PC won't boot into XP or safe...just restarts over and over

[fnugen]

Okay, wasn't sure where to post this so though, start here. My daughters PC was brought over for me to look at.....it will post (one beep) then the XP splash screen comes up...poof...restarts after MAYBE 2secs. Does this with safe mode as well....also when I choose from last known config. Without digging around inside yet, does this sound like a Mobo battery going?? I've never had one go dead on me, so I am unaware of symptoms. I can poke around in setup just fine...no restarts...but whenever I try to get into ANY windows of any type, it automatically does the 2 secs load then restarts. This will repeat itself if I let it be and watch. I can't get in to do a virus check...so not sure that would be it right now either. Any ideas are welcome...thanks

 

[iss]

A dead cmos batter wont cause that problem. it sounds like a hardware problem, Ram, PSU going bad or even the mobo. first I would try different ram. list the hardware that is on the system and maybe we can help you narrow it down.

 

[AMDIsTheBest010]

sound like PSU is failing, same thing happend to me when my PSU went bad;

take it to the nearest GeekSquad store, they will charge you, but they'll also get you up and running, usually within a few days; took mine in on a monday, had it back on wed.

 

[wurms]

I have ran into this many times at work. Get into recovery console and run a...

chkdsk /r

...then reboot (this fixed it once for me). If it still occurs you need to run

fixmbr

fixboot

That has solved about 8 outta 10 drives I have encountered with this problem. All the same model computer from gateway.

One computer the steps above did not work on, I replaced the RAM, HARDDRIVE, VIDEO CARD, and even imaged the drive from an exact same model computer that runs fine. Even swapped drives and the problem did NOT follow the drive. It has to be a motherboard problem.

Also, this model Gateway, we have had nearly 20 motherboards completely die on us in the last year (I work for a school district) so this gateway model is known for crappy motherboards. Model is an E3600. Forget what model the mobo is.

 

[fnugen]

Okay, may be a stupid question...but is recovery console the same as the repair option if I boot of the CD?? I've never used either, but I do now how to get to repair console through the CD boot option. If it is not the same, can you tell me how to get into the recovery console?? thanks

 

[wurms]

yeah, recovery console is the same thing. Boot from your XP cd and then then press R for repair. You'll get to the command prompt/recovery console and then you can enter the commands. You can type HELP to get a list of all commands.