It happened once a little over a week ago, overnite. I don't usually power down over nite, and in the morning when I came in I knew it had rebooted because I needed to clear new "network connections" - - zone-alarm....if that had not happened, I would never have known.
Then about a day or 2 ago it happened again, which is when I remembered that it happened the previous time overnite. It happened again only today.
I don't know what more information to give you. I don't want to be helpless...but I don't have a clue where to begin. I have not noticed any other unusual behavior, and I haven't installed anything new for quite some time. I haven't changed any settings either. Those would be places I could adjust.
Just in case, I will power down tonite. I may not be up and running until around 10 am tomorrow. If you need to communicate, I'll post my email in my profile again.
I thought about using XP's "restore" function to go back far enough and hope to eliminate the problem....but I'd rather see what's up and fix it.
I am relieved that a "geek" has some insight. All assistance is greatly appreciated!
I usually look for most simple answer to problems like that (although, unless you are doing something all night with the system, such as downloading music or movies, it really isn't a problem so much as an inconvenience or annoyance).
The power supply that most modern systems contain will take the system down in the event of a power surge, spike or temporary drop in power. This could result in the system rebooting while having no effect on other appliances in your house, such as digital clocks, microwave ovens and VCR's. You would recognise this happening when you are awake as all of the lights in the house would suddenly dim then return to normal. If you find that this is indeed the problem, you may want to invest in a battery backup, also known as a UPS or Uninterruptable Power Supply (basically a surge protector on steroids that has a battery in it that can either keep the system running or, with the help of software that comes with it, shut the system down properly in the event of a power outage).
As a matter of prudence, I would suggest (to everyone running Windows (any version)) using the "Windows Update" feature to bring your system up to date with the latest security patches and software fixes. There have been several APM and hardware management patches released for most all Windows versions. It may not clear up the problem you are having, but it couldn't hurt.
There are some "system events" that cause hard reboots like that.
There are some viruses that can do it as well.
I would go to http:www.antivirus.com and do a complete scan on all hard drives on your machine if I were you. It's free, you don't even have to give your email address if you don't want to.
This may find a virus that other antivirus software doesn't find.
I found 3 viruses on my computer that Norton Antivirus didn't find.
Try that and see. If it finds and cleans viruses, that might fix your problem.
This behavior can occur if both of the following conditions are true:
A broadband cable modem or an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) modem is installed on your system, and the modem is using drivers that cause a fatal system (STOP) error.
NOTE: Depending on your system configuration, the resulting blue-screen error message may not be displayed long enough for you to record the error information.
-and-
The Automatically restart check box is selected under System failure in the Startup and Recovery dialog box (under System Properties).
The document will give you step-by-step instructions on how to fix the SYMPTOM, i.e., the rebooting, but the PROBLEM may require you to find new drivers for your cable modem.
Does the phone happen to ring when this happens? In some BIOS settings you can have features that cause the computer to "Wake up" or start up when the phone rings if the line is connected to your computer. (This must be for the purpose of receiving a fax if you have fax software, answering software or somethng like it.)
Just a shot in the dark. I have seen this happen before. To fix it go into your BIOS settings and disable this so-called "feature". It could be also happening with the "Wake on LAN" setting. Others may know more.
Let me know if this is a possibility that this is happening.
John R.
PS - Also check your Event Viewer to see if you have anything unusual listed there at the time when this happens.
I did find a virus! js_exception.gen. I followed the advice on the site but so far cannot delete this file. I located it in temp int filescontent.ie5 but that is as far as I could get - I couldn't really "see" it to single it out and delete it..so I deleted all those files. I figures that since they are temp int files, it couldn't hurt the system, and there was a possibility that I was successful in removing it...we'll see...going back for another scan...and then I think I will purchase that software!
Rick...bingo, both conditions exist, although I do not know about the drivers yet, I have to go looking.
I never would have figure any of this out for myself, I appreciate your help! You take such good care of us! //heart
All seems to be well. Virus is gone. Auto-restart is unchecked...and I will check on modem drivers tomorrow.
BTW...my particular form of this virus did nothing that I can detect. I went into regedit to change what I was supposed to change...but my correct home page was listed. I wonder if zonealarm prevented more grief than I got!
It appears I got this virus from a web site! hmmmm it was a link to a porn site...supposedly a hard porn site.
Thanks for checking up on me...and for your help. I'm good now, I think!
It is about 24 hours later and I don't know if I am out of the woods or not!
