XP Home SP3 continuous re-booting error

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emdl

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Hi,

This is a bit long winded but I've decided that I really need to explain everything so here goes:

I'm running XP Home Edition version 2002 SP3 and recently my PC has developed a MAJOR problem which to this point I cannot fix.

It all started when Norton Internet Security automatically installed its 2009 update. When the installation had completed, it requested that I restarted my machine. Upon booting, it goes as far as the Windows XP loading page then restarts again and again and again; all the time following the same process.This all happened about 2 weeks ago.

So I decided to roll back into "last know configuration that worked". Norton was due for its upgrade and as I've heard alot of bad things about it recently I decided to completely unistall the program. I also ran the Norton Removal Tool to completely remove all traces of the program.

I was advised by a friend that the problem may be a virus so I installed and ran a scan using Spybot Search and Destroy which found several spyware, adware and one virus. I quarantined and removed from system. I also installed the latest version of Kaspersky Internet Security. Upon initialising a scan with Kaspersky the computer crashed and restarted and followed the same route as before: gets as far as XP loading page then restarts continuously.

Then I booted from Kaspersky back-up CD and ran a scan pre-Windows as it were. The scan came back that the system was clean. Great. So I rebooted once again. Same problem. This time I left the system restarting and went out for a bit. When I got back it had managed to log onto Windows finally.

I then ran memtest to see if the problem was memory related - again everything appears to be fine (ran three scans in total as recommended - 1 x 1 hour, 1 x 100%, 1 x overnight).

I have also ran CHKDSK on several occasions and every time it has returned a healthy drive.

I have only turned off my computer twice since this occurred and both times it had done this re-booting thing but once left alone for approximately 1/2 hour, eventually figures itself out and logs onto windows. However, on the latter occasion an error message appeared that Windows had recovered from a major error (you don't say). I'm a mug because I didn't write down what this error was.

That was about a week ago and haven't turned off my computer since(!) until yesterday when I ran Portable Norton Partition Magic 8.05 to repartition my system drive as it is running seriously low on space. Obviously it requested a restart which again gave me the same problems although this time it would bring up the blue XP screen with the following error before re-booting again: "file xmnt2002 not found CHKDSK failed".

This time I left the computer rebooting over night and was still doing it 8 hours later when I woke up. So I have this morning booted in safe mode and have been trying to find a solution. I have now removed the command from Norton Partition from the registry to search for xmnt2002 so this error message no longer occurs, instead windows automatically runs a CHKDSK which upon completion then re-boots my machine.

I have checked my Event Viewer for errors when this re-booting occurred and have found this repeatedly reccurring:

"Event Type: Error
Event Source: Service Control Manager
Event Category: None
Event ID: 7026
Date: 03/02/2009
Time: 14:55:27
User: N/A
Computer: EUAN
Description:
The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
Fips
intelppm
kl1
klbg
KLIF
sf
"

As you can expect the Help and Support Centre offers no help and support

As you may have come to realise I am completely stuck on this and also a bit fed up! The problem is I'm skint and unemployed at the moment and there's no way I can afford a new PC if I can't get this fixed :(

PLEASE HELP ME!!!

Thank you for your time in reading all this!
 
Can you tell us about the:

Make and model of your motherboard
Processor
RAM
Video Card
Number and type of optical drives
Number and type of hard drives
Make and model of the power supply with a reading for the +3.3V, +5.0V and the +12V rails max output in Amps from the sticker
Add-in cards

Let us know
 
Hi thanks for your reply.

I bought back in 2002 from Carillon Music (it is purpose built for studio work) who have since gone into receivership. I believe that they modified the components beyond their original configurations.

Therefore I'm having a number of difficulties identifying the various components using freeware such as CPU-Z. I'm going to open up and have a direct look. Unless you have other suggestions?

Thanks again
 
Could be as simple as gbhall is suggesting, can you ensure all Symantec and Norton services have been removed and /or stopped using "Services" in the "Administrative Tools"?
 
