Hardware Analysis Community Forums http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/27095/ 2008-12-03T18:43:48-05:00 http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/27095/ http://media.hardwareanalysis.com/halogo.gif text/html 2004-08-03T17:41:21-05:00 Michael A. http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/27095/#157326 I agree with Wizard on this one. When you disable autoreboot Windows basically closes itself out when it has an error. The last time my computer BSOD (I have autoreboot disabled - and was using Quicktime) I heard my PSU click off just fractions of a second before the BSOD showed up. I think my computer was in a state of suspension.<br /> <br /> Either way it doesn't matter because the BSOD allowed me to Google a solution to my problem on the next boot - Quicktime. text/html 2004-05-20T22:40:55-05:00 Wizard Prang http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/27095/#0 There is an option to have the system auto-reboot when it encounters a BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death). <br /> <br /> One of the biggest mistakes that MS made when developing XP, IMHO, was to enable this &quot;feature&quot; by default.<br /> <br /> The practical upshot of this is that if XP encounters a fatal error, there is a flash of blue and then it's reboot time. <br /> <br /> I suspect that MS enabled this feature just so that users never saw a BSOD, and therefore assumed it was a power problem or something they did... but maybe I'm just paranoid <img src="http://media.hardwareanalysis.com/smilies/smile1.gif" width="14" height="14" border="0" alt=":)" title=":)"><br /> <br /> While this is a good idea if you want to ensure that an unchanging and unattended server that goes down does not stay down, it is not such a good idea for a home user. If you just installed hardware or drivers that XP does not like you can find yourself in an infinite cycle of reboots... which is VERY difficult to fix. <br /> <br /> So, How do you disable this feature? I'm glad you asked... Bring up the system properties (It's in the control panel, keyboard shortcut is WIN+Pause/Break). Go to the Advanced Tab, Startup and Recovery/Settings, Uncheck the &quot;Automatically Restart&quot; button.<br /> <br /> The next time it crashes, you will see the familiar NT/2000 BSOD that we all know and love...<img src="http://media.hardwareanalysis.com/smilies/smile2.gif" width="14" height="14" border="0" alt=":(" title=":("> but at least you will have information to help you diagnose the problem.<br /> <br /> Prang<br />