PC Keeps Rebooting

[Samurai]

Ok, everytime I try to play a game online it keeps rebooting as if the 'reboot button' has been pressed.

Here's some further info:

• There are no viruses on this PC. Scanned with both Norton & Nod32.

• There is no spyware on this PC. Scanned with SpyBot, Adaware & Spyware Blaster.

• This has happened on several occasions now, and with different games, such as Call Of Duty & C&C: Generals.

• This happens when I join the game and/or attempt to join a game.

• The modem is fine. It's the PC that shuts down.

• PC does not overheat. It happens to be very cool at all times.

Any ideas anyone? Please help cause it's driving me crazy.

[Virtualbody1234]

Turn off the automatic restart feature of Windows.

Presss the Windows symbol key and the Pause/Break key together. Now click the Advanced tab>Startup and Recovery - Settings> Remove the checkmark at [ ] Automatically restart and press Ok.

[Samurai]

Cool. Thanks. Hope this works. What is that setting used for anyway?

Edit* I have the Alerter service turned off as well so my PC wont be able to alert me if there is an error. I've turned that off for now, unless you advise otherwise.

I don't want it blowing up in my face

[Virtualbody1234]

You can leave the "Alerter" off.

Turning off the Automatic restart feature will cause Windows to show you a blue screen with an error message instead of a restart even if that "Alerter" is off.

[Samurai]

thanks. i'm going to see if i can play a game now thanks for your help!

[Samurai]

Well I started in my game and I heard the 'click' that comes moments before a reboot, and it just froze a few seconds after it. no blue screen. nothing. had to manually reboot pc. i don't know what's wrong!

[lynx]

I assume this means it froze at the same point that it would have automatially restarted. If so, VB's theory about the Blue screen are correct, but you aren't actually seeing the screen, which suggests you may have a video driver problem. Make sure you've got the latest versions (Catalyst for Ati, Forceware for Nvidia) installed.

Try looking in the Event Viewer (in Control Panel/Administrative Tools) to see if there are any messages for the time in question, if so it may give an idea about what is wrong. Most likely place to look is in the system log, but the Application log has a minor chance of having something too.

[Samurai]

I've just returned from the wonderful tropics of safe mode where there are prizes to be won. It seems every test and diagnostic I threw at it was time wasted. Didn't find a single problem.

As for the graphics drivers, it is a possibility, although it was working for months beforehand and I never had any trouble. Could this still be likely?

I can't seem to find my system log as well...

Damn, I feel like burning everything to DVD and reformatting. I normally do this once a year anyway to spring clean. Only problem is, it takes a few hours.

[Samurai]

These events came up, around the same time as the system crashes:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Perflib
Event Category: None
Event ID: 2002
Date: 19/12/2004
Time: 19:39:14
User: N/A
Computer: ECLIPSE
Description:
The open procedure for service "WmiApRpl" in DLL "C:\WINDOWS\System32\wbem\wmiaprpl.dll" has taken longer than the established wait time to complete. There may be a problem with this extensible counter or the service it is collecting data from or the system may have been very busy when this call was attempted.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Event Type: Error
Event Source: PerfNet
Event Category: None
Event ID: 2004
Date: 19/12/2004
Time: 19:39:04
User: N/A
Computer: ECLIPSE
Description:
Unable to open the Server service. Server performance data will not be returned. Error code returned is in data DWORD 0.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 34 00 00 c0 4..À

[AcID ZeR0]

Was the click sound internal or did it come via. your speakers?