I wasn't going to track this any further until tomorrow...it is Sunday and I didn't feel like scavanging around looking for a 3 Com modem driver today!
But - it happene again twice today...unusual...seemed to be accellerating. At least this time, I did see the error on the blue screen. I am now renaming this from "the blue screen of death" to "the blue screen of the great unknown"
I decided to get smart and go to Microsoft first..."smart" = well maybe there is something there...and low and behold...Windows update had my modem driver update posted there as nice as pie! So that deed has been done.
However, I also downloaded a spiffy SP1 addition, I think...because I already did install SP1. It took forever to reboot after this....interminable blank blue screen that scares one senseless!!!
After this, as soon as I opened IE...there was another error report they wanted me to send...so I sent it...and then another....4 times!
Dunno....we will see. I will turn the puter off overnite, because if anything weird happens I think I want to see it!
If there is another problem I will let you know. I appreciate your help....you pointed me in the right direction and I was able to hone in a little bit....fingers crossed......
Computers - - love'em or hate 'em....but I love 'em.
Krysillis - you indicated you have a 3 com modem. Do you even need a modem? You said you have a cable connection. Therefore if you do not anticipate needing your 56k dial up modem then why not remove it? Is it connected to a phone line? You certainly do not need it for internet connection if you are using a cable modem.
That will be one less thing to gum up the works. I am removing my floppy drive next week as I NEVER need it anymore. (They are fast becoming obsolete.) A modem is very simple to remove. All you need is a phillips head screwdriver. Just open up your case and remove it out of the slot it is in.
Don't forget that you can go into the event viewer to see if anything suspicious is happening. It usually records reboots and such.
Click on the Start menu, settings, open up the control panel. In there click on the administrative tools icon, and open the program called Event Viewer. Look for the lines in there that are a red circle with white X's in them. Those are the errors you would probably most want to look into.
I agree that would a good idea. I have limited understanding of what those things are, what they mean and how to fix them. Please, can you recommene someplace where I can find out more?
Locating and installing the driver worked. I've not crashed once today...and I made it a point to surf long and hard!
Also - I used the help files in XP to start locating information about these events, and along the way I found a web site with many of these events discussed.( re Event Viewer)
I was able to identify the source of many errors as being associated with ZoneAlarm. According to these web sources ZA was a potential culpret...and when I checked ZA's log...there was a correlation. I don't know what to do about it, short of uninstalling ZA, but then what are my alternatives - - meaning what can I use instead and will I have similar problems.
Anyway..just thought I would check in and let you know about some of my progress.
I was able to identify the source of many errors as being associated with ZoneAlarm. According to these web sources ZA was a potential culpret...and when I checked ZA's log...there was a correlation. I don't know what to do about it, short of uninstalling ZA, but then what are my alternatives - - meaning what can I use instead and will I have similar problems.
krys
I am starting to not like ZoneAlarm. It's easy to set up and everything, but if you use it on a LAN it prevents file sharing from working, unless you set it on the lowest security settings. I was using Norton Firewall, but it crashed too much and slowed down my computer a bit more than ZoneAlarm.
I got rid of ZA and any other type of software based firewalls in favor of a router that has a built in firewall. It is problem free. Just plug and play. And in tests, it is just as secure as Zone Alarm.
If the system log did not record a reboot event, then it is most likely a hardware or driver related.
Also, your startup and recovery settings can determine if the system reboots or if it does not.
Under Control Panel > System Properties > Advanced, find the recovery options. If set to "reboot" uncheck it and see of the problem ceases. This is how Win 2000 works - XP should have a similar option.
Good Luck,
Goey
[This message was edited by Goey on November 09, 2002 at 9:55.]
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Steve!
How often does that happen? every day? once? once an hour?
More info, please!
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krys
Thanks for coming to my rescue Steve!
It happened once a little over a week ago, overnite. I don't usually power down over nite, and in the morning when I came in I knew it had rebooted because I needed to clear new "network connections" - - zone-alarm....if that had not happened, I would never have known.
Then about a day or 2 ago it happened again, which is when I remembered that it happened the previous time overnite. It happened again only today.
I don't know what more information to give you. I don't want to be helpless...but I don't have a clue where to begin. I have not noticed any other unusual behavior, and I haven't installed anything new for quite some time. I haven't changed any settings either. Those would be places I could adjust.
Just in case, I will power down tonite. I may not be up and running until around 10 am tomorrow. If you need to communicate, I'll post my email in my profile again.
I thought about using XP's "restore" function to go back far enough and hope to eliminate the problem....but I'd rather see what's up and fix it.
