Windows 7 Professional: Spontaneous Restarts When KDMed to

Occasionally, my Windows 7 Professional box goes seriously
snoozy.

It will, when I switch to it with my KDM, restart. It does not
seem to matter how long it has been inactive. I did not use it over
the weekend and when I switched over to it this morning, I was
prompted for my password to get back to work. Just now, I wanted to
do some work on it, and it restarted. Sometimes, after this, it is
back where it was, and sometimes, there are no programs open. (I
almost always have a DOS window open, and I did this time.)

I did not enter anything other than the switchover code ([Scroll
Lock][Scroll Lock]2).

Any ideas what this could be and what I can do about it?

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

On 13/03/2012 1:27 AM, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
> Occasionally, my Windows 7 Professional box goes seriously
> snoozy.
>
> It will, when I switch to it with my KDM, restart. It does not
> seem to matter how long it has been inactive. I did not use it over
> the weekend and when I switched over to it this morning, I was
> prompted for my password to get back to work. Just now, I wanted to
> do some work on it, and it restarted. Sometimes, after this, it is
> back where it was, and sometimes, there are no programs open. (I
> almost always have a DOS window open, and I did this time.)

Did you mean KVM, i.e. keyboard-video-mouse?

> I did not enter anything other than the switchover code ([Scroll
> Lock][Scroll Lock]2).
>
> Any ideas what this could be and what I can do about it?

Sounds like a cheap KVM. The KVM should keep power flowing to the input
ports, but if the computer doesn't see power flowing in from the
devices, then might decide to restart.

Have you considered switching over to a software-based solution? You can
login to one remote computer through another computer. If you're using
Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, then it's got the feature built-in
called RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol). If you don't have those editions
of Windows, then you can install an alternative protocol called VNC.
There are freeware VNC software, such as TightVNC.

Yousuf Khan

On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:26:33 -0400, Yousuf Khan
<> wrote:

>On 13/03/2012 1:27 AM, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
>> Occasionally, my Windows 7 Professional box goes seriously
>> snoozy.
>>
>> It will, when I switch to it with my KDM, restart. It does not
>> seem to matter how long it has been inactive. I did not use it over
>> the weekend and when I switched over to it this morning, I was
>> prompted for my password to get back to work. Just now, I wanted to
>> do some work on it, and it restarted. Sometimes, after this, it is
>> back where it was, and sometimes, there are no programs open. (I
>> almost always have a DOS window open, and I did this time.)
>
>Did you mean KVM, i.e. keyboard-video-mouse?

Yes. For some reason, I keep munging that acronym.

>> I did not enter anything other than the switchover code ([Scroll
>> Lock][Scroll Lock]2).
>>
>> Any ideas what this could be and what I can do about it?
>
>Sounds like a cheap KVM. The KVM should keep power flowing to the input
>ports, but if the computer doesn't see power flowing in from the
>devices, then might decide to restart.

The odd thing is that the restart always happens when I switch
over, not before.

>Have you considered switching over to a software-based solution? You can
>login to one remote computer through another computer. If you're using
>Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, then it's got the feature built-in
>called RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol). If you don't have those editions
>of Windows, then you can install an alternative protocol called VNC.
>There are freeware VNC software, such as TightVNC.

Maybe another time. I am leery about connecting the two systems.
The Windows 7 system is currently a sacrificial goat.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 08:45:41 -0700, Gene Wirchenko <>
wrote:

>On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:26:33 -0400, Yousuf Khan
><> wrote:
>
>>Have you considered switching over to a software-based solution? You can
>>login to one remote computer through another computer. If you're using
>>Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate, then it's got the feature built-in
>>called RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol). If you don't have those editions
>>of Windows, then you can install an alternative protocol called VNC.
>>There are freeware VNC software, such as TightVNC.
>
> Maybe another time. I am leery about connecting the two systems.
>The Windows 7 system is currently a sacrificial goat.

If you have an old NAT router, you can connect it directly between the
two machines and it'll act as sort of a one-way valve. Connect the
sacrificial goat to the WAN side and your other PC to a LAN port.
Disable DHCP and manually assign IP's, making sure the two systems are
in different subnets. Note that this doesn't need to disturb your
existing network topology.

--

Char Jackson

On 13/03/2012 11:45 AM, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
> On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:26:33 -0400, Yousuf Khan
> <> wrote:
>
>> On 13/03/2012 1:27 AM, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
>>> Occasionally, my Windows 7 Professional box goes seriously
>>> snoozy.
>>>
>>> It will, when I switch to it with my KDM, restart. It does not
>>> seem to matter how long it has been inactive. I did not use it over
>>> the weekend and when I switched over to it this morning, I was
>>> prompted for my password to get back to work. Just now, I wanted to
>>> do some work on it, and it restarted. Sometimes, after this, it is
>>> back where it was, and sometimes, there are no programs open. (I
>>> almost always have a DOS window open, and I did this time.)
>>
>> Did you mean KVM, i.e. keyboard-video-mouse?
>
> Yes. For some reason, I keep munging that acronym.
>
>>> I did not enter anything other than the switchover code ([Scroll
>>> Lock][Scroll Lock]2).
>>>
>>> Any ideas what this could be and what I can do about it?
>>
>> Sounds like a cheap KVM. The KVM should keep power flowing to the input
>> ports, but if the computer doesn't see power flowing in from the
>> devices, then might decide to restart.
>
> The odd thing is that the restart always happens when I switch
> over, not before.

