Unexpected restart

I about once a fortnight find my computer has restarted for no reason. There haven't been updates etc. I used to look in the Event Viewer under Windows Logs, System, winlogon to find something about "the last shutdown was unexpected", but I can't see anything (am I looking in the right place?). It's never done it when I'm here, only when I'm away, but it is running CPU and GPU intensive tasks at the time. There cannot have been a power outage as it has a UPS.

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The only substitute for good manners is fast reflexes.

On 10/12/2016 1:07 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
I about once a fortnight find my computer has restarted for no reason.
There haven't been updates etc. I used to look in the Event Viewer
under Windows Logs, System, winlogon to find something about "the last
shutdown was unexpected", but I can't see anything (am I looking in the
right place?). It's never done it when I'm here, only when I'm away,
but it is running CPU and GPU intensive tasks at the time. There cannot
have been a power outage as it has a UPS.

I have had the same thing happen when a UPS battery was starting to
fail. Try unplugging the power cable to the UPS and verify the PC stays
powered on for say 5 minutes before plugging the power cable back in.

Might also consider running one of the 3rd party utility programs that
show the CPU temp in case of partial cooling fins being blocked or a CPU
fan that is not up staying at a steady (full) speed. Memory modules can
also be affected by high heat and cause a reboot depending on the
intensity of the processing.

On 10/12/2016 2:15 PM, GlowingBlueMist wrote:
On 10/12/2016 1:07 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
I about once a fortnight find my computer has restarted for no reason.
There haven't been updates etc. I used to look in the Event Viewer
under Windows Logs, System, winlogon to find something about "the last
shutdown was unexpected", but I can't see anything (am I looking in the
right place?). It's never done it when I'm here, only when I'm away,
but it is running CPU and GPU intensive tasks at the time. There cannot
have been a power outage as it has a UPS.

I have had the same thing happen when a UPS battery was starting to
fail. Try unplugging the power cable to the UPS and verify the PC stays
powered on for say 5 minutes before plugging the power cable back in.

Might also consider running one of the 3rd party utility programs that
show the CPU temp in case of partial cooling fins being blocked or a CPU
fan that is not up staying at a steady (full) speed. Memory modules can
also be affected by high heat and cause a reboot depending on the
intensity of the processing.
Just because you think there are no updates that need to be installed
does not mean there are none. The MS Windows 10 updates can mess up you
computer royally if you do not leave it on for several hours for the
install to complete. I had one recent update that I thought I had
installed. The computer went through the restart thing and all. However
several days later when looking for some thing else, I saw that the
update still said pending. This time when I restarted the computer the
update installed.

I am not happy with the Windows updates, from them occurring when you
are walking to a meeting, to them trying repeatedly to install and
filling up their folder with hundreds of files that eventually cause
lockup. It seems there should be a better way than forcing updates.
Some way of presenting the knowledge of the update, but letting the
owner decide when the update should be downloaded and installed. May be
the power is out and he is n McDonald's or some other way there is
limited time for the download and install

On 10/12/2016 2:07 PM, James Wilkinson Sword wrote:
I about once a fortnight find my computer has restarted for no reason.
There haven't been updates etc. I used to look in the Event Viewer
under Windows Logs, System, winlogon to find something about "the last
shutdown was unexpected", but I can't see anything (am I looking in the
right place?). It's never done it when I'm here, only when I'm away,
but it is running CPU and GPU intensive tasks at the time. There cannot
have been a power outage as it has a UPS.

I've found that with Win10, one has to expect the previously unexpected!
;-)

The computer will turn itself on, particularly in "down times", and "do
things" that may require a restart. The process controls that the user
has access to are spread throughout the OS, so you may have to look deep
in the corners to find them. There are processes that the user has no
control over... :-(

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Best regards,

Neil