Computer restarts without warning

[skewered]

My computer always restarts without warning whenever I play an online game. The period of time which lapses after I run the game and before the computer restarts varies. However, it is usually within 10 minutes.

Could this be due to a virus? My computer had experienced similar problems before and I had it reformatted. The problem may have persisted due to the retention of some old files which may contain a virus.

What should I do now?

[Ioman]

Usually there are a few problems to this.

1. Your computer is overheating. Try to play with the case open, if that helps it means you need more fans

2. Your memory could be bad try memtest86 9free download) to see what it says

3. Your PSU is not powerfull enough to run a 3D game (what are the specs on your CPU?

4. Did you try updated drivers for your video card?

[ECA]

Also,
If you are running out of Hard drive space, anything less then 1-3 gig is TIGHT..
Esp when games cache themselves on the HD most times.

What GAME??

also, sence you are only mentioning GAMES, and few or NO occurrances otherwise, it seems that Ram, or HD are affected..

Best to send us the Hardware config...
DELL, HP, COMPAQ, or homebrew...
Ram,
Video card, and Ram
HD size and whats still available,
CPU,
And which OS you are running..95,98,2000,xp,???

[HeddaLora]

I think probably the 2 most common reasons these days are power supply problems and trojans. Also (depending on what your OS is), too many temp files can cause a lot of system instability. Besides checking out your power supply, try the following regular mini-maintenance checklist and see if it doesn't clean things up and stabilize your system some.

-- Delete all temp files (c:\windows\temp\*.tmp, or on XP C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temp)

-- Delete temporary internet files (c:\windows\temporary internet files\*.*, or on XP C:\Documents and Settings\username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files)

-- If you use I.E., click on Tools, Internet Options, Delete Files, select "delete all off-line content", click OK

-- Click on Start, Programs, Accessories, Systems Tools, Disk Cleanup

-- Download AdAware (http://www.lavasoft.de), check for updates, run it and remove whatever it finds

-- Download Diskeeper (http://www.executive.com) and defrag

-- Download, update and turn on SpywareBlaster (http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html) and SpywareGuard (http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html).

[ECA]

hed,
This is nice, but I see to many Compaq/HP/DELL comps that are sold with 64/128 megs of ram, and a 40 gig HD. Wont even mention the video card.
Then they WANt to store pics on the computer, BMP format..

If there isnt enough ram, the system uses the HD, and this is MAJOR bad.
windows WANTS 200+ megs, the game wants 200+megs including graphics.
128 megs-400=272 megs to cache, at 10/1= 2.72 gigs...
THATS just to LOAD the game... If you look at Virt ram, XP/2000 limits it to 3(??)gig per DRIVE. When you top it out, and the system CANT cache, or use ram...It STALLS.

windows has ALWAYS had a problem managing Ram.
drivers get loaded, and NOT used, are STILL loaded.
Theres NO warning when it gets close the TOPped out ram, or even the HD(alot of times).. And I see ppl that have OVER written there drives, and it AINT nice..