Your information doesn't include the Windows OS (just the OS version) - for example do you have Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, etc. I have Windows XP Pro, Service Package 2 (& apparently this is a common problem with this version of Windows) and I have just gone through what you are going through now. My systems was also automatically restarting as well as getting the blue stop screen error. It's complicated, but I will try to give you as much information as I can - at least by showing you the steps I had to take to solve my problem. When Windows comes across a problem it will stop and reboot so that your operating system will not be harmed and this may be when you see the blue screen (sometimes your system will just reboot and you do not see the blue screen, or you can just get the blue screen and the computer does not reboot), but the technical information that it provides for the error is limited. Now the first thing that I did was go to the "Event Viewer" because here you can find more detailed information (these steps are for Windows XP, but they are probably similar if you have Vista or Windows 7 or you can find it by doing a computer search) - click Start, Control Panel and then "Administrative Tools". When this window opens click on "Event Viewer" and then check out the Application Error Records, the System Error Records and the Antivirus Log Error Records (and you can figure out what to do next from here).
I then changed some settings on my computer so that I could read the information Windows provides before it is recorded in the "dump" file. To do this I opened "System" in Control Panel and on the "Advanced" tab, under "Startup and Recovery", I clicked "Settings". Under "System Failure", you select the check boxes that correspond to the actions you want Windows to perform when a "Stop Error" occurs. In my case I wanted the computer to stop rebooting, so I unchecked the box for "Automatically Reboot". That way I would be able to read the error message that will be sent to the small memory dump (and then I would do a "manual" restart). A memory dump is where Windows records what happened when the system stops unexpectedly and contains information that will help identify the problem that Microsoft asks you to send to them in the Error Report Message.
I also downloaded a little program called "WhoCrashed" which does an analysis of the crash dumps and submits a report. The following is the web site where you can find the program:
http://www.resplendence.com/downloads
The "Blue Screen of Death" is a very common problem and why this happens can be due to a number of reasons:
- Hardware: Defective or mismatched components in your computer.
- Dust in your computer.
- OS: Some versions of Windows have bugs that can cause these problems.
- Drivers: Buggy or down-level drivers can cause many problems.
- Software: Some programs have bugs in them that can cause these problems.
- Loading Order: The order in which the software components of your computer are loaded into memory, at startup each day, can cause a multitude of odd problems.
- Memory Fragmentation: Do you often see the message, "System is dangerously low in resources" If so you are probably suffering Memory Fragmentation.
If you have installed any new software, just prior to this happening, I would remove it and see if that helps. It may not be compatible with your system or could have some bugs in it. Also dust in your computer could very easily be the culprit, so make sure that there is no dust inside your computer.
There are many other reasons and also a combination of any of the above that could be responsible for the blue screen and that is why it is difficult to isolate the problem. Malware can also be responsible, as it was in my case - at least initially,
I suggest that you do both antivirus and antispyware/malware scans. My antivirus program found a trojan horse on my computer which was a malware downloader. A malware downloader will contact other malware sites and download malware into your computer. Malware can change your system settings, crash your computer, you name it, depending on the particular type of malware you have on your computer you can be in serious trouble. I downloaded McAfee Stinger (which is an excellent program) to go after any malware that was still on my computer - you can google "McAfee Stinger" and go to the official web site. It explains everything about the Stinger and how to use it. Here is the official web site address for the Stinger:
http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/
After scanning I wanted to do some maintenance and repair on my system. Click Start and then My Computer. Do a left-click on Local Drive C and in the drop-down menu click on "Properties" and then click on the "Tools" tab. First click on the "Error Checking" section and follow the instructions. You will have to restart your computer to do an Error Check (it tells you that and make sure that you check any boxes that are there for the system to check). When the Error Check is complete, go back and then click on "Defragmentation". These are computer maintenance and repair steps and you should do them every so often - they are especially helpful if any files have been damaged and need to be repaired or if your hard drive is badly fragmented.
Also make sure that you have all of the Windows Updates - I didn't because I had turned off my Automatic Windows Update because I preferred to do my updates manually and unfortunately, I got lazy and stopped downloading them. Also clean up your computer's cache by using a program called CCleaner from Piriform (another excellent program) and here is the web site address (You can also clean your cache from your browser, but CCleaner does much more - read the information about this program on the web site):
http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/update?v=2.30.1130&l=1033
So, in my case - it started with malware (that changed some system settings and damaged some files), which I was able to remove. I found out that I had an incompatible software program that I had recently installed on my computer which I removed and finally, after I dusted my computer (and it was full of dust!) and got caught up with all of my Windows updates, my computer was back to normal. I have given you a lot of information; I hope some of it helps. Good Luck!