No matter what I'm doing, computer will just shut down. What's up with that??

Hi mcrodgers,

Some more information on your system would be nice.

What brand is it? What are the specifications?

Did you install any new software, hardware or drivers recently? Do you get any errors?

Do you know if it could be the temperature of the system? How long has it been since you cleaned your system on the inside (dusted out)?

What security software are you running?

Greets, John.

I've tried to answer this post three time, but keep getting an "invalid verification code" message. Hope this goes through.

Pentium II, XP, no new hardware/software/drivers. Zone Alarm free, AVG free, SpyBlaster. I don't know how to gauge the internal temperature and I dust out the interior every three months like clockwork.

Go to Start > Control Panel > Performance and Maintenance > System. Click on the "Advanced" tab and under "Startup and Recovery", click on "Settings". Under "System Failure" uncheck “Automatically Restart”. Be sure that “Write an event to the system log” is checked. That will force a BSOD and will give you error codes and messages that will be useful in diagnosing your problem. Copy them down and include them in your next post.

Hi mcrodgers,
Those suggestions are all good and here are some more. The more information we have, the better.

Open task manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL) and see if anything is using a large percentage of your cpu. If so, let us know what it is.

Click on start > run. Type eventvwr in the box and press "Enter". Check the system and application logs and let us know if there are any that have X's by them.

Download Process Explorer. Look at the top of the main screen and let us know if you are getting any hardware interrupts or default procedure calls (and what the numbers are).

Another shut down. Here is the error message:

Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7026
Date: 1/5/2008
Time: 12:58:34 PM
User: N/A
Computer: YOUR-6EQRFTH4NU
Description:
The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
SAVRT
SAVRTPEL
SYMTDI

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

Did you follow that link and did it tell you anything useful?

Those drivers are all associated with a Symantec Product. Are you having any troubles with it?

Interesting. I have no Symantec products installed. However, this was a hand me down that I've had for several years. The prior owner may have had a Sym product. The programs were uninstalled, but the disk was not reformatted. No problems like this until now.

That is weird. You have had this product for several years, and yet you just now start having problems - because those files are (the first 2 anyway) specific to Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Editions (SAVRT = Symantec AntiVirus Real Time) (perhaps among other Symantec programs).

To me, it sounds like either one of two things has happened - a System Restore has brought back Registry entries for a previously installed SAV (Symantec Antivirus Product) or else a Malware has installed itself that targets SAV and is trying to load / misload (sorry, can't think of a better word ) a non existent SAV installation. Now, I have not heard of anything remotely like the second animal I just described, but I would not be all that surprised is something like that exists.

Have you recently performed a System Restore for any other problems?

If you do not have any Symantec products on your computer, then you need to get rid of what has been left over. Even though they may have been "uninstalled" Symantec products do not like to go nicely and leave lots of crud around in the registry.

To completely delete all traces of Symantec, download and run the Norton Removal Tool.