To see what is on the inside, download System Information For Windows by Topala Software.
 
Unfortunately not as simple as gbhall although thanks for the tip off.

I have ran the Norton Removal Tool which I DLed from techspot and also a number of anti malware/spyware freeware that I got from this site too and quarantined anything that was found. I'm also running Kaspersky.

Processor Name: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Motherboard Vendor: Intel Corporation
Motherboard Model: D865PERL
Version: AAC27648-211
RAM: Unknown manufacturer, 2x512 DDR; 2 further slots available
Video Adapter Name: RADEON 7000 SERIES
Hard Drives: 1x120GB FAT32 ST3120026A partitioned as C (System) 20MB and D (Audio) 100MB
1x300GB NTFS Maxtor 6L300S0
CD/DVD: LITE ON COMBO SOHC-5232K
Power: Ultramute power supply UM320 +3.3=20A +5=32A +12=16A

Is that everything you need?
 
I would try another power supply, the 16A max output on the +12V rail is too little for your configuration.

To test, you can disconnect your DVD and the 300GB maxtor, this should give you around 36W then see how often the re-boots happen.

If you have another power supply with better output on the +12V rail, give it a try.

Remember, better power supply does not mean higher wattage! I can show you a 350W that would run your system better than most generic 450W or higher!

emdl said:
Processor Name: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Motherboard Vendor: Intel Corporation
Motherboard Model: D865PERL
Version: AAC27648-211
RAM: Unknown manufacturer, 2x512 DDR; 2 further slots available
Video Adapter Name: RADEON 7000 SERIES
Hard Drives: 1x120GB FAT32 ST3120026A partitioned as C (System) 20MB and D (Audio) 100MB
1x300GB NTFS Maxtor 6L300S0
CD/DVD: LITE ON COMBO SOHC-5232K
Power: Ultramute power supply UM320 +3.3=20A +5=32A +12=16A

Is that everything you need?
Click to expand...
Sorry, I read that as DDRII and thought you have a PCI-E board. You have Socket 478 and if the P4 is a Northwood, it is drawing close to 10A from the +12V rail, another 4A for the DVD and 2 hard drives and you're left with 2A for the fans and the rest of the system, not considering max combined output!

Your 3.3V rail's max output of 20A, is not enough for an AGP based system, some high end AGP video cards draw 17A+ from the 3.3V rail.

For your configuration, you need a power supply with minimum 18A on the +12V rail and 30A or more on the +3.3V rail.

If you test with such power supply and still have issues, then we can look deeper in to the problem, I myself will not start troubleshooting till the power supply has been taken care of.

EDIT:since you say you are unemployed, I don't want to send you to buy a power supply eventhough that PSU is not good for your configuration, before doing this, take a look inside the case, how dusty is the heat sink and fan on your CPU? are there any signs of bulging or leaking on the capacitors on the motherboard?

Let us know
 
Check the fan which seemed to be quite dusty so cleaned it up a bit. Doesn't seem to be any signs of bulging or leaking on the capacitors.

I have now disconnected the 300gb and cd/dvd but still continuing to have the same problem!

Was thinking why would this only occur recently as I added the 2nd hard drive almost a year ago and haven't had any problems until now. The only thing is recently I've connected a usb splitter/extender so running a few more usb devices than previously. Would this lead to the power issue?

I don't really understand what's going on and why it suddenly packed up. As its quite an old machine - approx 7 years, I'm coming into realisation that I will have to replace at least some parts of it. The thing is I would really like to ascertain what it causing the problems so I can build a new machine around some of the existing, working components, therefore keeping my costs to a minimum.

RE: power units: do you have any recommendations??

Once again thank you for taking your time to help me out with this
 
If you have a paid version of norton, don't renew it. There are many FREE anti-virus programs out there that work just fine. The only Norton I use is, norton corporate and I can get it free with a federal government license legitimately.

