Windows XP - Keeps Rebooting

[AndyK]

Hi

I have windows XP on my home computer. There is no
operating system disk that came with the computer. I had
to do a hard shutdown - because my computer hung up. Now -
when i try to reboot my computer - it keeps rebooting. I
cannot start it in safe mode or normal mode - it just
reboots.

How do I resolve this?

 

[Scott M.]

You may have the MSBLASTER virus. Check out:

http://search.microsoft.com/search/results.aspx?st=b&na=88&View=en-us&qu=blaster

 

[Mark]

Some poorly designed PCI cards can do
this if "Remote Wakeup" is enabled in
your BIOS, if the D3Cold is not
implemented correctly by the PCI card
designer. It's also possible that a
unique USB device can do it, but less
likely. Have you added any new
hardware recently?

 

[Guest]

The problem is - I cannot even get WINDOWS XP started. it
keeps rebooting during the booting process only.

 

[Mark]

Oh, that's pretty bad. Sounds like a
corrupted disk. Sometimes a device is
drawing too much current and power
safety mechanism kicks in.

 

[Malke]

Oh, that's pretty bad. Sounds like a
corrupted disk. Sometimes a device is
drawing too much current and power
safety mechanism kicks in.

If your computer won't get through the POST, then you have a hardware
problem. It could be overheating, bad processor, bad RAM, bad drive,
bad pci card...etc. Your power supply could be going, or something is
shorting out. There's just no way to know from your post. Here are some
generic troubleshooting steps for hardware:

1) open the computer and run it open, cleaning out all dust bunnies and
observing all fans (overheating will cause system freezing); 2) test
the RAM - I like Memtest86 from www.memtest86.com - let the test run
for an extended (like overnight) period of time - unless errors are
seen immediately; 3) test the hard drive with a diagnostic utility from
the mftr.; 4) the power supply may be going bad or be inadequate for
the devices you have in the system; 5) test the motherboard with
something like TuffTest from www.tufftest.com. 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).

Good luck,

Malke