WinXP Instant Shutdown [Windows XP]

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From: Paul Calcagno on 8 Mar 2010 10:05

I'm running Win XP, SP3, 2 GB of RAM, Firefox, all WU's, Avira &
SpywareDoctor set for updates and re-scans every day, MBAM, SAS, CCleaner
resident on my Compaq laptop.
Lately, sometimes right after I open up WLM and Firefox, the computer does
an immediate shutdown - The screen goes black and the computer is completely
off. Pushing the power on button brings it up just fine. This `shutdown'
doesn't always happen.
What I've tried so far is: "Dev Mgr==>Ethernet Properties. Click on Power
tools tab; deselect `let computer turn off this device to save power". The
only thing I didn't do after the Dev Mgr thing was a restart. Is there
anything else that might cause/fix this problem?
I've had some laptop fan issues, meaning that sometimes it seems to be off
when it seems like it should be on. Would overheating the drive cause this
kind of a shutdown? Would the `event logs' show anything and if so, how do I
access them on my XP machine?

Paul C.

From: DL on 8 Mar 2010 10:16

Control Panel>Adminastrative Tools>Event Viewer
Overheating could cause an instant shutdown

"Paul Calcagno" <pcalcagno(a)cfl.rr.com> wrote in message
news:eWKGODtvKHA.4492(a)TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> I'm running Win XP, SP3, 2 GB of RAM, Firefox, all WU's, Avira &
> SpywareDoctor set for updates and re-scans every day, MBAM, SAS, CCleaner
> resident on my Compaq laptop.
> Lately, sometimes right after I open up WLM and Firefox, the computer does
> an immediate shutdown - The screen goes black and the computer is
> completely off. Pushing the power on button brings it up just fine. This
> `shutdown' doesn't always happen.
> What I've tried so far is: "Dev Mgr==>Ethernet Properties. Click on Power
> tools tab; deselect `let computer turn off this device to save power".
> The only thing I didn't do after the Dev Mgr thing was a restart. Is there
> anything else that might cause/fix this problem?
> I've had some laptop fan issues, meaning that sometimes it seems to be off
> when it seems like it should be on. Would overheating the drive cause
> this kind of a shutdown? Would the `event logs' show anything and if so,
> how do I access them on my XP machine?
>
> Paul C.

From: John John - MVP on 8 Mar 2010 10:21

Paul Calcagno wrote:
> I'm running Win XP, SP3, 2 GB of RAM, Firefox, all WU's, Avira &
> SpywareDoctor set for updates and re-scans every day, MBAM, SAS,
> CCleaner resident on my Compaq laptop.
> Lately, sometimes right after I open up WLM and Firefox, the computer
> does an immediate shutdown - The screen goes black and the computer is
> completely off. Pushing the power on button brings it up just fine.
> This `shutdown' doesn't always happen.
> What I've tried so far is: "Dev Mgr==>Ethernet Properties. Click on
> Power tools tab; deselect `let computer turn off this device to save
> power". The only thing I didn't do after the Dev Mgr thing was a
> restart. Is there anything else that might cause/fix this problem?
> I've had some laptop fan issues, meaning that sometimes it seems to be
> off when it seems like it should be on. Would overheating the drive
> cause this kind of a shutdown? Would the `event logs' show anything and
> if so, how do I access them on my XP machine?

To open the Event Viewer enter eventvwr.msc in the Start menu Run box.
Look for events in the System log.

The symptom is is consistent with heat or PSU problems, if so there
won't be anything relevant showing in the event log.

John

From: Jose on 8 Mar 2010 10:32

On Mar 8, 10:05 am, "Paul Calcagno" <pcalca...(a)cfl.rr.com> wrote:
> I'm running Win XP, SP3, 2 GB of RAM, Firefox, all WU's, Avira &
> SpywareDoctor set for updates and re-scans every day, MBAM, SAS, CCleaner
> resident on my Compaq laptop.
> Lately, sometimes right after I open up WLM and Firefox, the computer does
> an immediate shutdown - The screen goes black and the computer is completely
> off. Pushing the power on button brings it up just fine. This `shutdown'
> doesn't always happen.
> What I've tried so far is: "Dev Mgr==>Ethernet Properties. Click on Power
> tools tab; deselect `let computer turn off this device to save power". The
> only thing I didn't do after the Dev Mgr thing was a restart. Is there
> anything else that might cause/fix this problem?
> I've had some laptop fan issues, meaning that sometimes it seems to be off
> when it seems like it should be on. Would overheating the drive cause this
> kind of a shutdown? Would the `event logs' show anything and if so, how do I
> access them on my XP machine?
>
> Paul C.

Yeah - overheating will not generally put an event in the log, but you
can check the logs for clues. If I force my system to overheat, it
does beep from the motherboard to warn me though (this is
configurable). Do you have any beeps?

Does it start right back up and keep working without a cooling off
period?

Here are some specific things to do that will eliminate guessing or
"trying" things. I would not be trying things.

Minimize back and forth Q&A and eliminate guesswork and assumptions:

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste back here.

There will be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name), and whatever appears to be private information to you, just
delete from the pasted information.

Reduce the chances of malicious software by running some scans.

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

These can be uninstalled later if desired.

Look in the Event Viewer for clues around the time of the incident

Here is a method to post the specific information about individual
events.

To see the Event Viewer logs, click Start, Settings, Control Panel,
Administrative Tools, Event Viewer.

A shortcut to Event Viewer is to click Start, Run and in the box
enter:

%SystemRoot%\system32\eventvwr.msc /s

Click OK to launch the Event Viewer.

The most interesting logs are usually the Application and System.
Some logs may be almost or completely empty.
Not every event is a problem, some are informational messages that
things are working okay and some are warnings.
No event should defy reasonable explanation.

Each event is sorted by Date and Time. Errors will have red Xs,
Warnings will have yellow !s.
Information messages have white is. Not every Error or Warning event
means there is a serious issue.
Some are excusable at startup time when Windows is booting. Try to
find just the events at the date
and time around your problem.

If you double click an event, it will open a Properties windows with
more information. On the right are
black up and down arrow buttons to scroll through the open events. The
third button that looks like
two pages on top of each other is used to copy the event details to
your Windows clipboard.

When you find an interesting event that occurred around the time of
your issue, click the third button
under the up and down arrows to copy the details and then you can
paste the details (right click, Paste
or CTRL-V) the detail text back here for analysis.

To get a fresh start on any Event Viewer log, you can choose to clear
the log (backing up the log is offered),
then reproduce your issue, then look at just the events around the
time of your issue.

From: Jose on 8 Mar 2010 10:44

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