Windows XP restarting before login

[tom888]

as title suggests, when i start up my pc it all goes well unitll the windows logo comes up (with the moving loading bar below), then my pc restarts itself (before i get to the login page).

does anyone know if this would be a software or hardware problem? and would there be anyway of getting around the problem without re-installing windows or even if it would help?

it gives the same result if i to try start in 'safe mode' or try to use 'start from last know working setup' etc.

any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks.

 

[brucethetech]

have you recently installed any hardware. it can happen for number of reasons. the one I run into the most with that issue is bad RAM or HD. o doubt its software

 

[tom888]

thanks brucethetech

no i havnt recently installed any hardware, thats why i find it so strange, (working one day and not the next).

with bad RAM do you just replace it or is there a way a reparing/cleaning them?

re. bad hard drives, im running 2 Hard Drives with the data copied to both(forget the name for that), so surely if i unplug one hard drive at a time it would start if only one is fried?!

 

[brucethetech]

there are CDs that you can run to test the integrity of your RAM and hard drives. they are not 100% accurate all the time. Try booting without one of the potentially defective devices each time. Start with the Ram its the easiest and your pc might not start if you unplug the hard drive because the hard drive the computer uses to boot has to be on a certain slot. but thats the hard way.