my computer repeatedly restarts when i try to reboot

[S]

Hi, I am having a major issue with my computer.
As usual, I left my computer on overnight in order to
listen to music ... I wake up in the morning however and
my computer would not exit out of the "power-off monitor"
mode (you know, where you set your monitor to turn off if
it isn't being used for a few minutes).
So, I decide to simply restart ... then I realise
that "hey, my computer keeps on RE-starting" over and over
and OVER again, before I even see the windows splash
screen. "Weird" I say, and simply turn it off and try
again ... ofcourse ... it happens again.
So, now I'm pretty much screwed as I know enough to USE a
computer but I've never heard of anything like this. I
would be suspiscious had I installed anything new, but
like I said ... as usual I simply went to bed playing
music ...
So, Please, if you know how to deal with this - let me
know.
S.

 

[Rich Barry]

On restarting hold F8 and from the Menu select Safe Mode. If it boots up
Ok restart and see if it boots up normally.
If not follow the same procedure and select Last known good
configuration.

 

[S.]

Ok. So, i tried doing the F8 thing. Nothing happens, but
it does say diskboot failure and asks for me to insert the
system disk which i assume is the xp cd. DOes this F8
thing work with XP though?
S.

 

[Rich Barry]

Go into the Bios and set your Cdrom as first boot device. Then use your
WinXP Cd to boot. If your hard drive is Ok
then try a Repair Install.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm