Recently my computer has often decided to restart itself for no apparent reason, I am running Win 98 on a 1.4Ghz Athlon with 256 mg RAM.

It may have started after I installed tiscali broadband software (not sure)!

Can anyone offer any insight, or does my computer just not like me?

Hmmm, couldn't really say whether your computer likes you or not - are you nice to it ?!

Seriously though, is there any pattern to when it restarts? Is it as soon as Windows starts up, as soon as you connect to the Internet, when you've just opened up Microsoft Word or Outlook Express, etc.

It might, of course, be hardware-related rather than a Windows problem. Does it only happen after your PC has been running for quite a long time (in which case, it might be overheating)?

Many times it restarts when I open explorer, try to run a CD or connect to the internet. The times range from just after booting up to 5 mins after.

Many thanks for your help,

Blimey. Intermittent or random problems with no pattern are always difficult to diagnose and this is a perfect example of a problem that it'll be hard to make sense of.

If I had a PC at work that did this, I would format it and re-install Windows and everything again. But then that's my job so it's not much of a big deal for me. If formatting and re-installing didn't fix it, then it would point to a hardware problem, in which case I would probably chuck the PC in the skip - could be any of the components inside causing the problem.

I know that's not the most helpful advice but it's all I've got I'm afraid.

Anyone else want to offer a suggestion?

A re-format didn't work. oh well, it was time for an upgrade anyway.

Thanks for your help

Just a quick update - all of the computer equipment was running off 1 multiple power socket thing (you know what i'm on about i hope). A friend suggested not using this as the power unit in the computer may not be getting enough juice or something like that. Anyway - PROBLEM SOLVED - woohoo.

Thought i'd tell you all in case any one else had a similar problem, thanks.

Excellent

Thanks for the update.