XP Upgrade and machine rebooting

  • Thread starter Thread starter GBH
  • Start date Start date
G

GBH

Recently upgraded a machine from 98SE to XP Home. Worked ok for a week or so
but now the machine will reboot several times when switched on, finally
starting XP after about 5 attempts. It could possibly be a hardware problem
but any idea where I should look in XP's boot up or logging to trace this
problem? There is no blue screen involved in this process, just the bios
load, memory count, blank screen then a reboot.

TIA

Geoff
 
GBH said:
Recently upgraded a machine from 98SE to XP Home. Worked ok for a week
or so but now the machine will reboot several times when switched on,
finally starting XP after about 5 attempts. It could possibly be a
hardware problem but any idea where I should look in XP's boot up or
logging to trace this problem? There is no blue screen involved in
this process, just the bios load, memory count, blank screen then a
reboot.
Click to expand...

As you surmised, this is a hardware problem. There won't be any
information in Event Viewer that will be helpful since the failure
happens before the operating system loads. You have an old system and
many of its hardware components are probably at or near the end of
their lives. Here are general hardware troubleshooting steps. I would
start by swapping out the power supply as the symptoms you describe
usually come from a failing psu (although other stuff could certainly
be going, too).

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 hour or two - 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. Download
the file and make a bootable floppy or cd 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 professional
computer repair shop (not your local equivalent of BigStoreUSA).

Malke
 
Malke said:
As you surmised, this is a hardware problem. There won't be any
information in Event Viewer that will be helpful since the failure
happens before the operating system loads. You have an old system and
many of its hardware components are probably at or near the end of
their lives. Here are general hardware troubleshooting steps. I would
start by swapping out the power supply as the symptoms you describe
usually come from a failing psu (although other stuff could certainly
be going, too).

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 hour or two - 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. Download
the file and make a bootable floppy or cd 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 professional
computer repair shop (not your local equivalent of BigStoreUSA).

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
Click to expand...

Malke - many thanks for the comprehensive reply. From what you say the PSU
seems the likely culprit so I'll check that out first. I didnt think XP was
at fault and, as you stated, this is a quite old machine P2 with 256mb ram.
I'll probably recommend the user thinks hard about a new machine!
Geoff
 
After the 5 or so attempts, does it *stay* booted and run OK?

Most times I've seen this type of spontaneous rebooting, it's related to CPU
overheating. Then again, if this is the case, it never runs successfully
for very long. It's usually a poorly seated heatsink/fan or poor case
circulation.

Jim
 
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