Vista Issue

I am brand new to the site, so not even sure if I am posting this in the right spot. My Vista Home Premium just started shutting down all of the sudden. It goes through start up, allows me to log with my password, then the screen blinks at me and the computer starts shutting down. Then it restarts on its own and gets me back to the password screen. Once I enter the password, the process repeats itself. I am brand new to Vista and not sure what to do at all. Please help. Thank you.

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Comments

RobertKaucher

There are a number of issues that could cause this. Can you get into safe mode?

The first thing you should check is the hardware.
You can download this memory test and burn the ISO to a CD: Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
You can also download Drive Fitness Test test the hard drive: Support - Downloads and Utilities

If you can get into Safe Mode and your hardware checks out, it is probably malware.

skrpune

RobertKaucher wrote: »

There are a number of issues that could cause this. Can you get into safe mode?

The first thing you should check is the hardware.
You can download this memory test and burn the ISO to a CD: Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool
You can also download Drive Fitness Test test the hard drive: Support - Downloads and Utilities

If you can get into Safe Mode and your hardware checks out, it is probably malware.

I totally agree here, with one small addition: if you can get to it in safe mode, check to see if your computer is set to automatically restart when there is a system failure. To do this, right click Computer & select Properties; then click on "Advanced Settings" in the Tasks menu on the left hand side of the window. You should get prompted with a UAC window - click Continue. On the Advanced tab, click on Settings under "Startup and Recovery" - UNcheck "automatically restart." Click OK twice.

This will keep your computer from restarting immediately if there is a hardware issue or a driver conflict or other system failure. If you get a blue screen after changing this setting, record what the message says (whether its a driver or a specific type of error) and let us know what you see.

b.cherner@gmail.com

Thank you, both of you. I can get into a safe mode and I ran the Windows Vista memory diagnostic test, which said everything is fine. I also unchecked the automatic restart, but, unfortunately, that did not change anything at all. What should I be doing next?

Tin_Man

Usually if you can boot into safe mode and it works. Then I'd put $$$ on a driver issue (video driver issue perhaps,)

Check the event logs to see if it gives anymore insight.

Update any drivers lately? Does the PC shut down or reboot?

always always check the event logs for things like this.

Psoasman

What has changed? new software? drivers? other people using your computer?
Have you tried system restore?

b.cherner@gmail.com

Not much has changed at all in the past few days. I have not installed or downloaded anything. The event logs over the last several days give me quite a few WMI Errors:

"Event filter with query "SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99" could not be reactivated in namespace "//./root/CIMV2" because of error 0x80041003. Events cannot be delivered through this filter until the problem is corrected."

And a few warnings from User Profile Service:

"Windows detected your registry file is still in use by other applications or services. The file will be unloaded now. The applications or services that hold your registry file may not function properly afterwards."

I am not sure what else to look for. But I am now sending this from the Safe Mode with Networking.

RobertKaucher

Tin_Man wrote: »

Usually if you can boot into safe mode and it works. Then I'd put $$$ on a driver issue (video driver issue perhaps,)

Check the event logs to see if it gives anymore insight.

Update any drivers lately? Does the PC shut down or reboot?

always always check the event logs for things like this.

I agree this is one possible situation, but I would not rule out malware in this case. But even then it could be a driver issue... Not like I have never seen malware try to load something like that...

Got root?

RobertKaucher

Since you can get into safe mode I would suggest you also do this:
How to read the small memory **** files that Windows creates for debugging

This will tell you exactly what is causing the crash. Usually, any way.

apena7

Is the CPU fan failing?
If the CPU is overheating, it will shutdown in order to prevent itself from burning up.

b.cherner@gmail.com

What do I do about malware? Should I just trash the whole system? Or is there a better way to get rid of it.

crrussell3

EMAIL="QUOTE=b.cherner@gmail.com;341937"]QUOTE=b.cherner@gmail.com;341937[/EMAILWhat do I do about malware? Should I just trash the whole system? Or is there a better way to get rid of it.[/QUOTE]

In order to determine if your system is infected, you need to run the proper virus and malware scanners. Examples of these would include: Avast Antivirus, Symantec Antivirus, etc. Malware scanners include Spybot Search & Destroy, Windows Defender, A Squared, etc. For virus scanners its best to use a locally installed one plus an online scanner which is typically free. For malware, running multiple scanners on the same machine is typically fine.

If you do find your system infected, and depending on what it is infected with, the scanners will attempt to clean it. If the clean is unsuccessful, try and find online documentation on removing said infection. Depending on what it is, sometimes its best to reformat the computer than to spend the long hours trying to clean certain viruses.

RobertKaucher

I have to say that ComboFix has become my new favourite for malware removal.

A guide and tutorial on using ComboFix

RobertKaucher

b.cherner@gmail.com wrote: »

What do I do about malware? Should I just trash the whole system? Or is there a better way to get rid of it.

Are you sure it's malware and not a driver, though? Figure out why the patient is sick before treating...

Psoasman

I think its a driver or perhaps a service that isn't working correctly.

Here is a link to a page that defines this problem and how to fix it.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950375

b.cherner@gmail.com

Thank you everyone. I ran the tests that some of you suggested and also ran AVG virus scan, which did not come up with anything. I downloaded and replaced the video driver and that fixed the problem. Just to make sure I had the computer on for the past couple of hours and ran a bunch of soft, including CPU burn. Seems to be working. Thank you for your help.

Psoasman

Good, its nice when its something more simple like a driver.

Tin_Man

Awesome job.

Glad to hear its fixed.

tiersten

On an offtopic note, you might want to not use your email address as your forum name on here or anywhere else since you'll get mad amounts of spam from email harvester bots that trawl the internet.