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How can I find out what is restarting my PC automatically?

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dr_andus:
It's also sometimes easier to spot things in the Reliability History (Start menu, then start typing reliability) than looking through Event Logs.
-4wd (November 22, 2013, 04:43 PM)
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4wd, many thanks for that! I checked it and it says "Windows Logon Application stopped working" a couple of times today. When I clicked on "check for a solution," it tells me "no new solutions found."

Earlier today I also ran one of Windows troubleshooting tools, and it told me that it couldn't do something because more than one user was logged on at the same time (which surprised me, as I'm the only user and have only set up one account).

When I checked the user accounts, I saw that there was also an "ASP.NET Machine Account (Standard user, Password protected)" beside my own (admin) account. (Guest account was off.) So this made me wonder if my IE11 installation yesterday did something to this ASP.NET account. I'm not a .NET developer, so I've never used that account and wouldn't even know how to anyway...

4wd:
The ASP.NET account is so .NET developers don't have their code running with Admin privileges as it only has guest access, (if I'm reading the info right).  It's (should be) harmless and you can leave it there.

The failure of winlogon.exe could be due to registry corruption or something else entirely, you can try running SFC.EXE /SCANNOW at a command prompt to check all the system files are valid.

You could try rolling back the IE 11 install or doing a System Restore to an earlier time and see if it helps - before you do anything like that though, I'd create image of your system for backup, (even though it isn't working properly atm).

Maybe even boot off of one of the free AV live CDs and do a full scan but I'm inclined to think it's due to an update gone nuts or software clash.

Apart from a Repair in Place, (Upgrade in Place), Windows reinstall I don't know what else to suggest, (well, I do but if I did SJ, 40, f0dder, etc would probably hit me ... hard) - SJ may have some other ideas to get to the heart of the problem.

dr_andus:
The failure of winlogon.exe could be due to registry corruption or something else entirely, you can try running SFC.EXE /SCANNOW at a command prompt to check all the system files are valid.
-4wd (November 22, 2013, 06:25 PM)
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Thanks, I'll try that tomorrow morning (time to sleep over here).

In the meantime I also got one of Windows' error reporting boxes popping up, saying it needs to dial home to check for solutions to 13 problems, 12 of which was a video hardware error, and the 13th was "Shut down unexpectedly." Connection failed, so I never found out if there were solutions to any of those.

But now I'm starting to think that maybe the video hardware error has to do with my DisplayPort to VGA Video Adapter Converter, which I'm using to connect the 3rd monitor to my PC.

Occasionally the converter does fail, when the PC wakes up from sleep, in which case I unplug it and replug it, and that usually sorts it out. However, that has been recurring for some time, while this rebooting problem has only started happening more frequently the last couple of days.

Anyway, I'll sleep on it (and so will the PC, hopefully) :)

4wd:
If that's the case, I think I'd be unplugging the adapter for the next few days and see how the system goes without it.

EDIT: It could be that a recent update has interacted badly with the adapter drivers, so it might pay to uninstall them also or look to see if there is a driver update.

Stoic Joker:
In the meantime I also got one of Windows' error reporting boxes popping up, saying it needs to dial home to check for solutions to 13 problems, 12 of which was a video hardware error, and the 13th was "Shut down unexpectedly." Connection failed, so I never found out if there were solutions to any of those.-dr_andus (November 22, 2013, 06:44 PM)
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I don't think I've ever actually seen it come up with a solution, but it is a great place to get a synopsis of what's up on system land. So good for 4wd for thinking of it, as going to the logs is such a habit for me I always forget about it. It's still unclear if the shutdowns coincided with or were caused by the video errors but it's worth exploring.

Occasionally the converter does fail, when the PC wakes up from sleep, in which case I unplug it and replug it, and that usually sorts it out. However, that has been recurring for some time, while this rebooting problem has only started happening more frequently the last couple of days.-dr_andus (November 22, 2013, 06:44 PM)
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That sort of detail is important...and fits with the above.


If that's the case, I think I'd be unplugging the adapter for the next few days and see how the system goes without it.

EDIT: It could be that a recent update has interacted badly with the adapter drivers, so it might pay to uninstall them also or look to see if there is a driver update.-4wd (November 22, 2013, 07:07 PM)
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I don't believe that type if adapter has/needs a driver. However it and its accompanying hardware will have an impact on the graphics card's workload. I'd go with 4wd on the run without the 3rd monitor for a few days experiment ... And also ask if the dust has been blown out of the machine recently?

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