Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with reboot

ipod touch going crazy?

special-k — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 13:10:40 -0800

Why does my ipod touch keep rebooting automatically? My ipod touch is 3 months old. Over the last two weeks, I find that it just reboots randomly several times in a row. The only way to make it stop is to do a hard reboot and then restart.
The trigger most of the time is when I hit the sleep button. What should I do? Update the software or take it back to an Apple store?

Can I reboot a Vista machine from another machine on the same network?

miniape — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:37:57 -0800

Can I restart a Vista machine from another Vista machine on the same network? I'm troubleshooting two Vista computers on a LAN using a 3rd party remote desktop tool. Occasionally the remote desktop freezes the system and I'm screwed. Is there a way I can reboot the frozen machine by logging into the other and issuing a command? I seem to remember windows having a restart command, and also an IT guy at a former job using it over the network.

Is this possible and what do I need to pull it off?

Why won't my MBP wake up?

jon_kill — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:39:55 -0800

Whenever my Macbook Pro goes to sleep, it won't wake up. Here are the relevant details:

-Whether it goes to sleep by being closed, or by being idle too long, the result is the same: black screen, hard boot being the only recourse.
-Runing OS X 10.4.11.
-I've verified the disk, and it is fine.
-I've verified the disk permissions, and they are fine.
-I've wiped the PRAM (by holding command-option-p-r on reboot) and the problem persists.
-The battery appears to be charging and draining at the same rates as always.
-I've recently installed: demo version of ableton 6, protools 7.1.1 (upgrade from website), the latest Software Update recommendations.

Any other suggestions? Thanks.

Spontaneous Reboots Except in Safe Mode

holympus — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 00:20:08 -0800

Why is my computer spontaneously rebooting, immediately or very soon after booting up? I've read previous questions, which suggest mostly hardware related issues like a faulty PSU or memory. However, the problem does not occur when I boot into safe mode. I have not changed anything about my computer in recent days or weeks--no new software; no new hardware. I had been away from home for maybe two weeks and had not booted it up for that period upon discovering this problem. A System Restore to the most recent available restore point (a couple of weeks ago, as the computer had not been turned on any more recently) did not solve the problem.

Some change must have occurred in hardware or software that is used in normal operation but not in safe mode, and the change was not my doing...ideas?

Why, why, wi-fi?

sprocket87 — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:50:18 -0800

Why does my laptop's wireless network fail to work after resuming from standby, requiring a reboot? The laptop in question is a Dell Vostro 1400 laptop, integrated Dell 802.11g adapter, Windows XP SP2. The adapter works fine and can detect and connect to the networks with no issue, normally. But it freaks out sometimes.

I'll give you a typical scenario:

I open the laptop on my lunch break at work and connect to my office WiFi network (802.11g, WPA, static IP). Works fine, stays connected through lunch. Shut the lid and take the laptop home after work.

Get home, open the laptop. It resumes from standby and I set the IP to DHCP. It sees my home network (802.11g, WPA, DHCP) and tries to connect to it, but fails. I've tried repairing/disable/re-enabling manually, hard-disabling the adapter from the laptop's front switch and re-enabling, and stopping the WZC service (which refuses to restart). When I do a repair, it takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to disable/enable the adapter, and stalls at "Connecting" for several minutes, before it finally bails and errors out. No matter what, it won't reconnect until I reboot.

When I reboot it works fine (though the network services seem to take a long time to start). Even if I reboot with the IP still set to my work's static IP, I can change it to DHCP and it connects fine. (Point being that it requires a reboot for the interface to even work, and doesn't appear to be related to static IP vs DHCP)

Even stranger: If I reboot, it works fine until I shut the lid and go to standby again. If I resume, there's a 50/50 chance of it working again. It might work, it might not. It might work for 30 mins and then flake out, and nothing works but a reboot. Last night, for instance, I put the laptop in standby at home, then brought it to work today. I started it from standby during lunch and changed my IP and it connected fine. It died an hour later and wouldn't come back until I rebooted. Eh!??

I think it's a "bigger" network adapter issue. I also have a bluetooth module in the laptop and it works fine all the time, but if the WiFi drops then the Bluetooth doesn't work either. That's not even the same adapter! Is there a service that's flipping out or something?

Please throw any suggestions my way. It's not specifically related to one or even two wifi networks; it happens on whatever network I'm connecting too. It seems like it has to be an adapter issue!

