Computer keeps resetting without booting up

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gactimus
  • Start date Start date
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Gactimus

I have a problem with my computer. My computer has been working fine
until this morning. I turned on the computer and everything was fine
until when I hear the beep right before it starts to load Windows XP.
Right after the beep and before Windows loads the computer resets and
starts the process all over again. It will keep repeating this process
until I turn the computer off.

Can anyone diagnose this for me? I'm guessing it's a bad power supply
but I figured I would get a second, more informed, opinion.
 
I am repairing one with the same problem.

-----Original Message-----
From: (e-mail address removed) (Gactimus) [mailto:[email protected]]
Posted At: Wednesday, December 01, 2004 8:30 AM
Posted To: alt.comp.hardware
Conversation: Computer keeps resetting without booting up
Subject: Computer keeps resetting without booting up


I have a problem with my computer. My computer has been working fine
until this morning. I turned on the computer and everything was fine
until when I hear the beep right before it starts to load Windows XP.
Right after the beep and before Windows loads the computer resets and
starts the process all over again. It will keep repeating this process
until I turn the computer off.

Can anyone diagnose this for me? I'm guessing it's a bad power supply
but I figured I would get a second, more informed, opinion.
 
Maybe a Virus, there was one that did what you describe a few months ago.
Do you have a anti-virus program you can boot with?

If not that, maybe a device problem--try booting in safe mode.

Clark
 
No, Windows doesn't even start to load period. Right after the computer
beeps and reads the A drive it restarts and continues the endless
cycle. I can't start in Safe Mode either. It resets before I can do
that. I have an Anti-Virus program that my university provides for all
students installed on the computer and it was update within the week so
I don't think a virus is the problem.
 
Might be a memory problem. Reseat the memory card(s).
If there are 2 try with just one if reseating doesn't help.
 
Pen said:
Might be a memory problem. Reseat the memory card(s).
If there are 2 try with just one if reseating doesn't help.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try that when I get home. I have two 512MB RAM sticks.
Should I just take one out and see if the computer starts up and then
try the other one if that doesn't work?

If it's not a memory problem do you think it could be a power supply
problem?
 
Gactimus said:
I have a problem with my computer. My computer has been working fine
until this morning. I turned on the computer and everything was fine
until when I hear the beep right before it starts to load Windows XP.
Right after the beep and before Windows loads the computer resets and
starts the process all over again. It will keep repeating this process
until I turn the computer off.

Can anyone diagnose this for me? I'm guessing it's a bad power supply
but I figured I would get a second, more informed, opinion.
Click to expand...


What happens when you insert a bootable floppy and use that to load an
operating system?

Do you see the videos BIOS output showing it loaded, followed by the CPU
and memory stats? Do you get the ESCD (the table of devices and IRQs)
and the end of the POST?

What is the boot device order in BIOS? Is it set to A:, CD, and then
the hard drive? If so, can you boot using a bootable CD, like the
Windows XP install CD?

If it boots with other devices, like the floppy and CD, then the problem
might be a corrupted bootstrap program (first 460 bytes) of the MBR
(first sector of first physical drive discovered by the BIOS). You
could try to boot using the Windows XP CD, go into Recovery Console
mode, and run FIXMBR. However, if the problem is that you got infected
with a boot virus that usurped the MBR's bootstrap area, it might also
have moved the partition table and changed their structure so a standard
bootstrap program won't be able to read them. If there is critical data
on your drive, be sure to use some drive imaging software to save the
content of your partitions before replacing the MBR bootstrap program.
Some utilities, like PartitionMagic can also check if the partitions and
the MBR partition table look okay.

Otherwise, disconnect all devices from the power supply except the
motherboard, RAM, CPU, video card, and one (and only one) hard drive to
see if it comes up. If so, you probably need a new power supply or one
that pumps out more juice. Obviously if you go poking around inside
then you need to use adequate anti-static measures to make sure you
don't zap something.
 
Yes that's how to handle the memory. It's possible to be the power
supply, but a voltage check should show an out of spec line.
Does the reboot correlate with hard disk spinup?
 
Clark said:
Maybe a Virus, there was one that did what you describe a few
months ago. Do you have a anti-virus program you can boot with?

If not that, maybe a device problem--try booting in safe mode.
Click to expand...

OK, I reseated the RAM. No such luck. I managed to get into safe mode
but no matter what option I choose the computer resets right after I
choose it.
 
I have a problem with my computer. My computer has been working fine
until this morning. I turned on the computer and everything was fine
until when I hear the beep right before it starts to load Windows XP.
Right after the beep and before Windows loads the computer resets and
starts the process all over again. It will keep repeating this process
until I turn the computer off.
Click to expand...


Is the beeps sound unnormal? Like having more than one beep?
Try to reseat memory card, PCI card and check out those drives
connections.
Can anyone diagnose this for me? I'm guessing it's a bad power supply
but I figured I would get a second, more informed, opinion.
Click to expand...

It might be PSU problem. If you having a spare, you can test it out.
 
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