Computer reboots when I switch profiles...

[Ironcat]

Okay, so here's the problem...

I am running Windows XP and I currently have profiles set up for me, my wife, and my kids.
It does not happen every time, but it happens enough to be a huge pain in the ass.

When I switch from one profile to another, the computer reboots itself.
Once it comes back on it says "Windows has recovered from a serious error" and it has the whole 'error reporting / send or don't send, etc"

I have windows and all of my drivers updated on the system and there is no new software to be causing some sort of compatability issue.

Any ideas?

[Xperiment]

The first thing I would check is the 'event viewer', found under, control panel -> administrative tools. Check the logs under 'System' and 'Application' for errors around the time the system restarted.

They may point you towards a driver or program thats causing the crash.

[Ironcat]

Wow, apparently I had more errors than I knew about... lucky me :)

Looks like 90% of them say DCOM

[Cannibal23]

if it only happens when you switch to one particular profile then that users registry info is most likely corrupt. this will effect the hkey_current_user tree of the registry. when you switch profiles it tries to read and load this info. if its bad it can cause blue screens reboots and other issues. that being the case here is the solution

1. log in as a user that works
2. go to c:\documents and settings
3. there should be a folder named the name of the user that causes the reboot
rename this folder something else. i usually put -old on the end of it. if it gives you an error when trying to rename it you may need to reboot first
4. once the folder has been renamed log off and log on as that user.
5. during the logon process it should create a new user folder as well as registry info.
6. go back into the c:\documents and settings folder
7 you should see the folder you renamed before and also a new one with the name of the effected user. now you can go copy the desktop folder my documents folder and favorites folder from the old one to the new one and you will have all your stuff in the right place when that user logs on. any issues or questions let me know.