Windows 7 Random shutting down/restarting?

[moshee]

I've already read like 15 different threads around Google about this problem but none of them really sounded like my problem.

What happens is that sometimes when I'm just using my computer, whether it be gaming or browsing the internet, it will restart randomly. Sometimes it will shut down and not even start up again. I don't think it is an overheating problem because it happens no matter the temp. of my cpu. There are no errors, no blue screens, just sudden shut down. It wasn't too much of a problem before, but just now when I was playing TF2, it "stopped working" and then my computer restarted. As it was starting up again, it restarted again. While it was booting up for the second time, it shut down and didn't wake up. I pressed the power button and tried to boot it up again, but it said something about corrupted startup files and ran startup repair. Now it works, but I want to know what could be the problem. Running Windows 7 x64 build 7100 (RC).

EDIT: Just restarted about 4 times in a row, I was playing Prototype for the first time and it restarted barely 30 seconds in. I logged in and tried to test with Prime95 and it restarted almost immediately, before I could double-click on the .exe. Logged in again and tested without a restart, finally, within 2 minutes 2 of the 4 threads failed. Might have something to do with it. Tried to post here, restarted again.

EDIT2: Restarted a bunch of times again and had to launch startup repair, again. Could this be a power supply problem? Everest reports the +12v voltage at about 9-10 volts. What happened:
1. converting some music, restarted in the middle.
2. after just logging in, opened the app i was using and it restarted.
3. during startup, it restarted
4. did not even boot up this time, the computer just got stuck during POST. Reset button or holding power button down did not work - had to unplug computer.
5. after trying to boot up, it told me to launch startup repair. Restarted immediately after pressing enter.
6. launched startup repair again, restarted while launching it.
7. currently running startup repair, hoping it wont restart again...

EDIT3: ok, now this is starting to get ridiculous. startup repair was successful, but then after I logged in it restarted after about 5 minutes. Shut down the computer now, and I'm pretty sure I can smell burning coming from inside the case. can't tell what it's coming from, though.

help, somebody!

 

[ahb77]

Heya, I just read your thread and decided to go through the register process to give you some ease to this issue.

Now this isn't going to be very helpful, but it may help narrow down what you may need to do to solve your issue, or put it at rest until a possible fix is released from the big M sometime soon... hopefully.

Anywho, I recently upgraded to Windows 7 and have experienced much of the same issues you have. I can't say my shutdowns have been so consecutive as yours, but I have experienced the random restarts non the less. I checked my hardware (just like you) and ran all sorts of registry/system core file diagnostics to find no hidden errors anywhere. Now my hypothesis is either A.) The file and or registry that may be causing the random restarts has not been identified by my software because it isn't "known" or the update hasn't downloaded. B) My software sucks at finding jack shit in W7. Or C) The problem simply occurs because W7 is still in it's baby stages and all the kinks and nicks are still coming out.

I'm banking, no hoping, that it's option C. seeing how most of my hardware has been running perfectly fine from WXPSP3 all the way up until W7 dropped it's lovely upgraded self unto my CPU. *Cough* My apologies for the nerd lingo of the day, but going back to the point here, I think that's the most finite piece of information I have come to terms with is that it's not my system or any of the software in it because it's a brand new install of a relatively "brand new" OS.

Hope this can relieve some of your worry.

Goodluck

 

[Saltgrass]

One of the first questions is always, does it behave the same if you run in Safe Mode. The reason for the questions is Safe Mode doesn't start many of the drivers that might be causing some type of conflict and causing the problems.

Then I ask, if you check Event Viewer, are you showing any Errors or even Warnings that might help lead to the cause of the problem.

 

[moshee]

Wow, I thought this thread was dead >_<

Well thanks for all the help everybody, but I figured out my problem a month or two after I posted. It turns out the burning smell came from the ATX12v CPU connector. 2 of the pins had shored or something and the plastic was completely black. Switched it out with a new power supply and it never restarted again.