XP Restarts Just Before Desktop

[Orson]

Hi,

All of a sudden my XP PC has decided to spontaneously restart just as
it reaches the Desktop!

It does the same in Safe Mode and will not respond to restoring to
Last Known Good Settings.

However, I can read the HDD on another pc and have scanned for viruses
(of which there are none).

Anyone any ideas on where I go from here, apart from re-formatting and
reloading.

TIA

 

[Michael]

Hi,

All of a sudden my XP PC has decided to spontaneously restart just as
it reaches the Desktop!

It does the same in Safe Mode and will not respond to restoring to
Last Known Good Settings.

However, I can read the HDD on another pc and have scanned for viruses
(of which there are none).

Anyone any ideas on where I go from here, apart from re-formatting and
reloading.

TIA

I have that problem from time to time. If you do a safe mode start you will
probably notice that it hands at the same file (mup.sys) if I recall
correctly. I have noticed that if I power off completely and leave it a
minute or 2 all is OK.
Mike

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

When the pc is booting up (or when you restart/reboot), just after the BIOS has displayed info on (black) screen, start tapping & retapping the F8 Function key so that you get bootup choices. Review that list carefully.
There is an option to remove restart on error ( or some similar wording). Select that.
Then see if you can manage to login to either Safe Mode or normal mode.
If you manage to get into Safe mode, use MSCONFIG to strip down all startup programs down to the bare bones.
Remove any fancy wallpapers, screensavers, special effects & add-ons.

See if the pc will show a STOP error code & text.

 

[Maurice N ~ MVP]

Michael,
You have a problem which needs to be resolved. The hang is noticeable at mup.sys, however that is not likely the issue, because this is one of the last drivers to be loaded. The fault may well be with the next driver after that, or the process that follows it.

Press F8 Function key at pc bootup, so you can choose Safe Mode. Be PERSISTENT
and watchful. Press F8 as soon as pc displays startup in text, and well before
any color or GUI display from Windows loadup. Keep pressing F8 and if needed,
repeat CTRL+ALT+DEL to reboot pc.

#1. In SAFE mode of XP (if you can), Login as administrator or with
admin-rights (if you can).
Go into your Control Panel | Performance and Maintenance | System icon |
System properties | "Advanced" TAB and
in the "Startup and Recovery" section....click the "settings" button.
"Un-check" the "automatically restart" line.

Do the apply change, make clean exit.


#2. If you can troubleshoot and do selective bootup, use F8 startup to choose
"start with boot logging" and restart pc.
Then later on you can review "NTBTLOG.TXT" file -- in your window-directory
folder --( \WINNT or \WINDOWS).

 

[ianw1974]

Hi,

All of a sudden my XP PC has decided to spontaneously restart
just as
it reaches the Desktop!

It does the same in Safe Mode and will not respond to
restoring to
Last Known Good Settings.

However, I can read the HDD on another pc and have scanned for
viruses
(of which there are none).

Anyone any ideas on where I go from here, apart from
re-formatting and
reloading.

TIA

The system is getting a critical error, and rebooting itself because
the auto-reboot option is enabled.

Try to access the system remotely, and check the event log to see if
you can see what error is being logged.