Odd Restarts with DV5000t

Hey Everybody,

It seems a bit late for my first post after using the Notebookreview Portal for so long. Reviews on this site have helped me tremendously in my recent purchase decision, but although I have substantial notebook and desktop computer experience, I stand in front of a problem I have never experienced before.

First up my specs: The usual 2.0 Core Duo, 1 GB RAM, GeForce 7400 Go, 15.4 inch, Bluetooth, Wireless, 6 in 1 Reader, Windows XP Home.

I will try to describe my problem. First time I opened my laptop, Windows XP Home SP2 was preinstalled. Though surprised by that, I first removed all the bloatware as much as possible. Once I got a bit cosy, I tried downloading a few apps, and then suddenly the computer shuts down and restarts.

After trying a few things, and ensuring that all the drivers were installed, I said to myself there must be somthing wrong with the Windows supplied.

I was quick to move to another copy I had of Windows XP Professional SP2. A clean install, with all the drivers and everything seemed to work dandily. After about 12 hours of setting up the computer the way I like it, I download a file again, and half way through (this time it was like a 50 MB file), the computer shuts down and restarts.

On one occasion, while playing Grand Prix 4 on Windows XP Home SP2, the computer did the same thing. But even though it could be a heat issue, I highly doubt is, as the fan works and the laptop itself stays cool. At the same time this peculiar event does not occur when using Photoshop or anything like that.

I've tried unclicking the option that lets Windows restarts upon system failure, but ironically, it still restarts.

I'm really frustrated after having spent so much money on this laptop. Moreover, I don't know what to do about this. What could it be?

Any help from the community would be really appreciated. In fact, I trust the experts and enthusiats of you much more than any guy at the local tech store

 

hm, sudden restarts and shutdowns may occur as a result of overheating. Make sure all the vents are clear, the fan too. Do not block them or put the notebook on soft surfaces.
Other than that, try removing the battery and running on AC alone and vice versa.

 

Also burn and boot MemTest86+ and let it run for an hour or two, or until it errors. If it flags ANY errors it's likely that one or both of your SODIMMs are bad.

If you do wind up sending your notebook in for repair, see if they'll upgrade you to the GeForce 7600 GPU while they're at it .

 

@vassil, I already checked those, and the laptops brand new. The vents are clean, and its open-sea behind the laptop, so nothing's blocking the entrance / exit.

@brianstretch, I'll do the memtest tonight and see if it works. I guess I should hope I find something, cause then I at least know the problem.

Any other suggestions would be great Thanx

 

I've done the MemTest for four hours and it completed the tests 10 times, to no avail. The memory seems fine. I don't know what to do

 

virus, spyware?

 

KimizChamp, try running on battery and see if this happens.
The worst case scenario is some mechanical flaw on the motherboard, probably a weak connection with the power supply.

If you have 1 stick of RAM, try moving it to the other slot as it might be the case that the slot is flawed.

 

check the Event Viewer in the system and applications categories...see if there are any warnings or errors

 

I checked the event viewer but couldn't find anything specific. But then I figured it out.

I had totally excluded the possibility of a virus. After all, I had formatted all drives. But interestingly, when I backed up my data, I had taken the virus to my external hard drive and USB Flash Disk.

So everytime I put it back and see an extra folder (it replicates itself by duplicating certain folders sized 41 kb), I restart the virus. My previous Satellite M30 was behaving quite awkwardly, including missing folder options, but again with the format and the fresh computer, I thought if there was virus / malware, it was gone.

"W32/Brontok-L is an email worm for the Windows platform. It send itself to email addresses harvested from the computer. The worm will also attempt to modify various Windows Explorer settings."

It also reboots "the computer when it detects a window whose title contains one of the following strings:
/.. /.@ /@. /.ASP /.EXE/.HTM/.JS /.PHP/ADMIN/ADOBE/AHNLAB/ALADDIN/ALERT/ALWIL/ANTIGEN/APACHE/APPLICATION/ARCHIEVE/ASDF/ASSOCIATE/AVAST/AVG/AVIRA/BILLING@/BLACK/BLAH/BLEEP/BUILDER/CANON/CENTER/CILLIN/CISCO/CMD./CNET/COMMAND/COMMAND PROMPT/CONTOH/CONTROL/CRACK/DARK/DATA/DATABASE/DEMO/DETIK/DEVELOP/DOMAIN/DOWNLOAD/ESAFE/ESAVE/ESCAN/EXAMPLE/FEEDBACK/FIREWAL/FOO@/****/FUJITSU/GATEWAY/GOOGLE/GRISOFT/GROUP/HACK/HAURI/HIDDEN/HP./IBM./INFO@/INTEL./KOMPUTER/LINUX/LOG OFF/WINDOWS/LOTUS/MACRO/MALWARE/MASTER/MCAFEE/MICRO/MICROSOFT/MOZILLA/MYSQL/NETSCAPE/NETWORK/NEWS/NOD32/NOKIA/NORMAN/NORTON/NOVELL/NVIDIA/OPERA/OVERTURE/PANDA/PATCH/POSTGRE/PROGRAM/PROLAND/PROMPT/PROTECT/PROXY/RECIPIENT/REGISTRY/RELAY/RESPONSE/ROBOT/SCAN/SCRIPT HOST/SEARCH R/SECURE/SECURITY/SEKUR/SENIOR/SERVER/SERVICE/SHUT DOWN/SIEMENS/SMTP/SOFT/SOME/SOPHOS/SOURCE/SPAM/SPERSKY/SUN./SUPPORT/SYBARI/SYMANTEC/SYSTEM CONFIGURATION
TEST/TREND/TRUST/UPDATE/UTILITY/VAKSIN/VIRUS/W3./WINDOWS SECURITY.VBS/WWW/XEROX/XXX/YOUR/ZDNET/ZEND/ZOMBIE

Source: Symantec

So yea that wraps it up. Installed antivirus and cleaned all my hard drives. It's been a tough three days and what a way to start off a new laptop. But hey at least everything's fixed now, it never had been HP's fault either. Thanx guys