perma-boot

[Guest]

Hopefully someone could help me out here. Lately when I start my computer
from a cold boot, it will often shut down and restart several times before
finally staying on. Quite often it'll re-start even before the windows logo
screen pops on. Eventually, scan disk runs (and it even has shut down and
restarted during that process) and then it's up and running. A long list of
error messages appears for a while after scan disck, but I can't find any
error messages in event viewer or dr. watson. It's as though nothing out of
the ordinary happened. Once the computer has been on for a while, if I have
to restart/reboot, it works fine. I tried "last known good configuration,"
but all that did was force me to re-install a bunch of windows updates. Any
ideas would be appreciated!

 

[Malke]

Hopefully someone could help me out here. Lately when I start my
computer from a cold boot, it will often shut down and restart several
times before
finally staying on. Quite often it'll re-start even before the
windows logo
screen pops on. Eventually, scan disk runs (and it even has shut down
and
restarted during that process) and then it's up and running. A long
list of error messages appears for a while after scan disck, but I
can't find any
error messages in event viewer or dr. watson. It's as though nothing
out of
the ordinary happened. Once the computer has been on for a while, if
I have
to restart/reboot, it works fine. I tried "last known good
configuration,"
but all that did was force me to re-install a bunch of windows
updates. Any ideas would be appreciated!

From your description of the problem, you have failing hardware. This is
not a software (Windows) issue. Here are general hardware
troubleshooting steps:

1) Open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing). Obviously
you can't do this with a laptop, but you can hear if the fan is running
and feel if the laptop is getting too hot.

2) Test the RAM - I like Memtest86+ from www.memtest.org. Obviously, you
have to get the program from a working machine. You will either
download the precompiled Windows binary to make a bootable floppy or
the .iso to make a bootable cd. If you want to use the latter, you'll
need to have third-party burning software on the machine where you
download the file - XP's built-in burning capability won't do the job.
In either case, boot with the media you made. The test will run
immediately. Let the test run for an extended period of time - unless
errors are seen immediately. If you get any errors, replace the RAM.

3) Test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility from the mftr. Usually
you will download the file and make a bootable floppy with it. Boot
with the media and do a thorough test. If the drive has physical
errors, replace it.

4) The power supply may be going bad or be inadequate for the devices
you have in the system. The adequacy issue doesn't really apply to a
laptop, although of course the power
supply can be faulty.

5) Test the motherboard with something like TuffTest from
www.tufftest.com. Sometimes this is useful, and sometimes it isn't.

Testing hardware failures often involves swapping out suspected parts
with known-good parts. If you can't do the testing yourself and/or are
uncomfortable opening your computer, take the machine to a good local
computer repair shop (not a CompUSA or Best Buy type of store).

Malke

 

[frogspawn]

And, having just gone through this same hardware hassle:

Open up your (desktop) machine while it is off, and every time you start
it(or experience reboot), observe whether the CPU fan and any Motherboard
fan you might have are working from the moment your machine is started. It
could be that a fan is sticking some of the time, and the repeat boots are
the result of overheating of the CPU triggering shutdown and an automatic
reboot. This is a serious problem that can damage your CPU. I know from
experience.