Recently (over the last week or so), my computer will be working fine, then all of a sudden the screen flashes (red, maybe yellow, difficult to tell because it's extremely brief) and the machine reboots.
Occasionally this is accompanied by all temporary files everywhere, including browser cookies and Start Menu jumplists, to be deleted.
From the System Event Log:
Event 6008, EventLog: The previous system shutdown at 05:44:33 on 27/09/2011 was unexpected.
Event 41, Kernel-Power: The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
Then there's all the usual start-up events. There are no events anywhere logged at or near the shutdown time.
The system's not overheating, the power supply is there (and it's a laptop so there's a battery too), everything was working just fine beforehand, and as far as I recall I haven't installed anything new in months. I can't work out what's happening and why, so can anyone help me track the cause?
System information:
Alienware M17X10
8.00GB of RAM
64-bit Windows Home Premium
Just under a year old
Intel Core i7 CPU, Q840 @ 1.87GHz 1.86GHz
Five events before the Event 41:
File System Filter 'FPAV_RTP' (6.0, 2010-09-22T13:47:28.000000000Z) has successfully loaded and registered with Filter Manager.
at 05:45:01
File System Filter 'FileInfo' (6.1, 2009-07-14T00:34:25.000000000Z) has successfully loaded and registered with Filter Manager.
at 05:44:58
The operating system started at system time 2011-09-27T04:44:56.610798500Z.
at 05:44:57
The Application Experience service entered the stopped state.
at 05:29:16 (note 15-minute gap)
The Microsoft Software Shadow Copy Provider service entered the stopped state.
at 05:06:58