Note that this system was originally Vista but I replaced it with a fresh XP install. Dell does have up-to-date XP drivers though, which I'm running.

Thanks!!

One Reboot to bring them all and in the Windows bind them?

mookieproof — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:02:43 -0800

I'm getting a new PC (with XP) and will be installing a whole bunch of things right quick. Some of them will want me to reboot. Must I reboot with each install or can I do it once after all the installs? This post makes sense, and I do have WhyReboot, but I suspect that several of the reboot requests will be legitimate.

wanted: intentional reboot cycle

stupidsexyFlanders — Sat, 27 Jan 2007 20:49:22 -0800

XP machine in a reboot/restart loop. I want this to happen. Is there a script I can run that will cause it? I've been having a problem with my computer intermittently becoming unable to boot (flashing cursor). I think I'm close to a fix but I want to be certain -- in the past I thought it was fixed and then a week later it started again. I want to really stress-test it this time. Is there a batch file I can run that will shut it down, start it up again and boot it into the XP login window, shut it down 30 seconds later, repeat repeat etc. I would like to be able to terminate the evil batch file so that I can kill it after a hundred restarts or so. (Also, will this hurt my computer?)

Prescribe my sick, sick computer.

zardoz — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 03:54:57 -0800

The new hard drive I installed on my XP machine has been having problems, and I think the problem could be directly related to a tock! tock! sound that something is making... So I installed this drive last week and I had some issues installing it, but long story short I've gotten it to work ok. I put some partitions on it (3, each about 100 gigs). When playing World of Warcraft, though, the computer automatically shut down and I got a blue screen of death, though not the normal one. This one said that I may have hardware issues and that I should check everything to see if it's ok. This blue screen-crash happened several times, and I did run several disk-integrity-checking apps, and all of them said my HD is fine.

Then, seemingly on its own, my computer ran just fine for a week.

Then today, when I booted it up, it booted up sloooooow. Like 10 minutes as opposed to 1 or 2. I got online and surfed for a minute and everything crashed. Then I went through a series of reboots: I would be prompted to start in safe mode, but it would reboot before this could happen. I got an error just after BIOS finished saying in all caps DISK ERROR (something something (sorry, I forget what exactly)). Another time I got an error saying my isapnp.sys file was missing/corrupt--I hunted for instructions to fix this in Windows Setup, but haven't needed to do it yet. Finally, also seemingly on its own, it rebooted like nothing was wrong.

Then I noticed the tock! tock! The sound is spaced about 3 seconds apart, and if I hear it, the computer is soon to crash. Obviously that's a hardware issue, but what is it? My hard drive? Motherboard? I'm waiting for the other boot to drop here, so any help you could give would be appreciated.

Where is the Ben Hammersley Reboot8 podcast?

joeclark — Sat, 30 Sep 2006 14:57:57 -0800

Why is it so hard to find a podcast or MP3 of Ben Hammersley’s presentation “How to Be a Renaissance Person” at Reboot8 (2006)? I have checked all likely and many unlikely sources, and have asked Reboot and Hammersley directly. (Coverage.)

How to remote reboot my router

daveyt — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 09:41:56 -0800

Need ideas for a remote reboot of a router. I travel a lot and access my home network regularly. For some reason, my ADSL router (i'm in the UK) just stops. Its the third one and i cant figure out why and nor do i want to carry on doing so (its been 2 years) and i'm resigned to just rebooting it as it always fixes it. Its totally inaccessible when it goes (it just locks up, i have had 3 different models/manufacturers) and basically i need a method of rebooting the AC power remotely - either by dial modem, SMS or something. Nothing that relies on my internet connection. Ideally I'll dial a modem or something.

I'm not really after reasons why my ADSL router hangs, believe me, everyone and their dog has tried to fix that. A remote AC solution will be fine. If it exists. I dont mind playing around with modems and some wiring but haven't a clue what to do. Any ideas? Thanks!

