I don’t think there is anything more frustrating then your PC getting extremely slow except for when it crashes…you know you either get the blue screen of death or the computer just keeps rebooting over and over again.

There are several things that can cause PC crashes such as:

• Hardware problems
• Incorrect or corrupted device drivers
• Viruses, trojans and other malware
• Corrupted operating system files
• Registry problems that can be caused by any of the following items:
  • Empty Registry Keys
  • Leftover software entries
  • Invalid or corrupted Class Keys
  • Shell Extensions
  • Invalid or corrupted Help Files
  • Invalid or corrupted CLSID / Typelib / Interface Entries
  • Invalid or corrupted Shared / Known DLLs
  • Invalid or corrupted Com / ActiveX
  • Invalid or corrupted Paths
  • Invalid or corrupted Application Path Keys
  • Orphan References
  • Invalid or corrupted Fonts
  • Invalid or corrupted File Types / Extensions / Entries
  • Missing or corrupted Shared Folders or files

Hardware Problems

If the machines keeps rebooting, there may be a hardware problem. The easiest way to troubleshoot this it to get a bootable CD like your windows operating system CD and follow these steps:

• put the CD in the CD/DVD drive
• turn on the computer
• If your computer lets you select the boot device, select the CD/DVD drive
• If can’t select the boot device, open the BIOS during the initial boot process (on most PCs pressing the DEL, F1 or F8 key enters the BIOS setup) and change the boot order so the CD/DVD drive is listed first.

If the machine boots successfully using the CD, then there is noting wrong with your basic hardware. If it continues to reboot, then you may have a bad power supply or bad sectors in your memory chips. Remove them, take them to a computer repair shop and have them tested or replace them with a known good power supply or memory chips from another machine to see if that is the problem. One it boots successfully, change the boot order in the BIOS back so the hard drive is listed first.

Incorrect or corrupted device drivers

If you installed a new hardware device, the driver’s you installed may be incompatible with your operating system and can cause the machine to crash. If you haven’t installed a new device, then the problem may be corrupted device drivers. This kind of error usually results in repeated reboots.

• Start the machine in safe mode
• New device - If it boots up, uninstall the new device. Reboot and see if it starts normally. If it does, it’s fixed.
• No new devices - If it boots up, open the device manager Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager and disable floppy drives, imaging devices, network adapters and sound, video and game adapters by right clicking and selecting Disable as shown below.

 

• Reboot the machine normally. If it reboots, there is nothing wrong with the hard drive or operating system. Try enabling the drivers you disabled one at a time to see if they cause a crash. When you find the problem, uninstall the device. Then reinstall it from the original installation media.
• If it doesn’t boot normally, try booting to safe mode. If that works, then something is wrong in the operating system or registry.

Corrupted Operating System Files

Boot using the windows CD and select the repair option. Make sure the system files are checked. Run the repair and then reboot. If it boots normally it’s fixed.

Virus, trojans and other Malware

Boot to the safe mode and run you virus software if possible or use the emergency write protected CD or floppy disk that many virus programs use. When the scan and repair are completed try to boot normally, if it works, it’s fixed.

Registry Problems

Boot to safe mode and run a good registry cleaner to correct all of the problems listed under registry above. When done, reboot the machine normally. If it works, it’s fixed.

If it doesn’t, you will need to reformat the hard drive and reinstall the operating system and all of your applications. Make sure you back up all of the files you created before your reinstall because they will be deleted when you reformat the hard drive.

Summary

No matter at which point you corrected the problem, you should run a complete virus scan and a good registry cleaner if you didn’t already do it as part of the general maintenance of your computer.