System shutsdown and reboots automatically

I have Vista Home Premium x32 with SP2 installed running on an Intel motherboard Core2 Quad with 3GB memory and a nvida 8800GT video board and a 400 Watt p/s, 500GB drive with plenty of free space.

My system fan speeds up to full speed and then re-boots. The only warning I get is the fan noise. This happens 5 or 6 times then it won't happen again for a couple days. It seems to happen exactly 1 hour from the last time it rebooted.... no kidding, within a couple seconds of 60 minutes.

Anyway, I thought I would check the event logs for a clue. I noticed that the Shutdown Event Tracker was not available so I looked for a way to turn it on. Vista, at least my version, does not have the gpedit.msc (Group policy console editor?) and other articles indicated that is what I needed to activate the Tracker.

The only thing I can find in the other logs is a recurring entry:

"The DgiVecp service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the device specified."

Can anyone tell me how to enable the Shutdown Event Tracker?

Is it still part of Vista Home Premium?

Anyone care to take a shot at the cause of my reboots?

Do you have the PC overclocked?...you may be having a thermal shutdown...turn it back to defaults if you do.

Other than that, sounds like you have some bad drivers on your system. Try a system restore to before this whole thing happened...it may help. Also check your BIOS and see if you have the most recent update for that...or even overrite it with the current revision...the stupid chance that got corrupted.

If this doesnt work unplug all of your hardware from inside the pc...clean them...and them reinsert them.

I've had this happen more during startup with constant reboots rather than it just shutting off ramdomly. Personally if its happening regularly im thinking it is a thermal shutdown.

I have no idea how to use the event logs...every time I have tried I cant get it to record my issues.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Blackhawk7188.

My system is not overclocked and I even have an extra fan in the case. I have put a digital thermometer at the exhaust port and it remains pretty constant at 90F.

I will check drivers and update the bios. I that doesn't get it then the process of elimination will have to do. I ahve been reluctant because it is intermittant. I sometimes goes a month without doing it.

I found a Registry hack that enabled the Shutdown Event Tracker that used to work on Vista before SP1 was installed. Rumor was that SP1 removed the gpedit.msc (Group policy console editor?) and it was to be replaced later but thats where the trail ends. I applied the patch but no luck

Here is the hack:
===============
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Reliability]
"TimeStampInterval"=dword:00000000
"ShutdownReasonUI"=dword:00000001
"ShutdownDoStateSnapshot"=dword:00000002

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Reliability\UserDefined]
================

** Can anyone else help me get the Shutdown Event Tracker turned on? **

What it seems like to me is that its a power issue. Your running an extra video card, a big hard drive, and a decent processor all on 400W power supply. I bet its the power supply. Just my opinion though.

Well, we would have to see the brand and model name of the PSU to see if it really is the problem here, depending on its specs.

Sbrideau said:

Well, we would have to see the brand and model name of the PSU to see if it really is the problem here, depending on its specs.

Click to expand...

Brand nor model matter. Doesn't matter if it was a Antec supply or Rosewill, 400W is 400W...

Specs matter, the 12V rail and other such specs are important too.

Thanks for the ideas guys..... but I gave you the wrong info about the P/S. I read off the system description I bought from Gateway. Guess I am getting old. I forgot I replaced the 400 Watt with a new Corsair 550 Watt P/S (p/n: CMPSU-550VX). It sports a 120mm Fan. I remember I upgraded it when I purched the 8800GT video board.

It looks like I haven't had any crashes since I put it into speep mode about 20 hours ago. Thats why I need to get that Shutdown Event Tracker running for some clues. The next step for me now is to disconnect all external cables except for KB and Monitor and see if it crashes. But it may be a week before it happens again. I already had it re-boot while plugged into a UPS while the UPS was running on Battery power only so line noise should be ruled out.

I have run Spybot, Windows Defender, and AVG Anit Virus with no clues.

Any other Thoughts?