Randomly shutting down

[Lesley_tech]

Hi there people.. Me again

I have noticed computers across the school are randomly just switching them selves off or restarting. i can't find anything in the logs about why they are. it just seems to be attacking certain rooms, not random computers . Please could someone help me =-)

[superfletch]

You sure it is random (ie - you've actually seen it happening) and not just that kids have been reporting it.

If you've seen it happening)

Have you recently put out a new image to most of the machines you believe to be affected?

If you haven't and it is just a reported problem)

Is it anything to do with the p[ower management settings (within BIOS not windows) of the PC's themselves?

Just some ideas to be looking at anyway - don't forget it is Friday the 13th, could you have a techie friend who is playing a practical joke?

EDIT - This post assumes you've just noticed this!! What FN-Greatermanchester has just added would make more sense if it is an ongoing problem.

[FN-GM]

They are probably overheating. I would check the airflow and possibly put an extra fan on the back of the case.

[Joedetic]

We have this as a heat issue. Some of them just refuse to play DVDs Other just shut off.

We've got air con in all the e-learning rooms now (appart from one new one).

[laserblazer]

I immediately thought overheating or psu. I don't know if it is likely but could something like a voltage surge affect the power supplies, some worse than others. If I have a machine that is constantly resetting, the first thing I check is the psu and that normally is the problem.

[Lesley_tech]

Hi.. Its not just one computer its about 5 all at once

[laserblazer]

Hi.. Its not just one computer its about 5 all at once

Which is why I wondered if some external power glitch might have affected the power supplies. Try taking the psu out of a good machine and trying that.

Try running them without the case, blow desk fan on it.

[SYNACK]

If it does turn out to be heat based you may want to clean out the heat sinks on the machines, I did a write up (all be it themed) of the methods to clean these out.
http://www.edugeek.net/forums/blogs/...-epidemic.html

It could also be an issue with the points or phase that those specific computers are on, you might want to try moving one of the pcs to a different point and seeing if it still affects it.

[Lesley_tech]

I have found out what it is.

Remote shutdown . . How does this work

[Joedetic]

shutdown -s -m \\machinename

From the CLI.

[FN-GM]

or on the command you can do

shutdown -i

have one of the kids managed to access the command prompt?

[SteveT]

MS Updates???

[Lesley_tech]

Hm Will have to look into this .. Thanks guys

[JP_Freeman]

Hello, my name is JP Freeman and I am an ICT technichan at UCT (University of Cape Town).

I recently had this same problem with some of my computers, we have been told by some students and teachers, because of this I have decided to investigate this and have found a few students to be using it.

I have also found students accessing Task Manager, Regedit and the Command Prompt, is there anything I can do to stop them without disabling their accounts? If they got past our Ranger and group policies is there a way to stop them?

[Hightower]

Why did they get past group policies - I would double check the settings they have because this is a big no no. Either something isn't working right or your GPO's are too relaxed