Invoking browsers causing my PC to restart

[geekwannabe]

This happens after few minutes (sometimes seconds) after opening a browser via the quicklaunch button. I tried using I.E., Firefox and Opera and the same things happens. Also, it only happens when I invoke a browser. I can play games for about 4 hours and the pc doesn't restart or show any sign of trouble.

By the way my OS is Win XP Pro, my PC is made of P4 3.06ghz, 1 gb ram and a decent video card and MSI 865PE board. I tried scanning with AVG and AVAST with updated definitions and scanned for spyware or malware with Spyboy and Ad-aware SE but it didnt fix the problem.

By the way great, forum guys! :) I've always looked here first for answers, hopefully somebody can shed light on this problem. :confused:

Thanks for any suggestions or answers

[Cavalier90]

Is your internet connection open when you launch the browser or are you relying on the browser to kick start the internet conenction? I'm just looking for a common theme between your browsers rather than trying to fix an individual browser issue.

Does your mail client cause the same problem? (Outlook Express/Thunderbird/etc)

[geekwannabe]

Yes my internet connection is open before launching the browser. I'm have a cable broadband connection btw. My email client works fine (Thunderbird) as does Yahoo Msngr, not to mention guildwars. :)

Should I try to open browsers without an internet connection?

[geekwannabe]

I just tried opening my browsers without turning on the modem and to my surprise it didnt make my pc hang. I also managed to get an error message because I disabled the "restart on error" option in Win XP. Anyway here is the error code.

STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0x00000000, 0xb9b19c54, 0x00000000)

[Sylvander]

See here http://aumha.org/win5/kbestop.htm

at
0x0000008E: KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
(Click to consult the online MSDN article.)
A kernel mode program generated an exception which the error handler didn’t catch. These are nearly always hardware compatibility issues (which sometimes means a driver issue or a need for a BIOS upgrade).

Leads to this http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315335&sd=RMVP
Don't know it it applies; take a look.

[123456]

Geekwannabe, I had the exact problem last week. It is one of these two things: Driver problem for a device, OR your ANtivirus. WHat anti-virus do you use?

[geekwannabe]

Thanks for the links to these sites Sylvander. I'll read up and try to update my drivers.

123456 I'm using AVASt right now for my antivirus. As for my drivers I will be updating them as soon. It's quite tedious transferring files from my laptop to pc :confused:

Did you fix the problem when it happened to your PC? This thing is driving me nuts already.

[geekwannabe]

Thanks for the excellent tip 123456!

Before updating my drivers, I figured disabling the AVAST antivirus is easier so I did and to my surprise my browsers didn't cause my PC to restart anymore. I guess it had something to do with conflicts between AVAST and Zonealarm.

Anyway I have been using Firefox for about 20mins now and no restarts!

I instead downloaded and installed AVG as my antivirus for protection.

Thanks to all who took the time to read my thread. :D

[123456]

AVAST did that for me too....
Get AVG free from Grisoft. AVG+Zonealarm=Great Combo.

[Paul Komski]

Which version of Avast was in use - http://www.avast.com/eng/programs.html

I have recently been trying Avast32 3 and it does a number of things differently than Avast 4 Home edition.

[geekwannabe]

I used the free home edition. Downloaded maybe 2-3 days ago.

I think there was a point in installation wherein I should have answered "yes" when it asked about disabling a feature that might conflict with another zonealarm feature.

[123456]

Just get zone alarm free from zonelabs (http://www.zonelabs.com) .
Excellant firewall, I have it on all 3 OS'es.

[Paul Komski]

Used to like Zone Alarm but IMHO it became rather a bloat and so now I only use Sygate or Kerio - (or a very ancient version of ZA)! ;)

AVG and Avast are both premier free a/vs for domestic use.

I'm not pushing any of the above five applications - they are all good.