Boot Loop - Restarts after Windows Loading Screen

[stringo0]

Hi,

*Problem: Boot loop after the First Windows Loading Screen*

Sorry if it's posted in the wrong section, I think it might be both.

I'll try to be as detailed and brief as possible. I was using my PC one evening, and noticed that it was skipping every now and then - I mean the screen freezing every 5-10 minutes for a second or so - minute problem. I watch a movie, same thing, skips every 5-15 mins for a few seconds. No biggie. Then I turn it off. The next day, I turn it on, and it goes upto the windows startup screen with the loading bar, and after the loading bar finishes, goes to a black screen then reboots, rinse and repeat.

System Specs:
Windows XP Professional SP2 with all updates. [Legal ]
3 GB of DDR 333 RAM (2x512 and 2x1gb in dual channel mode)
500 GB Seagate hard drive (about half way used)
Asrock 939Dual - http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=939Dual-SATA2&s=n
AMD Athlon 3800+ Dual Core (FX?)
Geforce 8800 GTO 512MB from BFG
Generic DVD writer.

What I've tried

CPU

Processor Glue
I thought it could be the processor's thermal glue on top - so I took it out, bending a few pins sadly, as it was stuck to the heatsink. Fortunately it was only about 2-6 pins which carefully I was able to fix. the glue I thought was fine, as the processor was stuck to the heat sink. Nonetheless, I cleared out the glue, and applied newly bought thermal glue(or paste). Put the processor back in, same thing.

CPU Tests - I ran a few programs, one went to 14. something million iterations, so I just stopped it - (after a loooong time )

Memtest - Complete test passed with no errors.

Hard Drive - Seagate Diagnostics
Short test - no errors
Long test - 2 errors (Couldn't fix, keyboard wouldn't work - performing test again)


Finally...

I have the ultimate boot disk - http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ - I can try anything on their list.

In Windows repair, no idea what I can type - any suggestions?

Thanks for any and all help, and God Bless

[Deerpark]

If XP suddenly reboots during loading it is most likely because it encountered a critical error. In such a situation the default behavior for Windows is to restart without showing you the error message. In order to troubleshoot this error we need to disable the auto restart feature so we can get a look at it.
Follow this to disable it:

Start the computer in normal mode and let it crash and reboot.
Tap F8 reaptedly during the bootup. This should bring you to the "Windows Advanced Options Menu".
From this menu select "Disable automatic restart on system failure" and press enter.
Select XP as the operation system to start and hit enter.

Now you should get a blue error screen.
Please post the info you get on the blue screen. (See the red boxes on the screen shot below.)

[patio]

Bent CPU pins and HDD errors....i'm afraid to even guess on this one.
How did you get the pins straightened out ? ?
And has the 2nd Long Seatools test been run ? ?

[stringo0]

Bent CPU pins and HDD errors....i'm afraid to even guess on this one.
How did you get the pins straightened out ? ?
And has the 2nd Long Seatools test been run ? ?

I fixed the pins with a tiny precision screw driver thingy that was really thin - around business card thinness. The first time it wouldn't go back in, but after a little more tweaking  the pins the cpu slid in. Not ideal of course, I understand, but I ran the cpu test after this.

The long seagate test was run, it took around 4-6 hours with 2 errors - I couldn't fix them then as the keyboard input wasn't being read - doing it again, 5% left to go - so that i can fix the errors - though I doubt these 2 errors could be causing it.

I will do the windows blue screen thing right after this hd test.

Thanks for the help!

[stringo0]

If XP suddenly reboots during loading it is most likely because it encountered a critical error. In such a situation the default behavior for Windows is to restart without showing you the error message. In order to troubleshoot this error we need to disable the auto restart feature so we can get a look at it.

Yep, you're right. I got a blue screen with the following (All info is reproduced as it was 4 lines only):
---
STOP: c000021a {Fatal System Error}
The windows Logon Process system process terminated unexpectedly with a status o
f 0xc0000006 (0x00000000 0x00000000).
The system has been shut down.
---

Any pointers?

Additionally, I didn't fix the two drive errors - I could only select skip for some reason. However I doubt the drive is the problem.

[patio]

Ouch ! Metal screwdriver. The credit card would have been a better choice. Hope this ends up well...if you're getting that far with the Windows install it may be OK.
And since we're looking at everything as a possibility do you happen to have or can borrow a known good PSU of the same wattage or greater to swap in there after the drive tests are done ? ?

[stringo0]

Ouch ! Metal screwdriver. The credit card would have been a better choice. Hope this ends up well...if you're getting that far with the Windows install it may be OK.
And since we're looking at everything as a possibility do you happen to have or can borrow a known good PSU of the same wattage or greater to swap in there after the drive tests are done ? ?

Ouch - I guess I didn't know what I was doing that well.

I had a 600W PSU. I changed it when I heard a background noise while playing games. The new one is a good quality one, but I still got those sounds - just ignored them as they didn't get recorded, and weren't that bad - someone said it's probably the onboard soundcard.

Another note, it's not a windows install, windows is already installed - it's just not going past the loading screen.

Thanks again for the help!

[patio]

Gotcha...stay on that drive test then and let us know.

[stringo0]

Gotcha...stay on that drive test then and let us know.

Sorry, the drive test completed the second time - got 2 errors again, but I could not select repair, but I could press enter and skip, not sure why.  - note that I posted about it already, maybe you missed it

I also posted the blue screen info, before my last post.

I can try to do the test again and fix the errors, though for some reason I couldn't pick repair. If you're sure it's the drive, I'll try again.

(modified this post for more info about the drive scan)

[patio]

This occurs when Windows switches into kernel mode and a user-mode subsystem, such as Winlogon or the Client Server Runtime Subsystem (CSRSS), is compromised. Security can no longer be guaranteed. Because Win XP can’t run without Winlogon or CSRSS, this is one of the few situations where the failure of a user-mode service can cause the system to stop responding. This Stop message also can occur as a result of malware infestation or when the computer is restarted after a system administrator has modified permissions so that the SYSTEM account no longer has adequate permissions to access system files and folders.

Malware infestation or corrupted XP install.
XP Repair Install

Read through it prior to starting and print out a copy for reference.

[stringo0]

Malware infestation or corrupted XP install.
XP Repair Install

Read through it prior to starting and print out a copy for reference.

Will do.

Also, on a side note when running the "Mersenne Prime Test" from http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ (2nd on list), I get the following error repeated:

attempt to access beyond end of device
01:00: rw=0, want=4559, limit=4096

(with this at the end of the repetitions)
Segmentation fault
linux>_

And as a side note, I don't think I did any of what the error mentions - change user access or a way for something to mess up windows, but you just never know :|

On my laptop, so will go through the guide.

Thanks for the help!

[patio]

The PRIME test is a pretty rugged test tool...i was never able to decode it's sometimes cryptic error messages...

[stringo0]

Anything to watch out for after the repair? Setup is currently copying files, at 60%

[stringo0]

IT WORKED!

Thank you so much for your help. Repaired windows, activated via phone, now it's loaded in. I am going to perform a full system scan before plugging in the ethernet cord.

It's connected to a router, so I'm assuming I don't need the windows firewall on due to the router?

Will keep this post updated if anything else crops up.

Thank you so much!

God Bless '_^

[stringo0]

Hi again,

The big problem is out of the way.

Now I'm facing two problems:
1. The Network connection keeps resetting every now and then (30 mins. ish) - it resets and is back in a second.
2. I think the computer is still skipping a bit - as in skips every now and then when playing a game, etc.

Should I just start a new thread for this?

Thanks again, and God Bless