Windows 10: Frequent and Random Restarts

Nope. Didn't work. I put the USB drive into a back port. Windows loaded up. I removed other USB devices except for the dongle for my wireless keyboard and mouse. Windows loaded up. I can't get the memtest to load. I'm at a loss now. Might it be better to do this with a CD?

On the bright side, the computer hasn't shut down in two days, not since I got inside the case. I really am starting to think the problem is that one plug not being in the hard drive firmly. I'm thinking that maybe over time, the one wires pulls it too far out and causes problems, including the one of the boot drive not being found. Maybe I should try to adjust those wires somehow so the one doesn't pull on the other to see what happens.

Not sure what I can do about the memtest. Any additional tips would be welcome.

 

OK, for some reason you are not able to change the order in which the bootable devices operate, or there is a security setting like secure boot enabled in the bios that prevents the USB from working.

Glad it is more stable. Loose connections can cause problems. Post a picture so we can see what is happening.

 

Still no shut down. This is what happened the first time, as I mentioned. I took a couple pictures to illustrate what I was talking about. In the first one, you can see how the wire splits. The smaller split off wire goes under the full one and attaches by a screw to the metal case. It pulls on the full wire so that it tugs slightly on the plug that goes into the hard drive. I have arrows pointing to the full wire and to the split.

In the second picture, you can see the very tiny slant of the plug that goes into the hard drive. I put an arrow pointing to it. It won't stay snug in the hard drive because of the wire pulling on it. You can also see the split off wire attached to the metal case by a screw.

I'm starting to think that perhaps as the time goes by, the wire pulls on the plug more and more until eventually the connection isn't very good. Is that possible. To fix it, maybe I could unscrew the wire and turn it so that it's not pointing so far away from the full wire. I've never seen a split wire like that.

Anyway, I hope you can see what I'm talking about from the pictures.

Btw, I didn't see anything about a secure boot when I got into bios the other day. I read about it, but didn't see it.

 

It looks like it is a separate earthing/ground connector to the chassis. I see no reason why you can't rotate it or even move it to the other screw that might be nearer. If the plug was slightly loose it could have caused intermittent power to the HDD and caused errors in reading or writing to the drive.

 

I bet that's the problem, then. Computer hasn't shut down in days, while it had been shutting down at least 3 X a day. Same thing happened when I first got it. It was okay, then I got a shutdown/restart. Those starting happening more and more often, and then got messages that the boot drive couldn't be found. That's when I did all the diagnostics testing, all of which showed no problems. I pushed in the plugs and no more shutdowns.

Gradually, again, I started getting the shutdowns, which occurred more and more often. Then again started getting the message that the boot drive couldn't be found. In desperation, I tried the plugs again. That's when I noticed that the one plug would not stay put, but kept tilting slightly to one side because of the pull of the second wire. But I haven't had a shutdown now for days.

I will try rotating that wire to see if that stops the problem permanently. If you don't hear from me for a while, that may have fixed the problem. I don't want to mark the problem as solved yet, though, because this could be a coincidence. I want to see if this stability lasts for more than a week or two. If it doesn't, I don't want to have to start a new thread.

Thanks so much for your help!

 

Three days and not a single shut down. It seems like that one wire pulling on the other is the problem. After all, this is what happened before. The computer worked, then shut down with one of those error messages. The shut downs happened more and more often. Then the computer started having a problem finding the boot drive. When I pushed in the plugs, the problem(s) went away.

After a week or two, the process started all over again. I again pushed the plug into the hard drive. Problem(s) went away.

I haven't yet actually rotated the wire, but I will. Hopefully, that will fix the problem permanently. I thought everyone would like to know in case someone else has this crazy problem. Easy fix would be to look inside the case first. Even though the plugs look securely plugged in, apparently they can be a little off and create a problem.

 

Just so everyone knows. It's been a week and my computer hasn't restarted. It must have been the connections. Hopefully, the problem is solved.