Computer Restarting on it's own.

[Malreg]

Ever since the update, whenever I am running FFXI my computer will randomly decide to reboot its self. I don't get the evil "Blue Screen" or anything like that, I can just be playing then all of a sudden my screen goes black and it's as if I just turned my computer on. After it boots up, I get a message saying "The system has just recovered from a critical error".

At first I was running Windower v3.26, then I downloaded v3.3, and still the same problem. Any one having this problem, or know how to fix it? Don't know if it still happens when playing in regular full-screen mode yet, I'll give that a shot now.

[EdgeMoragan]

This precise same thing happened to me in the way you as describing.

I tried system restore and it still kept happening. Only a few boots later I got a bad checksum at bootup and I was forced to wipe my HDD and reinstall, I was not able to successfully use command prompt to transfer the required missing or corrupt files.... :/ I hope you have your install disc, if it truly is the same prob I had in your situation.

[Stromgarde]

Check and see if your fans are seated correctly. It could be a hardware triggered reboot if temperatures are getting too high.

[suji]

Could also be that it's actually bluescreening but you have it configured to reboot whenever it encounters a fatal error instead of display the bluescreen. This is a windows xp "feature".

[aurik]

My computer did this when the ram was dying.

Conclusion: could be anything.

[retice]

My graphics card used to do that awhile back on XP when i was using Nvidia, was a known issue, but never had a fix for it.

[Bagel]

Just happened to me. Taj, stop it.

[Koga]

Take the scarf off from your waist.

[Tajin]

My computer did this when the ram was dying.
Conclusion: could be anything.

http://www.memtest.org/ <---If anything else fails, try this too.

[Alleya]

Most likely culprits:

Bad airflow or dead fan causing over heating on the videocard, cpu, or powersupply

Bad or dying power supply

Videocard not properly seated or coming unseated during use (creep)


Dust it out (use canned air, not an air compressor) and look to see that all the fans are spinning. If it persists try finding another powersupply to drop in and see if the problem goes away.

Dead/dying memory has other symptoms in addition to the restarting. If the random restarts are the only problem it's probably one of the above.

[Kisetai]

Had this same problem back when my hard drive died, even if you think it may be something else I'd recommend saving to an external memory stick or back up computer and/or backing up any and all important files off your computer in case it is your hard drive dying.

[Rena]

As has been said, it can be anything. Try disabling the setting where Windows automatically restarts upon a BSoD, that might help you find the source of the problem.

[ringthree]

My computer did this when the ram was dying.

Conclusion: could be anything.

Mine did it when my motherboard was dying.

[Dolmen]

I've been having this problem as well... After I had the update installed, I would get into FFXI and automatic reboot. I ran a defrag, and pretty much everything in the PlayOnline folder was horribly fragmented. Viewed a report, and roughly 95% of all files it moved were related to POL/FFXI, so no clue. This happened on a new HD that I've had running for about 2 months.

Luckily it's only happened once since I did the disable HID control for my keyboard. Again, no clue.

[vegetaa]

It happens to me (on win2000 and winXP) when I over-use my USB2 ports, especially when I plug various external devices (digital camera + mp3 player + external hard drive) and copy files all from or to these devices. So it could also be linked to the USB issues known since the update (these issues have been fixed now though).

[bombard]

Dust it out (use canned air, not an air compressor)

thanks, that made me smile a little on this gloomy wednesday morning :D

[khaine]

like a previous user said, for to check memory, run memtest, dont just run through once, set to repeat and run for 5-10 hours for a good burn in test.

to check cpu run prime32 for about 15 hours or so.

download the basic version of 3dmark06 and run it a couple times, then open the advanced tab for your video card to check that temperature.

aside from that, most common problem with random restart would be PS. MB failure generally generates other errors and glitching alongside that.

my guess, you have a cheap OEM power supply and it finally gave up the ghost.

[yrpaine]

check ram and power supply. make sure fan is still spinning in power supply. if you have more than 1 stick of ram, try taking out the one that's in the primary slot (that one usually gets hit first) and try alternating them, seeing if it's stable with just 1 memory stick.