Computer randomly restarts

[chat14101]

I'm running Windows XP Home (SP2). I built this computer a few years back, 3 GHz P4 processor, 2 GB of RAM, ATi Radeon 9600. This computer is DMZed and never shut down because I have all types of servers and such (telnet, ftp, VNC, etc). I run Zone Alarm, AVG Free (update and scan every night), Spybot (update and scan every night).

I'm thinking the random restarts is XP crashing hard. Right now I have it configured to write a minidump and restart, but I have no idea on how to analyze minidumps or complete dumps of the memory or kernel. I've looked through the Event Viewer and I saw nothing that stands out too much.

It actually just restarted (gotta love Firefox's recovery), I believe these restarts may be due to Bittorrent. I have version 6 of the official Bittorrent client (and I use it legally, currently downloading mythbuntu and gOS).

Please help. I'll be going out of town Wednesday, so my computer has to be back to the "bounce back up if it dies" settings by then, so I can configure it to actually see the blue screen if that would help. Are minidumps fine, or should I make memory or kernel dumps?

 

[blackjack]

Well it could be a few things, first have you checked you system temps as it could be a heat issue especially if your room is warm, you may need to install some additional case fans for more ventilation.
You should also take off the side of your case and clean any dust out, this includes taking off you CPU FAN and cleaning between the panels of your heatsinc.(carefully with a fine paint brush).
Next start thinking about any recent software or hardware changes, have you installed anything new that could be conflicting with another program?
Drivers possibly, try running a registry repair software to see if that helps.

 

[chat14101]

My CPU temperature is fine, heat isn't a problem (I was just playing Flight Simulator without a problem). No hardware changes have been made. I don't have Bittorrent running right now and nothing's wrong, but when ever it crashed, Bittorrent has been running.

 

[blackjack]

My CPU temperature is fine, heat isn't a problem (I was just playing Flight Simulator without a problem). No hardware changes have been made. I don't have Bittorrent running right now and nothing's wrong, but when ever it crashed, Bittorrent has been running.

Well you seem to have found the source, how much memory have you got? you may need more memory

 

[chat14101]

I have 2 GB of RAM and constantly monitor it, free RAM is not the issue.

 

[blackjack]

2GB thats plenty I would try a different torrent software instead.

 

[Cabbs]

If you are gonna try different software, Utorrent is nice.

 

[CGfreak102]

have you tried running memtest, i mean our school computers have that problem, and its something with the RAM