Computer keeps rebooting.

[Alk]

I just blew the cobwebs off of one of my old PCs to set up in my son's room. I got it all hooked up and it booted up fine and everything but it seemed like SP2 was giving it a few fits so I decided I would try to remove it and reinstall. I got it removed then it asked me to restart so I did. That's when the trouble started. Now it will get to the Windows screen and sit there for a few seconds before it reboots. It will continue this cycle until I kill the power. I've tried a different hard drive which last I knew was working in another PC and I've tried booting from my XP disc. It spins the CD up but does the same thing. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Windows XP Pro
Pentium 4 1.6 GHz
384 MB RAM

 

[Fragrant Coit]

Could be dodgy RAM, try running Memtest {you boot from the Floppy or CD you create & it runs in DOS so it doesn't matter if it has a working O/S - or a Hard drive for that matter}

http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

 

[Alk]

Could be dodgy RAM, try running Memtest {you boot from the Floppy or CD you create & it runs in DOS so it doesn't matter if it has a working O/S - or a Hard drive for that matter}

Thanks! I'll give that a try when I get home but the PC was working with this RAM in it before I removed SP2.

 

[Alk]

Okay I tried both the .bin and the .iso and I'm getting absolutely nothing. It just goes through the same boot sequence and reboots at the Windows screen. I went into the bios and set it to boot from the CD rom first too.

 

[Alk]

Any other ideas?

 

[mickzer]

Did you burn the .iso as an image?

http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm

mickzer.

 

[Alk]

Did you burn the .iso as an image?

http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm

mickzer.

No, I guess I didn't. I'll give that a shot tonight. Thanks.

 

[Alk]

Wow, it would appear that I royally screwed something up. I used ISO Recorder v3 and burned that field to a CD. The other computer still isn't reading it.

 

[Patrickja2007]

I had something like this in the past. What I did was go to the CMOS area and remove the battery and replace it 'cause the jumper couldn't do it for me when I tried to. After putting back the casing, I booted the sytem with a window Xp bootable disk and it took me right to my desktop. When I tried to reboot from HD it gave me thesame problem, then I booted with my bootable disk and upgrade the BIOS(Note: upgrading your BIOS has to be in conformity with the BIOS manifacturer specification)and the whole thing went on smoothly after that.






ALL for NAIJA

 

[Alk]

I had something like this in the past. What I did was go to the CMOS area and remove the battery and replace it 'cause the jumper couldn't do it for me when I tried to. After putting back the casing, I booted the sytem with a window Xp bootable disk and it took me right to my desktop. When I tried to reboot from HD it gave me thesame problem, then I booted with my bootable disk and upgrade the BIOS(Note: upgrading your BIOS has to be in conformity with the BIOS manifacturer specification)and the whole thing went on smoothly after that.






ALL for NAIJA

So is there a way to get a bootable disc onto a CD? The problem I'm running into is that my new PC doesn't have a floppy drive in it so I'm not able to make a disc.

 

[Patrickja2007]

I hope these links help:

1. http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm

2. http://www.pcsupportadvisor.com/boot...20CD_page2.htm

I think is one of the easiest thing to do with CD ROM burner like Nero 7 or later version.


ALL 4 NAIJA

 

[Alk]

I hope these links help:

1. http://www.petri.co.il/how_to_write_iso_files_to_cd.htm

2. http://www.pcsupportadvisor.com/boot...20CD_page2.htm

I think is one of the easiest thing to do with CD ROM burner like Nero 7 or later version.


ALL 4 NAIJA

Well, the problem is my other machine has Vista on it so I'm not sure if that program will work.

 

[Patrickja2007]

This is the first time am hearing that! Maybe you can get it from any of your friends or the internet cafe.

 

[dgower2]

Safe Mode?

Have you tried booting into safe mode? To do this, press the F8 key several times prior to Windows starting. It will give you a menu; select Safe Mode with Networking. Reply with the results. If it boots into safe mode, then it's a software or driver issue.

I'm not sure if you can run system restore from safe mode, but if you can, try that and pick a restore point from prior to installing SP2.

 

[Alk]

Just an update. It would appear that the HD is not the culprit but I have yet to figure out what is. I pulled a hd out of a computer that was working and installed it in this computer and it does virtually the same thing. I tried removing my RAM and booting with one stick at a time and still no luck. Is it possible that something got screwed up with the motherboard and I just need to find the correct files for it?

 

[dgower2]

In that case it may very well be the drivers for your mobo. You shouldn't expect a computer to run with a HDD from another computer, UNLESS the other computer has the same exact mobo and mobo revision. The reason for this is that mobo specific drivers/files are required for correct operation.

You could try this: Get a new HDD and do a clean install of the OS, drivers, and applications. Then install the original HDD as a slave (set jumpers correctly) to get any files you want off it, format it, and sell it on eBay.

The downside to this is that if the problem is with the mobo (hardware issue), you've wasted some time and $.