Norton is very resource intensive and there are known compatibility issues. I also suggest getting whatever patches there are for your system. Boot in safe mode, and uninstall the program. Norton sometimes can be troublesome to remove and you will need the norton removal tool. google it- I even think TS has it for download.
 
emdl said:
Unfortunately not as simple as gbhall although thanks for the tip off.

I have ran the Norton Removal Tool which I DLed from techspot and also a number of anti malware/spyware freeware that I got from this site too and quarantined anything that was found. I'm also running Kaspersky.
Click to expand...
 
I'm new here, but have been repairing computers for many years. I would start with software issues since a software change seemed to be the trigger for your problem. Have you tried booting from the XP CD and running a repair install? Sounds like Norton has hosed some system files ( I have seen it do that to several other systems) It is normal behavior for XP to reboot when it has a conflict loading drivers or system files. The fact that you can boot into safe mode would be consistent with this
 
Thanks for the comment. Unfortunately I don't have the XP boot CD any more - got stolen amongst other CD's a while back. Is there anywhere I can get a copy from without paying or could I potentially use a friend's disc?
 
Power supply problems don't show right away, sometimes it takes days, weeks or months, people install new hardware and boot up, then think all is OK, it might be true, if it boots, there should be enough power, but the max combined output, depending on the usage might and will eventually lead to data corruption and/ or hardware failure if it is at the max or has exceeded the maximum capable.

Not saying yours is due to PSU failure, had to check. Still, based on your system, I believe the PSU needs to be upgraded depending on how long you're going to keep the system.

More USB devices add to the overall system power requirement specially the ones with no power.

You can use any XP Home CD as long as you use your own product key.
There are XP Home Retail (not much around) and XP Home OEM (lot's of it around), the product key from Retail will not work on the OEM and the other way around as far as I can remember!
 
If you don't have a CD, make sure you get your product key from your system before you start the repair install. There may be an OEM sticker on the side of the computer with the key or you can use one of the freeware XP product key extractors

After the repair install, remember you will have to apply all security updates and service packs since the time the CD was made, that can take much longer than the install. Once you are up and running, with a clean system, take a look on the net at the various free drive imaging programs (I have used DriveXML) and make an image of your c drive on your 300 gig. That way in case of a further problem you can just restore the image, no install CD needed. Another way is to make a slipstreamed install CD with most of the latest updates, a google search will find many tutorials on how to do it. I would also take Sharam's suggestion about the power supply, if you have been running your system for 7 years without replacing the power supply, you are living on borrowed time. Let us know how it works out
 
Ok so need to get hold of the XP CD will let you know how i get on.

In the mean time, I'm going to investigate a new power supply - any recommendations
 
Are you in US or Canada, where do you get your computer parts from, do you shop online, and what would the budget be for the power supply?

It would be good to know if you are planning on building a system in a near future, the reason being, we can go a bit higer on the power supply and still use it in the next system.

It used to be hard getting a power supply with PCI-E in mind, now I am finding it hard to locate a decent power supply with good output on the +3.3V as well as +12V bellow the $50.00 mark.

Like this Coolmax CX-450B 450-Watt, 450-Watt +3.3V: 30 A, +5V: 45 A, +12V: 15 A.

They have wasted so much output on the +5.0V rail at 45A, this is 225W where as 125W would've been enough, this power supply would be very good for a hungry PIII system, even a dual PIII setup, or a low end P4 Celeron with AGP! For $35.00USD before taxes and shipping after rebate.

The Coolmax CX-400B 400-Watt however, has a dual +12V rail! +3.3V: 30 A, +5V: 28 A, +12V 1: 14 A, +12V 2: 15 A. So that's 29A total for the +12V rails but not combined. This is $25.00 00USD before taxes and shipping after rebate.

Here is the Coolmax CX-550B 550-Watt I can't understand the design, this is an older design with an additional pot for the second +12V rail most likely, why 50A on the +5.0V?

None of these talk about over/ under voltage protection in detail and there are no mention of max combined output of the (+3.3V & +5.0V), (+12V1 & +12V2) as well as max combined output of all the + rails.

