your computers, over time, memory leaks can lead to your system running out of resources and finally crashing or rebooting themselves, (Windows XP shouldn't have any [at least what I know of]) if you have installed all of the latest updates and service packs for your PCs....
Try searching for updates for all of your software on both PCs, maybe its the network client (?), eliminate that possibility by connecting just one of both PCs directly to your modem. I suggest getting and using ZoneAlarm before that as I think Windows Firewall is simply too weak and basic to guard your PC when it's directly connected...

 

[alexenjen]

Windows Update is the likely cause of your reboot: 3AM is the preset hour for windows update to run or install the updates. Some updates needs to be rebooted. Check your event log for NT Updates.

And dont uncheck the Reboot option in your startup and recovery. It's good for your computer to reboot and let you know that your computer is screwed up, how else would you find out??