I am relieved that a "geek" has some insight. All assistance is greatly appreciated!
krys
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afterburner
I usually look for most simple answer to problems like that (although, unless you are doing something all night with the system, such as downloading music or movies, it really isn't a problem so much as an inconvenience or annoyance).
The power supply that most modern systems contain will take the system down in the event of a power surge, spike or temporary drop in power. This could result in the system rebooting while having no effect on other appliances in your house, such as digital clocks, microwave ovens and VCR's. You would recognise this happening when you are awake as all of the lights in the house would suddenly dim then return to normal. If you find that this is indeed the problem, you may want to invest in a battery backup, also known as a UPS or Uninterruptable Power Supply (basically a surge protector on steroids that has a battery in it that can either keep the system running or, with the help of software that comes with it, shut the system down properly in the event of a power outage).
As a matter of prudence, I would suggest (to everyone running Windows (any version)) using the "Windows Update" feature to bring your system up to date with the latest security patches and software fixes. There have been several APM and hardware management patches released for most all Windows versions. It may not clear up the problem you are having, but it couldn't hurt.
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krys
Thanks Afterburner!
I have a UPS! I thought of that too! I do upgrade all the time...especially since Window's XP has such a short history.
You guys are great!
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Steve!
There are some "system events" that cause hard reboots like that.
There are some viruses that can do it as well.
I would go to http:www.antivirus.com and do a complete scan on all hard drives on your machine if I were you. It's free, you don't even have to give your email address if you don't want to.
This may find a virus that other antivirus software doesn't find.
I found 3 viruses on my computer that Norton Antivirus didn't find.
Try that and see. If it finds and cleans viruses, that might fix your problem.
If not, is your puter still under warranty?
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Bluzeman
Krys:
Just happens that a friend of mine was having the same problem awhile back and I found an answer for him on Microsoft's knowledgebase.
The entire document can be seen HERE.
From MS's Document:
Cause
This behavior can occur if both of the following conditions are true:
A broadband cable modem or an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) modem is installed on your system, and the modem is using drivers that cause a fatal system (STOP) error.
NOTE: Depending on your system configuration, the resulting blue-screen error message may not be displayed long enough for you to record the error information.
-and-
The Automatically restart check box is selected under System failure in the Startup and Recovery dialog box (under System Properties).
The document will give you step-by-step instructions on how to fix the SYMPTOM, i.e., the rebooting, but the PROBLEM may require you to find new drivers for your cable modem.
Hope this helps!
Rick
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igotout
Does the phone happen to ring when this happens? In some BIOS settings you can have features that cause the computer to "Wake up" or start up when the phone rings if the line is connected to your computer. (This must be for the purpose of receiving a fax if you have fax software, answering software or somethng like it.)
Just a shot in the dark. I have seen this happen before. To fix it go into your BIOS settings and disable this so-called "feature". It could be also happening with the "Wake on LAN" setting. Others may know more.
Let me know if this is a possibility that this is happening.
John R.
PS - Also check your Event Viewer to see if you have anything unusual listed there at the time when this happens.
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krys
Kudos to Rick and Steve.
I did find a virus! js_exception.gen. I followed the advice on the site but so far cannot delete this file. I located it in temp int filescontent.ie5 but that is as far as I could get - I couldn't really "see" it to single it out and delete it..so I deleted all those files. I figures that since they are temp int files, it couldn't hurt the system, and there was a possibility that I was successful in removing it...we'll see...going back for another scan...and then I think I will purchase that software!
Rick...bingo, both conditions exist, although I do not know about the drivers yet, I have to go looking.
I never would have figure any of this out for myself, I appreciate your help! You take such good care of us! //heart
Still working on it....
krys
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Bluzeman
Krys, go to this link:
http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyc...S_EXCEPTION.GEN
Hopefully, you have resolved the problem by now. But if not, this will probably help.
Rick
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krys
Rick
All seems to be well. Virus is gone. Auto-restart is unchecked...and I will check on modem drivers tomorrow.
BTW...my particular form of this virus did nothing that I can detect. I went into regedit to change what I was supposed to change...but my correct home page was listed. I wonder if zonealarm prevented more grief than I got!
It appears I got this virus from a web site! hmmmm it was a link to a porn site...supposedly a hard porn site.
Thanks for checking up on me...and for your help. I'm good now, I think!
krys
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krys
It is about 24 hours later and I don't know if I am out of the woods or not!
