PC reboots after logon

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pixiepoo

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Computer has been fine up until today when I logged in to my account on XP, the desktop loaded up and with two seconds the computer rebooted - this happens over and over again.

I then tried to boot up in Safe Mode - when i select this mode from the menu the screen lists a load of drivers and then reboots like before.


Any ideas how to resolve this or is it on its way to the scrapheap???

Cheers
 
It would be helpful to know the brand, model and age of the computer, as well as the installed memory capacity.
This error can be one of many: inadequate capacity of memory or hard drive, failing hard drive, infestation, failing cpu fan, inadequate or failing power supply, corrupted windows install from a variety of causes, dirty heat sink, or errors from a recent software install ... among others. There is not one specific problem that creates this irritating failure.
 
Thankyou for your replies;

Its an Emachines 730 desktop PC, 1.5 Ghz, 768mb RAM, im not sure of the age of the PC as I 'recycled' it from somebody who had upgraded to a new one and I needed something to use as an overflow computer to store files on. Its definately a good couple of years old though.

I dont have the install CD unfortunately.

How do i find the event log?

Cheers
 
event logs http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308427

Have you got a floppy drive? If so, a friend can prepare a set of boot floppies for XP. Failing that, there are sources on the link above (in #3) describing how to prepare a bootable CD with Windows Recovery Centre on it. Again you need a friend with a working XP system
 
When my power supply started to fail, my PC would randomly restart. Has that happened to you recently?
 
My desktop used to have that similar problem, and it is spotted to be the cpu cooler problem. You may check that also.
 
I am having a similar problem but mine seems to be a virus thats doing it. Because when i start it up it says "virus alert" next to the time and my background changed to a graphic that told me i had spyware. I am all messed up.
 
Now something strange has happened!

I decided to make a startup floppy disk from my primary computer that is fully working. I put it into the afflicted computer and it said 'boot.ini file invalid booting from c.windows instead' - thgis i expected as i wasnt sure that i had picked the right file, so i expected the computer to just crash as normal but this time the time the computer actually loaded!???

On the desktop there is now 'System Antivirus 2008' with the windows security shield as its icon, this was not on the desktop before and I have never seen it (from researching on the net am i right in thinking this is a virus that is on my computer?)

The first thing the computer did when it booted up was the Avast warning box came up telling me that it had detected Malware name: Win32:Rootkit-gen (Rtk)

Should I type this into google and find necessary ways to get rid of it?

Sorry this is a bit long winded, could this virus be the reason for my computer rebooting after log on?

all help much appreciated!!!
 
Wakeborder - seems we are having the same problem although this is the first time in three days that my computer has actually stayed on long enough to access the desktop. My background hasnt changed though.
 
Yes, very much so. Definitely a virus. Because the virus has hooked into the boot loading processes, it is impossible for you to boot normally - OR into safe mode - without the virus being present. When you boot from a floppy, it is NOT present. Make sure you immediately make those floppies write-protected!!!

Similarly if you boot from a CD, that cannot be infected either.

So long as you can boot from a floppy, it is possible to run uninfected, and you must do the whole anti-virus smorgmasbord here. https://www.techspot.com/vb/post645589-1.html Some can also be run from a floppy, otherwise, it is a case of loading the executables onto a CD and running from there....it is not very easy.
 
I'm glad you were able to identify the problem. The link above is a good option to remove the virus. Since the PC sounds like it's pretty old and you obviously haven't reinstalled Windows, this might be a good opportunity to do so. You can get an OEM copy of Windows from places like newegg. It can be a hassle to not have your own copy on hand.
 
That 'System Antivirus 2008' you mention is actually a rogue virus that disqguises itself as a an antivirus app. You can remove it manually or use malwarebytes antimalware.. Best to do a google search. I've encountered it before and was able to remove it.
 
Will following the above link actually delete the System Antivirus 2008??

I have been searching on the internet on how to remove the program but have become stuck on a few occasions - namely unregistering the .dll files, when i follow the instructions it doesnt seem to work. I then downloaded the SmitFraudFix but then realised that you are meant to use it in safe mode ( i cannot access safe mode) Is it safe to use in normal mode?

Becoming increasingly stressed about this!

Thanks for help
 
If you boot from an uninfected floppy as you appear to have done, you may be able to run Windows in 'normal' mode for a while, enough to ruun smitFraudFix (well you have nothing to lose have you?). I think it might run from a CD or even the hard disk if you copy it there first. It is not easy (repeating myself), but if you can identify and remove as much infestation as you can from Dos modes or recovery console modes (another form of Dos), then your PC might be able to get to safe mode ok. Then a lot more anti-malware can be run and you can eventually run several different malware checks as in the above link I gave before.

As lou3 has said, where you are now it is often less hassle to reinstall Windows with a reformat. Obviously you want your data off first, and the best way to do that is to mount the hard drive in another PC in place of a CD/DVD drive (make absolutely sure you do not boot from it!), and the data can be safely transferred to the donor PC or an attached USB drive.

There is nothing to beat a bootable CD with all these things on it which will run from Dos mode. A CD cannot be infected, see?
 
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