XP Home install in Reboot loop

[Sla#s]

XP Home install in Reboot loop
I am getting to 3/4 of "Finishing Installation" when the machine keeps
rebooting.

History
The machine started to sometimes randomly, perhaps once a day, reboot with a
command i.e. clicking on an icon or opening a file.
I then noticed that the picture had reduced in size and could not be reset
to fill the screen. (The Intel option tab was now missing from

Properties>Settings> Advanced)

I found that Graphics Driver (Intel 82845) was highlighted (!) in System
Hardware.
".Unable to initialize device".
I Uninstalled then let it reinstall the driver. - No change - still (!) in
System Hardware.
Got updated driver (win2k_xp14103) - same result.

I then discovered "System restore" was un-ticked!

I tried "Repair" from Windows XP CD.
It kept rebooting during the process and never finished - I then found I was
unable to start windows at all.
I then tried a complete reinstallation of XP.
It kept rebooting during the process but after many tries I got it to about
¾ of the last process "Finishing Installation" when the machine again
reboots and I can't get beyond this point no matter how many times I try. At
each restart it then gets as far as the memory check then reboots and cycles
through that continually. I have to manually switch off and re-power up to
get beyond that but it then returns to the Install Menu at the 39 minutes to
go point of the install.

The machine was up to date with XP updates and AVG.


(Tranquil T2 Media PC with:
Pentium M 1.73 /533
1GB ram
Samsung Spinpoint 250GB HDD
PCI - ATI 9250/128 DVI VGA SVideo
54MB WiFi )

Slatts

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

I would guess it was broken hardware. I would try a 'bare bones' install
with only the basic hardware.

 

[John John]

Does it complete the memory check? Maybe you should run a memory test
and make sure that the RAM is not defective.

John

 

[Sla#s]

I would guess it was broken hardware. I would try a 'bare bones'
install with only the basic hardware.

Do you mean pull out all the cards?
(Exept the video one as I'd see nothing)

Slatts

 

[Sla#s]

Does it complete the memory check? Maybe you should run a memory test
and make sure that the RAM is not defective.

It completes it only if switched off then re-powered up.
If left to it's own devices it just keep getting to memory check and
rebooting.

Slatts

 

[Mark L. Ferguson]

Shooting a corpse only wastes a bullet. :/

 

[John John]

It completes it only if switched off then re-powered up.
If left to it's own devices it just keep getting to memory check and
rebooting.

Hmmm. I would start with a RAM test to make sure that the RAM isn't
defective.

John

 

[Sla#s]

I gave up in the end - reformated and did a clean install.

Slatts