Re: XP Home Reboots, reboot on error unchecked.

On Sat, 23 Apr 2005 08:09:30 -0500, "Patrick Casher" <me@xxxxxxxxxxx>

>Recently installed XP Home, been having very infrequent reboots, nothing in
>system log coincides. Is there anyway of tracking what's going on? Any
>help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Do you get any error messages first, or does it just reset? If it
just resets, then I'd suspect power.

Handle this effectively, because the more this happens, the more
secondary damage you will sustain from broken files being "fixed" so
they no longer appear broken, by AutoChk on the next startup.

Start by checking the hardware:

http://cquirke.mvps.org/badcaps.htm - eyeball for bad caps
Check RAM using MemTest86 or SIMMtester (free downloads)
Check HD using your HD vendor's free diownloadable tools
Check your mains wiring and quality
Suspect a bad power supply

Then I'd formally exclude malware. This is not as easy as it should
be, given that XP has no off-HD maintenance OS bundled with it, and
not much in the way of av that will run from the ones you can find.

Then I'd compare mileages of the following:
- Safe Mode, no networking
- Safe Mode, with networking
- MSConfig suppression of startup axis (stay off networks)
- Normal Windows, off networks
- Normal Windows, on network but off Internet
- Normal Windows, while online

If networking adds the problem, then you are exposed to direct network
attack. If that network is your LAN, fix it! If the network is some
creep next door who's tapping in via WiFi, then fix that too, by
ripping out WiFi or at least unbinding File and Print Sharing from it.
If it's the Internet, then revisit yout firewall and patch status.

If Safe fixes the problem, but MSConfig startup suppression does not,
then suspect a problem within your device drivers or non-core
hardware, or something subtle that arises only when the hardware is
driven harder by drivers that make full use of it.

If all of these things fare equally badly, it's back to the
preliminaries; verifying your hardware is OK and that you aren't
running active malware. If all of that is OK, you may have sustained
sufficient secondary file system damage from bad exits and AutoChk
"fixing" of these that your installation's porridged.

If the above looks likely, then you can try a "repair install", but
make sure you enable the firewall before hitting the Internet to apply
all the patches that the "repair" will have reverted.



>---------- ----- ---- --- -- - - - -
Gone to bloggery: http://cquirke.blogspot.com
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