Cold Boot Problem

Mave_80 — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 21:01:37 -0800

Problem with starting PC: Start it up cold having been off for an hour: fresh install of windows XP SP2 doesn't load - it beeps once, goes through the BIOS, beeps again, stops, the display turns off, restarts and then windows loads perfectly. If I turn it off and it's only been off for a few minutes though, everything is fine. Help! Originally thought it was the power supply - have just replaced it with a 400W Antec Smartpower - the problem still persists. Have disconnected the CD drive, DVD Drive, and FDD and still have the same problem (only disconneted power cords, IDE cable is still attached). This leaves the following:
Bios: Downloaded latest version from manufacturor website - am using AMI v1.21.12
Processor: Intel P4 (Socket 478)
Motherboard: ECS P4VX4SD2 +
Ram: 512Mb (verified by Windows Memory Diagnostic )
HDD: 120 GB - seems fine, although this unverified
Video Card: 4AGP Visiontek Xtasy 9100. Was using generic driver windows driver downloaded from windows update, am now using Catalust 6.4 downloaded from Visiontek's website (problem still persists since change)
Some other notes:
According to American Megatrends Website (PDF) documentation, that extra beep could mean RAM failure (see page 15) - hence thinking of replacing RAM, even though Windows tool said OK.
Also: If I switch the "ACPI aware O/S" to "No" in the Bios the computer won't load windows. It will try, stop, restart, go to the windows safe mode menu, and, even if you select safe mode, still won't load. It will start loading things, then stop and reboot. This will then create a loop unless I change the setting back to say that windows is ACPI aware. Have three questions therefore:
1) Not sure what next to do, was going to replace the RAM and see if that did anything. Any other thoughts? Do I try replacing the video card and see if that gets me anywhere?
2) Also, I'm thinking it would be useful to see where safe mode stops when ACPI is turned off, but the screen blinks too fast for me to note it down, any suggestions?
3) If we think it's a motherboard issue, any recommendations for a MTB that I can use the existing processor with? Also, since I've never replaced a motherboard, or replaced a processor, any tips gratefully appreciated.
Help!!

Notebook repeatedly restarts after a second or two.

Anonymous — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 19:18:17 -0800

My notebook repeatedly restarts after a second or two. Anything I can do before next week's repair, if possible, to save some cash? I've got a problem with my Compaq Presario 2199us notebook. My laptop has been overheating and so I decided to use an air can to get the dust out. I took out the screws and partly disassembled the laptop in order to blow out the dust. I put it back together, but now when I press the power button, the laptop powers on for a second or two and then shuts off; then it turns on again, shuts off and repeats. I pressed the reset button to stop the on/off cycle, but I'd like to know what I can do to remedy the problem before taking it in.

HP online support told me it was a virus problem, and when I said that the power didn't stay on nearly long enough to be a system problem, they told me it was the LCD monitor. I don't consider myself a computer expert, but I know it's not either. Did I knock something loose in there?

I have an appointment for an in-store repair a week from today (it's the soonest I can get in) but I want to know if there's anything I can do in the meantime.

PS: Are they going to wipe my hard drive when I take it in?

How can I ask metafilter when I can't access metafilter?

scarylarry — Tue, 23 May 2006 16:16:25 -0800

Do I have a driver issue? I need to start 'Wireless Zero Configuration' on my Dell after each boot to access any wireless networks. Dell Latitude D600, about 18 months old. I use a Dell Truemobile 1300 WLAN card. Not really knowing what I was doing (I am not computer genius), I updated the BIOS and my drivers from the Dell website. I downloaded BIOS A16, and the latest TrueMobile 1300 driver.

The computer runs perfectly fine once I've started "Wireless Zero Configuration" and then gone to wireless connections-->properties-->wireless networks and tic'd the the "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings." But I have to do this every time my computer boots up, and I never had to before. I've tried to install older versions of the wireless driver, but the Dell website won't let me.

I am fairly technically challenged when it comes to computers. I am probably asking a stupid, simple question. But can anyone help me?

Also, I seem to have misplaced my original driver cd on a transatlantic move, so I can't revert back to those.

Why must you shutdown, XP?

grabbingsand — Sun, 21 May 2006 18:34:42 -0800

Why must XP insist so infernally on rebooting? My wife has an IBM NetVista (2292 CBU). It's about four years old. It is running Windows XP Pro, SP 2. Lately, it has decided to reboot with little reason or warning. At its worst moments, it will go into a rebooting cycle where the power supply will whirr to life, the IBM splash will come up, then it will power down. This repeats. Other times, when powered up from the button, it will show the IBM splash, the WinXP splash, then power down. Most of the time, it will simply reboot, usually after popping up the WinXP shutdown dialogue box. She can hit cancel, only to have it return soon after. And that second time, hitting cancel only gets rid of the dialogue, but not the eventual reboot.

