What the heck is wrong with my computer!!!!

[Warthog]

Ok....about 5 minutes ago, I was busy surfing the web - nothing else. All of the sudden, a black screen shows up, usually the precursor to the BSOD that Windows likes to do so much. Unfortunately, that wasn't it....my computer restarted! I just sat there in awe thinking, "What the hell is going on?!". I checked the power cable to see if was loose - nope. No cables were loose.

What is happening to my computer??

This is just one problem adding on to another: http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/Forum8/HTML/001345.html

Specs:
Dell 800mhz P3
128mb PC133 RAM
64mb Geforce2 GTS

Haven't dl-ed anything besides MP3s since last Wed. when I dl-ed DAT update for McAfee.

Warthog

[randy48]

Have you scanned for trojans? Someone might be playing with your system!

[brandon184]

That's happened to me before. Usually just an issue with the power outlet, or cable bar.

Keep in mind power loss via cable doesn't necessarily have to be loose to restart your computer.

- Brandon

[Steve R Jones]

Random re-starts seem to be the new plague of the 21st centry. I'm guessing your pc was seeing some code it just didn't understand and choked. I bet if you went back to the same site, all is well.

[Gomer]

Sounds like heat or PSU maybe. Dealt with the same thing for a while with the family computer and it turned out to be an odd connection on a cooling fan.

[brandon184]

"Cooling fans that cause restarts.. NEXT on Sally Jesse Raphael - COMPUTER BOOT CAMP."

[Jonty]

Mine did EXACTLY the same for months - until I updated the modem drivers and the problem disappeared.

[7Words]

that has happened to me a couple of times.
i really hope its not a trojan, i am using 2 firewalls and nav.
this doesn't happen anymore but before when i tried to connect to my ISP it would restart.
then i looked at my firewall log and saw some ip with a description of a PCAnywhere port scan. i blocked his/her ip and that was that.

[This message has been edited by 7Words (edited 12-29-2000).]

[Warthog]

I use ZA as my firewall. I don't think it is a trojan because the problems are the same everytime and I have 56k so if I had one it couldn't happen when I'm offline.

I defragged last night. It didn't seem to help much though http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/frown.gif. I immediately tried it this morning. I connected to internet and when it was almost done connecting, I clicked on IE (always the speed freak http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif). It finished but one of those infamous red errors occured - "Illegal operation" blah blah blah. It wouldn't go away so I put it on the side and forgot about it http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/smile.gif. I guess it eventually disappeared.

I deleted my temp i-net files too. Short of reformating, what is another solution? The probs aren't THAT bad...I could live with it. I have more RAM coming soon. Maybe that will help.

Warthog