Spontaneous Reboots: Troubleshooting

I am hoping someone can point me in a direction to solve a problem.

I am running XP Pro on a Dell Vostro 220S, about a month old....I leave it
running 7/24...every couple of days, I noted that Windows Explorer, which is
a program I also have running at startup, no longer is running...as a test, I
left notepad running, and a day or two later, it was no longer running
either....I suspect my system is spontaneously rebooting.

I do not have the OS set to automatically reboot after crashes, so I do not think I am missing BSOD's which might provide clues.

I doubt this is a malware issue, given the fact that I run Zone Alarm
Internet Security and check with Spybot regularly...plus, I am behind a
router firewall.

I have tried to troubleshoot this by looking at the Event Viewer logs
(application and system), but all I see is the occasional error about Windows
Fax not finding a device to fax with, and something about W32 not being
synchronized...but I can't tell if this is actually triggering a reboot.

Is there any other log which Windows maintains so I could try to see the
precise time at which these suspected reboots occur, and if so, what is
causing them?

Thanks so much for any help.

Peter

 

agree with broni, bring it back to the store..it might be a hardware problem...

 

Clarification

Thanks for offering some suggestions...

Ends up, as I look at this more closely, it is not actually rebooting, I just find that windows explorer has been closed.

I have tried using event viewer to see if I can pin down a sequence that is causing this...but I guess that does keep an actual log of when various programs are opened and closed.

As such, would you happen to know if such information is retrievable? I have not been at the PC at the actual time explorer gets shut down.

Thanks again...

Peter

 

Software vs hardware

Yes, I agree, but I am guessing it's more likely to be a software than hardware issue...i.e. Zone Alarm often does odd things...Dell does offer a one year guarantee on this thing.

Peter

 

Troubleshooting...Again

I agree of course on that potential approach...I was just mentioning it as a potential culprit, though I run it on three other PC's (one XP Pro, one XP Home, and one Vista), and have never seen this happen...I think, if anything, I should see if it correlates with the issue the Event Log shows when Windows Fax initializes and then closes because it cannot find a device...that triggers a ton of remarks in the System log, though I'd think that would also cause other programs to close, i.e. Zone Alarm, Norton Save and Restore, LogMeIn, all sitting in the tray, do not close.

That's why I wondered if there was a log Windows keeps which shows when programs open and close...

Yet again, thanks for your suggestions.

Peter

 

Hi Peter,

Just out of curiosity:

1*) Is there a particular reason you leave it on 24\7?

2*) Do you have a Screen Saver kick in after an idle period?

3*) If not, is your system set to go into Standby after an idle period?

4*) Is your system set to go into Hibernation after an idle period?

*1) (if you're not using it, turn it off "” big waste of energy)
*2) (sometimes 3-D screen savers can cause problems)
*3 & 4) (you may have a problem with the ACPI)