windows xp pc reboots

[buzzby]

my windows xp pro keeps rebooting and i can not get it to
boot without rebooting i have tried safe mode, etc but
cannot get to any mode as it reboots.

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Buzzby.

I can think of at least 3 possibilities:

1. Hardware problem - loose cable, bad RAM, bad power supply, etc. This is
not a Windows error, because Windows has not even been loaded yet.

2. Virus. Maybe the BLASTER or SASSER worm? Do you see any messages, such
as RPC Authority error? If so, scan a week's worth of messages here and you
will see the question asked and answered many times, including instructions
for how to get rid of it - and protect yourself from future such malware.

3. Software problem - maybe a bad driver. If you can get WinXP booted, go
to System Properties | Advanced | Startup and Recovery Settings and UNcheck
the box under System failure that says Automatically restart. Next time,
instead of rebooting, it should halt with a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) full
of codes that can be interpreted to tell what the actual problem is.

At what stage does the reboot occur? Before or after you see the WinXP
logo? If you tell us, step by step, just what screens you see before the
reboot, we may be able to pin down which of those 3 causes might apply. If
you tell us the make and model of your computer, some of us may know what
sequence of screens you should be seeing.

RC

 

[James Baumgardner]

If you don't see any errors, I'd check the RAM first.

 

[Guest]

If you are stuck in a reboot loop have you tried putting the XP CD in the drive and then booting. The disk will load any minimal drivers and necessary OS files to get you up and running. There really isn't a whole lot we can do with the info you have given and without being able to get into the OS you can't even look at log file to find the problem. How did this happen? If you can boot with the disk then you can get into the recovery console and type fixmbr which will write you a new master boot record. If you were running a chkdsk or such and this occured and you are in fact going into a scanning loop then you can type in chkdsk /f and that should check the disk for errors and clear the flag that tells the system there is an error. Again I'm just guessing. Post back with what exactly you were doing that caused this loop and give us any error screens or any pop-up window or the exact spot at which it reboots. {:~)

 

[Ron Martell]

my windows xp pro keeps rebooting and i can not get it to
boot without rebooting i have tried safe mode, etc but
cannot get to any mode as it reboots.

If Windows XP will not complete the bootup in any mode then your
options are limited.

Try doing a Repair Install as per the instructions at
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

The Repair Install will preserve all of your installed applications,
configuration settings, and user data files. However all repeat all
Windows updates will have to be reinstalled.

WARNING:::::::
If you do this make sure you do not connect to the Internet until you
have a firewall in place and functioning. Otherwise you will be
likely to be infected by a virus (Sasser, Blaster, etc.)

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."