PC spontaneously reboots- honest.

This is exactly what occurred.

FireFox open. Nothing else running actively.

I go to this page: Hitler Is As Angry As Ron Conway About Angelgate

I am watching the video as you see on the page.

As I am watching the video, I scroll down in FF to read the comments. And.........

<poof>

display disappears on monitor, PC reboots itself. I get the 'Windows did not close properly' screen, I hit OK, it comes up fine.

I've seen this once before. I went, 'Huh? What? I didn't touch anything!'

So what's the story here?

Can be overheating.
Can be bad graphics card or driver. Go to device manager look for yellow warning posters and make sure driver is up to date.
Can be malware, run anti virus and download and run malwarebytes. Full scan but update if first.
http://ask-leo.com/why_does_my_computer_randomly_reboot_without_warning.html

richc46 said:

Can be overheating.
Can be bad graphics card or driver. Go to device manager look for yellow warning posters and make sure driver is up to date.
Can be malware, run anti virus and download and run malwarebytes. Full scan but update if first.
Why does my computer randomly reboot without warning?

Click to expand...

Only yellow thing I saw was for 'USB mass storage device.'

If that is the problem or not it should be corrected. Update driver and see if that helps.

richc46 said:

If that is the problem or not it should be corrected. Update driver and see if that helps.

Click to expand...

It says I already have the most up to date driver. Can I just disable it? The only mass storage thing I have connected is the iPod.

Temperature is within spec.

I'd first start by checking temperatures... Use hwmonitor from www.cpuid.org
CPUID - System & hardware benchmark, monitoring, reporting

I used Speedfan- nothing out of the ordinary showed. Core now @ 53C

If it shows 53, that is well within normal bounds.

Driver Install - Device Manager - Windows 7 Forums

Same for Vista

so it appears there are no drivers TO update.

When you click on it can you tell the reason for the yellow warning?

If you are not interested in the IPod, disconnect for now.

no, we love the iPod. Essential. It shows there are two of them, two USB's; how do I know which the iPod is using?

I disabled the one with the (!) on it. It was the iPod one. (Apple- curse them.) I re-enabled, and now the (!) is gone.

Good for you, I was just going to tell you to disable one to test. Now see how the computer works.

richc46 said:

Good for you, I was just going to tell you to disable one to test. Now see how the computer works.

Click to expand...

Seems fine. I really take care of it. Crap Cleaner, AVG, SuperAntiSpyware, MalwareBytes. Defrag, you name it.

I mean with the reboots

richc46 said:

I mean with the reboots

Click to expand...

ah yes. well, it's only happened 2x in 3 years of use. strange, tho.

If it happens so infrequently, it is going to be hard to know if it is fixed. Just use the computer and enjoy it. If it should happen again post again.

Now the (!) is....back! what if I stick the iPod in another USB port? Then disable the (!) one?