That would make sense, if it's not receiving power while you're switched
away from it, and then when you switch to it, it receives power all of a
sudden, it might take it as a signal to restart. One question would be,
does it do a clean restart where it says that it's shutting down and
goes through a process of properly shutting down the machine (i.e.
you'll see a lot of closing messages on screen while it goes down), or
does it just restart uncleanly (sudden and the only thing you see is the
BIOS start screen followed by the "Starting Windows" message)? My
assumption is that it's the unclean version.

One thing you might want to do is go into the Power settings and see
what you got the power buttons behaviour is set to. Then check what the
USB power settings are set to, and play around with those.

If there is nothing obvious in there, then I'd suggest changing the KVM
switch, is it still returnable? I've used an old Logitech KVM for years
which is reliable. I don't know which brand you have. Is it a USB KVM or
a PS/2 KVM?

Yousuf Khan

On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:14:32 -0400, Yousuf Khan
<> wrote:

>On 13/03/2012 11:45 AM, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
>> On Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:26:33 -0400, Yousuf Khan
>> <> wrote:
>>
>>> On 13/03/2012 1:27 AM, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
>>>> Occasionally, my Windows 7 Professional box goes seriously
>>>> snoozy.
>>>>
>>>> It will, when I switch to it with my KDM, restart. It does not
>>>> seem to matter how long it has been inactive. I did not use it over
>>>> the weekend and when I switched over to it this morning, I was
>>>> prompted for my password to get back to work. Just now, I wanted to
>>>> do some work on it, and it restarted. Sometimes, after this, it is
>>>> back where it was, and sometimes, there are no programs open. (I
>>>> almost always have a DOS window open, and I did this time.)
>>>
>>> Did you mean KVM, i.e. keyboard-video-mouse?
>>
>> Yes. For some reason, I keep munging that acronym.
>>
>>>> I did not enter anything other than the switchover code ([Scroll
>>>> Lock][Scroll Lock]2).
>>>>
>>>> Any ideas what this could be and what I can do about it?
>>>
>>> Sounds like a cheap KVM. The KVM should keep power flowing to the input
>>> ports, but if the computer doesn't see power flowing in from the
>>> devices, then might decide to restart.
>>
>> The odd thing is that the restart always happens when I switch
>> over, not before.
>
>That would make sense, if it's not receiving power while you're switched
>away from it, and then when you switch to it, it receives power all of a
>sudden, it might take it as a signal to restart. One question would be,

The problem computer is sitting idle with power. It is in some
limited mode. The power button light flashes, whatever that means.

>does it do a clean restart where it says that it's shutting down and
>goes through a process of properly shutting down the machine (i.e.
>you'll see a lot of closing messages on screen while it goes down), or

Occasionally, but not usually in this case.

>does it just restart uncleanly (sudden and the only thing you see is the
>BIOS start screen followed by the "Starting Windows" message)? My
>assumption is that it's the unclean version.

It usually is. Sometimes, I see the Windows did shut down
properly screen.

>One thing you might want to do is go into the Power settings and see
>what you got the power buttons behaviour is set to. Then check what the
>USB power settings are set to, and play around with those.

OK. What values should they be set to?

>If there is nothing obvious in there, then I'd suggest changing the KVM
>switch, is it still returnable? I've used an old Logitech KVM for years
>which is reliable. I don't know which brand you have. Is it a USB KVM or
>a PS/2 KVM?

No, it is not returnable at this point. It is a D-Link KVM-121.
USB vs. PS/2? You are referring to the connectors, right? The
keyboard and mouse connectors are PS/2. The video connector is
DB-9(?). The speaker connector is a stereo jack.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

On 15/03/2012 11:21 AM, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Mar 2012 08:14:32 -0400, Yousuf Khan
> <> wrote:
>
>> On 13/03/2012 11:45 AM, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
>>> The odd thing is that the restart always happens when I switch
>>> over, not before.
>>
>> That would make sense, if it's not receiving power while you're switched
>> away from it, and then when you switch to it, it receives power all of a
>> sudden, it might take it as a signal to restart. One question would be,
>
> The problem computer is sitting idle with power. It is in some
> limited mode. The power button light flashes, whatever that means.

That usually means that it's in sleep or hibernate mode (usually sleep).

Have you got the computer power settings set to put it to sleep after a
period of time?

>> One thing you might want to do is go into the Power settings and see
>> what you got the power buttons behaviour is set to. Then check what the
>> USB power settings are set to, and play around with those.
>
> OK. What values should they be set to?

Just record down what the current values are, and then put the settings
to something else and see if the problem still occurs again. If the
settings change makes no difference, then just reset them back to where
you started at and/or try any other settings options.

>> If there is nothing obvious in there, then I'd suggest changing the KVM
>> switch, is it still returnable? I've used an old Logitech KVM for years
>> which is reliable. I don't know which brand you have. Is it a USB KVM or
>> a PS/2 KVM?
>
> No, it is not returnable at this point. It is a D-Link KVM-121.
> USB vs. PS/2? You are referring to the connectors, right? The
> keyboard and mouse connectors are PS/2. The video connector is
> DB-9(?). The speaker connector is a stereo jack.

Well, okay the specs won't really tell you whether the KVM is still good
or not. Another thing you should check is what the other computer that's
current connected to the KVM is set to, and compare it with the problem
computer.

Yousuf Khan