So far, this is what I've been able to discover and/or investigate:

- Certain models in this IBM NetVista line were notorious for having/developing . The symptoms for that problem align, but an examination of the board reveals none of the tell-tale signs of capacitor leakage.
- In the XP system events log, there was a regular error upon bootup (confirmed by looking at the boot log) involving a missing ASPI driver. While rare, it appears that a malfunctioning ASPI32.sys can cause hangups. This driver has been reinstalled, the error no longer appears.
- When it would reboot, the fan on the power supply would audibly increase in speed. The stock power supply on an IBM NetVista is 185w. Since we've installed a better video card and a second harddrive, I thought that the power supply might be over-taxed, so the stock has been replaced with a new 300w. This seemed to stop the reboots, but only for a week.
- The IBM NetVista has a multi-function keyboard with a "standby key." Just to make sure, I've gone into msconfig and removed that app from the startup. This seems to have had little to no effect.
- Techie friends have been asking me to supply them with the minidump file, but since this appears to be a system-spawned reboot, there is no real crash to record and then decode.

So ... I'm reaching the ends of several ropes. Sometimes, the machine will run for six or seven hours. Other times, it throws the shutdown dialogue in under ten minutes. I'm looking for any possible ideas or avenues that I've not considered, or any similar experiences. Fire at will.

Would you like to restart your computer now, or later?

pornucopia — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 11:26:24 -0800

I never restart the computer when I install things on Windows XP. I go weeks without rebooting, installing multiple programs. I've never had a problem. Two questions: 1) Why do so many programs require this? and 2) What's the potential for harm from ignoring their suggestion?

Preventing spontaneous rebooting in WinXP

327.ca — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 11:16:59 -0800

How can I prevent my system from crashing when I have hardware acceleration set to 'full'? I have a WinXP Pro desktop running on well-maintained hardware about 3 years old. The video adapter is an NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4200 with AGP8x. The drivers are up-to-date (and non-beta). I find that I need to set Desktop-Properties-Settings-Advanced-Troubleshoot-"Hardware acceleration" to one setting below "full". (The help text for this setting says it should be used "to correct problems with the mouse pointer, or to correct problems with corrupt images.") If I use the "full" setting, my system spontaneously reboots 3-4 times a day. Usually, though not always, this will happen when I'm watching a video -- the mouse pointer changes into a garbage bitmap, freezes, and then the whole systems tips over. At the 'one-down-from-full' setting, it's stable.

I've used Driver Detective to make sure none of my other drivers are out of date. I'd like to play Counter-Strike on this machine and it bugs me that I'm not able to set hardware acceleration to the max.

Can you give me some advice on how to troubleshoot this further? Thanks!

Magic Folders hosed my computer?

sian — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 22:34:58 -0800

My computer is hosed. I installed Magic Folders at the suggestion of Ask Mefi and now I can't start it whatsoever. Compaq Presario 2199US laptop.

I installed the program, hid a few folders and exited the program. My computer froze up and I had to hit the power button to restart. When I booted up again, I found the loading window to lead to a blue screen error and then my computer rebooted (only to lead back to this screen and another reboot and so on...)

I managed to stop the auto reboot and paused on the error message, the most important part of which included:

STOP: 0x0000008e

mfx.sys Address FF77602FF base at F775F00 DateStamp 43fb6892

The geniuses at PC Magic advise to boot in safe mode or last known good configuration, but I can't do either as they both lead to the same error and reboot.

So is my computer hosed? I know I could quite easily reformat, but I haven't got a clue where my Windows CD is and I'd rather not lose a year's worth of photography, music and homework (I guess I haven't backed up in a while.)

What is causing these laptop problems

miniape — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 07:56:39 -0800

Winxp laptop: Blue screen, unrequested reboots and mysterious problems. Please help me connect the dots and figure out what's wrong with my computer. Two weeks ago, Explorer would crash everytime I opened a folder. That problem seemed to go away, but now the computer occasionally slows to a crawl, reboots for no reason or blue screens. Also, there is occasionally a gurgling noise that comes from within. My guess is that it’s the bearings of either a fan or the hard drive. It sounds precisely like a stovetop espresso maker as it finishes up. The gurgling sound sometimes corresponds to when a fan comes on, but not always so I can’t say for sure if it’s a fan or the drive.

At one point, I pushed my computer (in the middle of a back up) off to the side of the table and the hardrive locked, making an awful groaning noise until I finally reset the computer.

