Troubleshooting Reboots and Crashes

[lpollsnoop]

Thanks to Don and Howard for the informative posts on troublehooting
reboots and crashes - it's a valuable resource.

Running XP Home/ SP2 I had been getting lots and lots of crashes and
automatic reboots for the past few months and have spent lots of time
trying to diagnose the problem.

Even though automatic restart was disabled the system would automatically
reboot.
Even though Microsoft Error Reporting is enabled the system fails to try
to make a report after a crash.

I've run disk drive tests, memory tests, video card tests,, updated drivers and
BIOS, reallocated and defragmented Paging files -
I done a clean reinstall of XP
Because I'm on a Dell I'm unable to use the Fanspeed utility to monitor
temp and voltage.

As a last resort I went to a paid support site and they said I should disable
System Restore -

I was very dubious about this advice and the tech would not explain his
reasons - only said that they had fixed similar problems by disabling Restore.

I tried it - and I have to say it's been 3 days now with no crash - I'm
amazed.

The reason I'm posting is to find out if anyone here has heard of any
problem with System Restore which could cause this?

Thanks

Michael in Brooklyn

 

[howard_hopkinso]

I must say, I`ve never heard of turning off system restore to solve BSOD`s. Unless of course the BSOD`s are caused by viruses etc. In which case turning off system restore will delete all restore points, and any viruses that are lurking there.

I have googled for info, but can`t find any references at all.

If you come up with any more info. Please let me know, as I would be very interested.

Regards Howard

 

[lpollsnoop]

Hi Howard

I contacted the paid support site again and they initiated a
screen sharing session -
The Tech didn't do anything during this session but explore and at the end
suggested I re-enable Restore - which I have done.

Will keep all posted with the results.

I had done previous extensive scans for malware/trojans/virus/rootkits
with Restore disabled in the past while I was having the crash problem -
There was never anything found

Michael in Brooklyn