Constant Rebooting

[oldbear]

Hi Gang,

I'm not currently using Windows XP so I'm not very familiar with it...I have a friend who's running a desktop system with XP. She went to turn it on last night and it reboots constantly at the same place. Her hubby and son were loading games the day before but didn't mention any problems. Any ideas

 

[green250]

sound like a driver problem, does it crash on boot or when they load sw and it gets to a certain spot?

 

[RiceBoy]

You could try loading in Safe Mode and run Norton WinDoctor if you have it, or check or drivers....as previously suggested.

*****
RiceBoy
Rice Boyz Society
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ICQ:52524470 (RiceBoy)

 

[oldbear]

I'l lask for more details tomorrow when my friend is back at work. The booting in safe mode is an excellent suggestion ...will see if driver/software or a hardware problem ...maybe famous last words..

Thanks,

oldbear

 

[oldbear]

Riceboy,

Was able to contact my friend's husband at home. He rebooted and hit F8 key...got option to boot and safe mode. He tried safe mode, it rebooted to the gateway screen again and to a single dash in the upper left hand corner again. The dash of course just sits there and blinks. So, it won't load into safe mode. Virus? Hardware with harddrive (My guess), motherboard problem? Any ideas?

oldbear

 

[RiceBoy]

my next suggestion would be to remove the HD and try booting it up with another motherboard, namely another computer. if you can boot the HD using another computer, then fix whatever is needed (probably using Norton WinDoctor & WinDisk). It should fix the registry problem and then you can use the original computer to boot the HD, again.

*****
RiceBoy
Rice Boyz Society
RiceBoyRicer@hotmail.com
(613) 355-7163
ICQ:52524470 (RiceBoy)

 

[wolluf]

Booting the HD in another machine could be a bad idea (working systems often won't boot if HD moved to another motherboard, because of driver issues, and if they DO boot, XP will load drivers for the new motherboard - so you'll have the same problem returning it to its own machine). You could load drive as slave in another machine (if available) - and for example run virus check and chkdsk.

If no other machine available - have you tried 'last known good config' (another option from F8 menu)? Or could do a repair reinstall -

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

(leaves data, apps, settings intact, loses windows updates).

 

[mainegeek]

I wouldn't put it in another machine as pri master because this would screw up the wpa file and require re-activation with microsoft. Try F8 again and select "last know configuration that worked" option. If that doesn't work, then do as wolluf said and put it in another machine as a slave. While in another machine, the first thing I would check is the drive properties to insure that the file table is still intact. Also if you put it in another machine, make sure your anti-virus is up-to-date.

 

[RiceBoy]

Even if you do use another computer to boot your primary HD, and even if your computer attempts to install new drivers because it detects new hardware, it's quite simple to get around it....you can remove any known hardware to minimize the OS detecting new drivers...or it if it does try to unknown drivers, simply cancel them. Under Device Manager, you'll find yellow caution signs...simply delete them. Or what you do is run WinDisk & WinDoctor again once the HD is back in its original computer and that will clear the registry of any unnecessary drivers. I've done this procedure hundreds of times when HD's hang on one computer, and it's work every single time. But do what you think will work and what you're comfortable with.

*****
RiceBoy
Rice Boyz Society
RiceBoyRicer@hotmail.com
(613) 355-7163
ICQ:52524470 (RiceBoy)

 

[oldbear]

Thanks Gentlemen! My friend brought her computer in today so I'll look at it this weekend. I'll try your ideas and let you know what I find.

oldbear

 

[wolluf]

Riceboy - you've been lucky then! Sometimes drive just won't boot at all (and Oldbear hasn't got the luxury of being able to remove devices before moving it - it won't boot in its own machine currently).

 

[braddds]

Has enyone considered that this might be a virus aka "blaster" As this is the same problem I found on my friends pc!?

Cheers

 

[oldbear]

braddds,

I have seen blaster on my brother-in-law's work computer. On it, rebooting occurred after going into windows although the time between reboots varied greatly. This time, the computer is showing the bios Gateway Computer screen right before it begins the booting process and then goes to the little dash in the top left hand corner...in either normal or safe mode. It may still be a hard drive virus but in my experience not the blaster. Blaster at least sent you a window saying it was shutting down.

oldbear