I wasn't going to track this any further until tomorrow...it is Sunday and I didn't feel like scavanging around looking for a 3 Com modem driver today!
But - it happene again twice today...unusual...seemed to be accellerating. At least this time, I did see the error on the blue screen. I am now renaming this from "the blue screen of death" to "the blue screen of the great unknown"
I decided to get smart and go to Microsoft first..."smart" = well maybe there is something there...and low and behold...Windows update had my modem driver update posted there as nice as pie! So that deed has been done.
However, I also downloaded a spiffy SP1 addition, I think...because I already did install SP1. It took forever to reboot after this....interminable blank blue screen that scares one senseless!!!
After this, as soon as I opened IE...there was another error report they wanted me to send...so I sent it...and then another....4 times!
Dunno....we will see. I will turn the puter off overnite, because if anything weird happens I think I want to see it!
If there is another problem I will let you know. I appreciate your help....you pointed me in the right direction and I was able to hone in a little bit....fingers crossed......
Computers - - love'em or hate 'em....but I love 'em.
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igotout
Krysillis - you indicated you have a 3 com modem. Do you even need a modem? You said you have a cable connection. Therefore if you do not anticipate needing your 56k dial up modem then why not remove it? Is it connected to a phone line? You certainly do not need it for internet connection if you are using a cable modem.
That will be one less thing to gum up the works. I am removing my floppy drive next week as I NEVER need it anymore. (They are fast becoming obsolete.) A modem is very simple to remove. All you need is a phillips head screwdriver. Just open up your case and remove it out of the slot it is in.
John R.
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Mister P-Mosh
Don't forget that you can go into the event viewer to see if anything suspicious is happening. It usually records reboots and such.
Click on the Start menu, settings, open up the control panel. In there click on the administrative tools icon, and open the program called Event Viewer. Look for the lines in there that are a red circle with white X's in them. Those are the errors you would probably most want to look into.
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krys
Mister P-Mosh
I agree that would a good idea. I have limited understanding of what those things are, what they mean and how to fix them. Please, can you recommene someplace where I can find out more?
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krys
Locating and installing the driver worked. I've not crashed once today...and I made it a point to surf long and hard!
Also - I used the help files in XP to start locating information about these events, and along the way I found a web site with many of these events discussed.( re Event Viewer)
I was able to identify the source of many errors as being associated with ZoneAlarm. According to these web sources ZA was a potential culpret...and when I checked ZA's log...there was a correlation. I don't know what to do about it, short of uninstalling ZA, but then what are my alternatives - - meaning what can I use instead and will I have similar problems.
Anyway..just thought I would check in and let you know about some of my progress.
krys
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Mister P-Mosh
I am starting to not like ZoneAlarm. It's easy to set up and everything, but if you use it on a LAN it prevents file sharing from working, unless you set it on the lowest security settings. I was using Norton Firewall, but it crashed too much and slowed down my computer a bit more than ZoneAlarm.
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igotout
I got rid of ZA and any other type of software based firewalls in favor of a router that has a built in firewall. It is problem free. Just plug and play. And in tests, it is just as secure as Zone Alarm.
Routers used to be expensive but not anymore.
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krys
yeah - I know I'm kind "ignrent" - but thanks for the lessons....
What is a router??? where do I get one?? How do I install it ...etc
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igotout
THere is a lot on the internet about it. Just do a search on Google for Broadband Routers. HEre is one site I found which seems pretty informative.
http://www.homenethelp.com/router-guide/index.asp
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Goey
Krys,
P-Mosh has a good idea. Check the system log in the Event Viewer to see if it has recorded a system error that caused a reboot.
Here is a link that might help. http://www.wown.info/j_helmig/wxpevent.htm
If the system log did not record a reboot event, then it is most likely a hardware or driver related.
Also, your startup and recovery settings can determine if the system reboots or if it does not.
Under Control Panel > System Properties > Advanced, find the recovery options. If set to "reboot" uncheck it and see of the problem ceases. This is how Win 2000 works - XP should have a similar option.
Good Luck,
Goey
[This message was edited by Goey on November 09, 2002 at 9:55.]
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krys
I'm learning.
Can one of you please tell me where I can find a list of event numbers and their significance?
I am finding lots of application hangs...but there is no info when I check Microsoft's site...I cannot track down the application.
Many of these errors are associated with True Vector...so I am going to get a router and remove ZoneAlarm from my system, since ZA has that component.
The majority of the numbers I am seeing are 1000, 1001, 1002 etc...and I have no idea what they mean...or how to go about finding out what they mean!
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