Laptop Restarting?? No Idea what's happening
 

Heya,

My brother has a Alien Ware Area 51 Win Vista laptop - one day it would go to the login screen and restart within seconds... kept doing this over and over again

We pressed F8 and out of all the options, the ONLY one that does not restart at login screen is "Reboot at last good-known setting (Advanced)"

-We checked for spyware - nothing
-We also went to My Computer and "right-clicked" on the C drive and clicked on Tools ---> Error Checking ----> Check Now ---> Reboot and waited for the computer to check for errors ---> Nothing

So it's not any of them... hmmm we did not do a virus scan 'cause we have no program for it (any recommendations?)... eitherway he does not remember if he went on the Internet or not before it started rebooting

It could be software, hardware or a virus issue... not sure where to start... any ideas? Alienware customer service just said "format your computer over again" - the easy way out

Since the error check came back clean, it may just be something fucked up in the OS that caused the problem. It booting after using older settings seems to reinforce this. If it runs okay for the time being, it could just be a fluke and nothing to worry about. To be absolutely certain, restoring the OS would fix any software problems, if it's worth the time, of course.

I'd still recommend running some better hardware tests to ensure it isn't faulty equipment. Memtest86+ will cover your RAM, and most HDD manufacturers provide free diagnostics tools on their websites. Run both, take it from there.

ANything on event logs?

It is trying to install updates right before it reboots? Usually says something about Configuring Updates and a progress percentage.

Nope no updates - just goes to the login screen and within seconds boom

@Zergrinch what do you mean by event logs?

@Sol I'll run both scans and thanks

Start -> Run -> eventvwr.msc

Interested in Application and System logs, preferably attached as .evt files.

K got the logs - used winrar to add both to the same folder

Thanks

Ack, Windows Vista (don't have that OS). Hope someone else can troubleshoot for you :(

careful, your ram might be faulty, it happens to me all the time when my laptop overheating. Consider to switch your ram temporarily with working ones, and see if that might work. =/