I can picture many people going for the 450W or have the 400W and upgrade to the 450W!

I would say, go for the 400W one above, but I don't want to make that recommendation, looking at specs with not enough info makes me think! That is why with each computer problem be it software or hardware, the first place I look for and ask about is the power supply, these are switching power supplies and how can one know for sure if all components inside are operating as they should, +5.0V undervoltage or partial filure, could cause read and write errors with the drives as well as memory eventhough the system might bootup and run. +3.3V could cause issues on an AGP system, I have even seen "CPU failed" message when the +3.3V rail had dropped bellow 3.14V eventhough the CPUs since Athlon and P4 use the +12V rails. I can go on but I should stop right here, I never know when to :)

If you tell us your budget on the PSU, me or someone else could take a closer look at what is available out there.

If you can re-install your applications and have all your data backed up, I would go for a fresh install, delete all the partitions, re-create partition /s and install after a BIOS update if any.
 
Heads up. A 7 year-old can suffer from the famous blown capacitor problem see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capacitor_plague

Also a tip - spin a CPU fan while cleaning it and it is a generator. So blowing a fan fast with compressed air causes enough voltage to flow the wrong way that it can wreck a motherboard. Hold the fan still with a pencil. Probably not your problem, it broke before you cleaned the fan, yes?
 
Sharam said:
Are you in US or Canada, where do you get your computer parts from, do you shop online, and what would the budget be for the power supply?

It would be good to know if you are planning on building a system in a near future, the reason being, we can go a bit higer on the power supply and still use it in the next system.
Click to expand...

I'm in the UK. Normally do my shopping online. Not sure how the atlantic affects costings but would say around the £50 mark is a good budget for me.

I would potentially be building on this system in the future. For now the PIII is sufficient for my needs (and I can't afford anything better). Will be looking at a new graphics card in the not too distant future so yes a PSU with more power than my current requirements would be good.
 
Something like this 520W Low Noise PSU would do.

Here is the link for D865PERL you'll find everything you need there, including the latest BIOS P21.

If you shop at a certain on-line store, post a link so we can check and see what they have available.

BTW, you do know that you have a P4 not a PIII eh!
 
Right so all I can seem to find is a system specfic recovery CD for XP Home Edition (not for my system),
Can I somehow extract the necessary files from this CD and make my own XP recovery CD that will be compatible with my system?
 
RIght so managed to get hold of xp cd finally and formatted the system drive and re-installed windows then proceeded to install all updates available. Also updated to latest bios (thx Sharam for the link).

So everything seemed to be working good.

I ten proceeded to re-install Kaspersky Security which I only purchased recently (when I thought it was Norton that was messing everything up).

When Kaspersky setup restarts the system my computer then started doing the continuos restart again! So have carried out a system restore and uninstalled Kaspersky.

I am now installing various freeware from TS and hope that having various programs running will provide the cover that is required.

Bit strange with the whole Kaspersky issue - also annoying aspaid £40 for it.

RE: power supply - I have ordered the recommended 520W and am expecting its arrival later this week. In the mean time I have unplugged my second hard drive as to not put too much strain on the power.

@ everyone who posted - thanks for all your feedback. I've actually learnt quite a bit from all of this
 
Seen many issues with KIS even with older versions having to do with re-boot after install as well as continuous reboots with a quick search I did!
Is it possible to contact their support or visit their Forum?

Do you have Windows Firewall turned OFF before installing KIS?

Did you delete your 20GB partition, re-created and formatted the partition during XP setup? Since you have another drive with data on it as well as another partition on the same drive, it is possible for infections (if any) to spread! Are you connected to a router for added protection?

Seen many similar issues going back to 2006 with reboots after installing ZoneAlarm or KIS, most probably something to do with KIS, but may be not a bad idea to do the UPDATED 8-step and post the logs at Virus & Malware removal with a link to this thread, if you are up to it. I would do this with the 300GB kept disconnected to speed up scans and only connect it after an updated AV is installed.
 
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