My laptop restarts itself

**franklinrdl** · 04-03-2009

Hello,

My laptop is:
Dell Inspiron 1420 (I bought it in 2007)
Windows Vista 32-bit preinstalled
Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.00 GHz
RAM 2.00 GB
HD SATA 160 GB

My problem is my computer restarts itself randomly.

The computer worked fine for 18 months. This problem started the first time I tried to see a whole movie in it. The movie froze, I got a BSOD and the computer restarted itself. After that, It begun to restart itself randomly.

So far, I've done several things. I've tried to uninstall Vista and Install XP and It didn't work

After several tests, the only thing I've got is to identify a frequent behavior... That is:

1. Every single component in the copmputer is working OK -I can say that because of the Dell diagnostic utilities-

2. The problem is: The laptop restarts itself randomly -with a BSOD if Vista and without BSOD if XP- without any warnings or error messages

3. It happens as soon as Windows -Vista or XP SP2- completes the first step of its own installation process... I mean, when the first windows files and drivers are loaded -after the first normal restart due to the installation process-

Beyond this, I've got nothing... I haven't figure the cause of the problem or any possible solution

Could anybody help me? What can I do?

**ThoMas321** · 04-03-2009

Thats a bad memory you got in your machine... Try replacing it by a friends memory just to check it... Dont a good idea to spend before making sure... Anyways try replacing the memory... might fix your problem...!
all the best!

**chroma** · 04-03-2009

I think the flat surface should have enough ventilation.

XP still has BSOD, you just do not see it. This is how MS "fixed" the bad BSOD Press it had.

Right click on My Computer--> Click on the Advanced tab--> Click on SETTINGS under the "Startup and Recovery" section.

Under system failure, UNCHECK the "automatically restart" option.

Click on OK-->Apply-->OK.

Hope so it may help you out.