Here’s what I’ve tried: I ran a memory testing program. It found no problems. I ran chkdsk a few times. Each time I do there are errors. I downloaded speedfan to look at my cpu temps and SMART data. The Reallocated Sector Count in the SMART data has a value of 1 and a warning level of 50 (Apparently the warning level is manufacturer specific. If the value goes under 50, SMART should throw a flag. My CPU temp is 102 C, which seems extraordinarily high, but I don’t really know anything about this stuff. My Hard drive temp is 38c. My laptop doesn't feel especially hot so I'm wondering if speedfan might not be getting the right reading.

So what do I do next? Should I wait for something to die, replace the hard drive right now, or can you suggest another troubleshooting step?

I have my important data backed up. But I'm nervous to do new work that I may lose.

Auto-Reboot

JABof72 — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 06:59:17 -0800

My XP Pro desktop has started rebooting on it's own (after it's been idle for a while, not while in use...). Any ideas as to the cause?

Cloning a recalcitrant hard disk

kindall — Tue, 04 Oct 2005 22:22:40 -0800

How do I best clone a hard disk with bad sectors, when the PC spontaneously reboots upon hitting said bad sectors? I've had a few bad sectors on my hard disk on my PC at work for the last year or so. Oddly, the machine reboots whenever it tries to read one of them. Fortunately they were not in any vital files -- mainly I just had to turn off the nightly virus scan and remember not to try to optimize the disk or do a scandisk. Fortunately NTFS is pretty robust as file systems go! Our last IT guy didn't seem to think it was worth replacing the disk over. Now that he's left, our IT guy at headquarters (on the east coast) sent me a new hard disk (yay!) but that pesky rebooting thing is getting in the way of properly cloning it, and since he's on the east coast and I'm not, he can provide only limited hands-on support. I downloaded the 15-day trial of Acronis True Image (it's nice that it's not crippled), but even it suffers from the reboot and can't get through the clone. I haven't tried any other programs -- maybe one of those would work better? Or am I in for a big re-install of everything, which is what my IT guy recommends? My documents are all backed up safely, but it's probably going to take me a full day for a re-install of XP and all my apps, and I'd rather avoid that pain if I can.

Image after every reboot

bright77blue — Wed, 28 Sep 2005 12:33:03 -0800

Hi We have a computer training class and would like to have a fresh computer after every reboot - and need a method/utility to automatically refresh the PC from an image. I have two questions: How can this be done, and how can we prevent a re-image in case the class is longer than a day. Perhaps a menu with an option that defaults to re-image? Thanks!

End reboot anoyance!

asok — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 06:55:31 -0800

Windows XP application monitor thingy needed. I am looking for some software that will offer to re-open all software that was open before the PC was restarted/crashed, upon rebooting windows. The idea is that if I have to shut down the PC to restart (with or without shutting all software individually), or suffer a crash, on reboot the software will pop up a dialogue box listing the programs that were open and the files that were open within the programs. I should be able to re-open software from the list, which will result in the software opening with the required files (e.g. word documents, excel workbooks) also being opened. Like Opera and Pegasus do.

It is possible this functionality is already available within Windows XP, but I can't find it. It is a bit like system restore, but for open applications. Oh, and I don't want to have to pay for it.

Reading Windows' Blue Screens

odinsdream — Fri, 17 Jun 2005 11:02:45 -0800

I've managed to get Windows to blue-screen predictably, but I cannot read the screen because the computer immediately reboots. How can I get the information from the blue screen? (bonus if I can fix the problem with that information!) I'm using JEdit (v. 4.3pre2) on Windows 2000, with the FTP plugin (v. 0.7.4) for transparently editing files residing on an FTP server.

When I start the program, I'm able to edit and save any file on the FTP server approximately a dozen times. The next time I hit File>Save, Windows immediately crashes to a blue-screen and instantly reboots.

I've disabled "Automatically Reboot" in the System Failure section of the Startup and Recovery configuration, and I've verified that the registry value behind this setting is indeed set to zero, but the computer still reboots. I've installed the latest Sun Java VM, but the problem still exists.

There's nothing in the Event Log describing the crash, either, but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place, since there's nothing at all in the Event Log, period.

My computer keeps turning back on

pheideaux — Thu, 19 Aug 2004 10:13:29 -0800

Here's a weird one: my computer has been turning back on two or three minutes after I power down for the night. It only stays off after I shut it down for a second time. What's strange is that it is undeniably off during those three minutes; no lights, no fans, nothing. The machine just rises from the dead.

This has only been happening for the past week or so. It's an XP computer running an Athlon 2500 on an MSI motherboard with the factory power supply. Any ideas?