my pc just won't switch off - instead keeps restarting!

[vexred]

hey everyone

I'm on XP service pack 2 OS btw
i'm very new to computers and i have a weird problem so i wa
wondering if anyone could help me out. in short my pc just won'
switch off, instead it just keeps on restarting... anyways no matte
what i do, i select start then then shut down, the pc restarts,
press my power button, same thing. used to be totally ok, then i
became that i had to restart ONCE then the pc would switch off afte
one round of rebooting. now it seems even after like 10 reboots i
still won't turn off!

so basically i have to use the power supply box switch (behind the CP
casing) to turn my pc off (which others tell me is very harmful)... i
my problem software or hardware related??? HELP! thx.

 

[Go Tyler]

What MOBO do you have? Have you played around in BIOS recently? Have you
taken the front panel of your computer off recently and perhaps damaged the
power or reset switch? What USB devices do you have plugged in? Unplug
everything that is connected externally and try to power down.