Mystery Problem - Won't Boot

  • Thread starter Thread starter Doyle Lonnigan
  • Start date Start date
D

Doyle Lonnigan

So, my last computer lost my confidence when it no longer
started up and instead rebooted itself continuously, never
showing the desktop. I invested in a brand new machine
which ran like a top for about six months when suddenly -
Bam! It did the same thing and has become a pricey paper
weight.

The symptoms: The computer starts normally but just when
the desktop should appear the screen flashes blue for a
split second (too fast to read the text) and it starts
over again. Initially I could start in safe mode but now
it won't even do that. I get the option to start in safe
mode (when I hit F8) but when I choose to do so it hangs
up after listing a string of command lines that are
incomprehensible to me.

My computer go-to guy thinks it has something to do with
the HPT 374 drivers being corrupted, alluding to "ultra
DMA drivers". Yada yada yada. He connected to HD to
another point on the motherboard and re-installed the
chipset for the original connection point (sorry I don't
know better tech lingo). After connecting at the original
point with the new chipset installed, the machine started
up but was sluggish with long periods of inactivity
between clicks. I backed up my stuff and restarted only
to have the original symptoms reapper. No desktop.
Constant rebooting.

I can reformat and start over but since I can't tell
what's causing the problem I can't defend against it
happening again. Since I've been struck down by the same
problem twice within the last year and on two different
machines, I have to believe that something in my set up or
working method is causing the problem. Either that, or
the problem is inherant in Windows XP. I've seen others
post the same symptoms to this forum, but no one seems to
get a definitive cure.

If anyone can offer any insight into this I'd greatly
appreciate it. I'm at the end of my rope. Thanks in
advance!!
 
I just recently got over the exact same problem. It was
the strangest thing because right before it happened, my
puter was running excellently. After performing a format,
it wouldn't let me reinstall windows. It would get to a
point during the initial phase of copying files and just
quit. I knew that this was not due to a dirty or
scratched disk because I tried multiple copies, all with
the same results. Anyway, long story short, I took out
all three sticks of my memory and tried them one at a
time. The first gave me the same results, but the second
was fine!

So, before formatting, consider memory or other hardware
malfunction.
 
Doyle Lonnigan said:
So, my last computer lost my confidence when it no longer
started up and instead rebooted itself continuously, never
showing the desktop. I invested in a brand new machine
which ran like a top for about six months when suddenly -
Bam! It did the same thing and has become a pricey paper
weight.

The symptoms: The computer starts normally but just when
the desktop should appear the screen flashes blue for a
split second (too fast to read the text) and it starts
over again. Initially I could start in safe mode but now
it won't even do that. I get the option to start in safe
mode (when I hit F8) but when I choose to do so it hangs
up after listing a string of command lines that are
incomprehensible to me.

My computer go-to guy thinks it has something to do with
the HPT 374 drivers being corrupted, alluding to "ultra
DMA drivers". Yada yada yada. He connected to HD to
another point on the motherboard and re-installed the
chipset for the original connection point (sorry I don't
know better tech lingo). After connecting at the original
point with the new chipset installed, the machine started
up but was sluggish with long periods of inactivity
between clicks. I backed up my stuff and restarted only
to have the original symptoms reapper. No desktop.
Constant rebooting.

I can reformat and start over but since I can't tell
what's causing the problem I can't defend against it
happening again. Since I've been struck down by the same
problem twice within the last year and on two different
machines, I have to believe that something in my set up or
working method is causing the problem. Either that, or
the problem is inherant in Windows XP. I've seen others
post the same symptoms to this forum, but no one seems to
get a definitive cure.

If anyone can offer any insight into this I'd greatly
appreciate it. I'm at the end of my rope. Thanks in
advance!!
Click to expand...

You might want to find another "go-to" guy.

First thing you need to do is get rid of the rebooting so you can see the
error message, at which point you can track down the hardware or software
that's causing the error.

From System Properties, go to the Advanced tab, then the startup and
recovery button. Click Settings and uncheck "automatically restart."

Once you've got the error message, you can look it up and you're a lot
closer to solving the problem.
 
Back
Top