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Spontaneous restarts, perhaps seemingly caused by power switch? Help!
Very frustrating situation here. Sorry, please read all my situation because there are some twists and turns.
Start with Computer does random restarts after putting in a 350 watt PSU which describes a startup/spontaneous restart problem I had in the winter, about six months ago.
This was solved by putting in a new (and less powerful) PSU, but then we also discovered that the power cord I'd been using for my PCs going back several years was a problem. Replaced the power cord and the problem was completely solved.
Well, for five months or so anyway.
Here is a log of what has happened since 6/20:6/20: Computer spontaneously restarts upon insertion of USB card reader in one of the front panel slots. This happens twice, both logged by event log.Here is how this all shakes out:
6/24: Pressing the power button to wake computer from sleep "wakes" computer for under five seconds and it then shuts down. Process repeats. Start computer from back panel switch after shutting off and I see message I've never seen before, counting from 0-100% fast about checking or updating BIOS, and then computer restarts, gets to Windows screen and says "resuming Windows" with no acknowledgment of the weirdness. Computer resumes exactly where it was like nothing was wrong. Event(s) not logged.
6/24: Due to a brief power failure in house, computer shuts down and then restarts with power resumption. Event is logged.
6/25: Computer is awoken normally first thing in the morning, but after about two minutes spontaneously restarts. Event is logged.
6/25: Call my favored computer repair place, which advises to check drivers and BIOS. All drivers and BIOS are up to date (I think). Drivers yes, BIOS version is from 9/10/2010, and GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1156 - GA-H55M-S2V (rev. 1.3) says that's the current version.
7/1: After six days of flawless working, computer spontaneously restarted about two minutes after logging in. This was after being in sleep mode for several hours, so CPU or case temperature could/should not have been a factor. Event is logged.
7/1: Woke from sleep and it spontaneously restarted after two minutes. Event is logged.
For about five months there were no problems, and the pattern, 90% of the time, was restart computer at bedtime, wake from sleep and login in the morning, go to work, wake from sleep upon return from work, restart at bedtime, repeat. A few times the computer would never sleep for a few days, but that was the general pattern.
Then on 6/20, inserting a USB card reader into the front panel, twice in 10 minutes, restarted the computer the moment contact was made between reader and port (the same USB port reads and works with thumb drives and other devices without a problem; I have replaced the card reader).
Since then, except for the power failure in our house (yes, I should probably get a UPS...), all of the computer odd behavior (the first 6/24 event above) and spontaneous restarts (everything else) has followed, by about two minutes, my using the power button to wake the computer from sleep.
There have been 14 times since then where I've used the power button, and four of them, including the last two, have caused the computer to spontaneously restart about two minutes after it wakes from sleep.
Meanwhile, especially on weekends, the computer runs for 15 straight hours, usually in use, and never spontaneously restarts. Actually, from late afternoon on 6/28, for about 60 hours, the computer never slept, was user-restarted twice, and ran fine with no spontaneous restarts.
What is going on?
I really doubt it's the power supply or cord. The computer runs too long and too well without a problem.
I really doubt it's memory for the same reason.
I really doubt it's malware. I am very safe in my computing practices, and have never introduced malware to a computer I've used, and the computer is swept nightly.
I really doubt it's a temperature issue. The computer goes and goes, 60 hours over the weekend for example, then sleeps and spontaneously restarts in two minutes and is fine after that?
The only things, other than a power failure, that have caused odd behavior, stem from the defective card reader in the USB port once, and the pressing of the power button the other times.
I've changed my computer sleep time to 14 hours, which should basically mean it never sleeps, and I'll see what happens as a result.
Any comments/thoughts on this?