Xp keeps rebooting

[bigbaldbob]

Hi,
Tonite I had a strange symptom with XP.
After about 2 or 3 mins of running it would just restart and give me the message
"Windows has recovered from a serious error" and asks me If I wish to inform Microsoft etc etc.

Ive noticed that it does this more if I restart rather than turning completely off and restarting, although it has done it using both methods.

I clicked on the info bit of the message and it said the following..

c:/windows/minidump/mini082803-04dmp

Any clues?

It seems ok now.. im just gonna try a restart

Thnx
BBB

[Ranger Bob]

You can prevent Windows 2000 and XP from automatically restarting. My PC with XP got hit by lighting so I can not give you the exact steps to get to the location but you need to get to the area for the Device Manager, etc. I believe it is under the Advance tab. You turn off Automatic Restart feature.

[bigbaldbob]

Thanks Bob,
If I turn this off, am I just hiding an underlying problem or is this just an XP issue?
Cheers Bob
BBB

PS it does seem fine now.

[Ranger Bob]

No actually this is a good thing to turn off because it can cause you major problems if you happen to get a stop error and the PC reboots before you can collect the information. It basically can cause the PC to get into an endless loop so you can not boot into Windows.

This may not have anything to do with the problem you had but it will benefit you in the long run.

If you continue to get the error try to collect as much information as possible on it and let us know. For example what program you are using at the time it happens. Another thing I would do is run a chkdsk on the hard drive to make sure every thing is ok.

[bigbaldbob]

Thanks Bob thats a great help.
Ive run a few benchmarks for the last hour or so to test everything out and it all seems fine.
I will disable the auto restart as you say, just in case.
Im sorry to hear about ya PC. I hope theres not to much damage.

If I get the problem again Il write down the error code etc.
Thnx again
BBB

[Ranger Bob]

Oh the PC is history and everything connected to it. :) See my post in the Water Cooler about my replacement PC that I just ordered. :)