Computer continuously reboots as soon as the desktop loads

[koalakid]

I have an IBM PC that came with Windows ME.  I've had no problem until recently when I loaded AOL and McAfee and then the computer kept rebooting.  I thought it was the software but could never get the Start Up program to stay on long enough to delete those programs.  Finally I decided to do start over and I did a recovery on the hard drive.  Now, the computer has no programs on except the ones installed on the recovery and the desk top comes up and then the machine goes into a reboot.  I'm so frustrated.  It worked great until this....   

[nickc1976]

If you re-installed Windows and it's still rebooting then its most probably a hardware problem.
I would guess that it's the motherboard, but it could be the power supply, RAM, hard disk or CPU.
If you have 2 Ram sticks, boot up with just one, then the other. Do you have access to another working PC?

[Carbon Dudeoxide]

Finally I decided to do start over and I did a recovery on the hard drive.  Now, the computer has no programs on except the ones installed on the recovery

Did you reformat the drive???

[Computer CPR]

I encountered these EXACT symptoms problem a couple weeks ago at a client site, and it was due to the hard drive going bad.  Do you have the ability to hook this drive up to another computer as a secondary drive and do a disk scan?  I'd be willing to bet that it your problem.

[Zylstra]

Please enter Safemode (read how to here: http://www.computerhope.com/issues/chsafe.htm#01 )
Once you have done that, click Start> Programs> Accessories> System> "System Restore"
Find a restore point from before the issue occurred.

Follow the directions from there

Does your computer start normally now?

If not, do the same thing again, and remove AOL.
Restart, does it work now?

If not, do the same thing again, but this time, run scandisk (follow these directions: http://www.computerhope.com/software/scandisk.htm#04 )

Does it work now?

Possible causes:
AOL Virus scanner conflicts
HDD Failure
Another issue that ocured software side
Hardware issue

[Computer CPR]

(kinda hard to go to Start> Programs> Accessories> System> "System Restore" if the PC reboots as soon as the desktop comes up)  It's a bad HD.  I'd be willing to put money on it.  Especially if it's from the ME era.  That drive is at least 7 years old.

[Zylstra]

(kinda hard to go to Start> Programs> Accessories> System> "System Restore" if the PC reboots as soon as the desktop comes up)  It's a bad HD.  I'd be willing to put money on it.  Especially if it's from the ME era.  That drive is at least 7 years old.

I have drives sitting around that still work from 1995. This rebooting issue is not often caused by the hard drive, often hard drive issues result in a STOP error of some sort. Many issues contribute to this error. This is why we try safe mode, it may resolve issues caused by drivers.
Hard drive life depends on operation conditions, manufacturer, and how long its been used for.

[Computer CPR]

I have drives sitting around that still work from 1995.

I have HD's from 1995 that still work too, but they have been SITTING AROUND.  If a computer has been used alot in the past 7 years and operating in a place that does not allow for good air flow or in a dusty environment (which both is often the case for end users) then it hasn't been sitting around.

He said "Finally I decided to do start over and I did a recovery on the hard drive."  He won't see anything in the System Restore besides a blank slate.  He wiped everything out.

[koalakid]

Thanks for the advice but I did try to go into a safe mode and it just reboots as soon as I get to click on something to try to change the start up or anything else.  The computer did this once before and I removed AOL 9.0   It worked for over a year and I decided to try AOL 9.0 again on the machine.  Well, now it has McAfee with it which doesn'twork with Windows ME and I didn't know that.  Anyway, that's when the problem started again.  I was able to use it a couple of days before I found out how to remove the program (McAfee on there isn't easy to locate all the programs to remove) and then I couldn't remove AOL as it started the immediate reboot.  That's why I did a recovery on the machine to put it back to the original state as when I bought it.  It stays on when I do the recovery or anything like that but not once the windows screen comes up.  Could I have a virus?

[Zylstra]

So, you say that when ever you start the computer up, even after doing a full system restore (the one that removes all your data) the restart issue still occurs?
If so, it is almost 100% likely its a hardware issue (any part of the computer, really)

If not, I forgot to mention this:
Follow the directions to get into Safemode again, but instead of selecting Safemode, select "Last known good configuration" (I am not 100% positive that option is avaliable in Windows ME)
It should be like System Restore, and will just automatically choose a restore date, without loading any drivers.

[Computer CPR]

I was talking to an assiciate of mine about your problem this evening and he has seen a motherboard cause it.  You oughta burn a knoppix CD and use it for a day and see if any mysterious reboots occur.  That will at least help you eliminate the HD, but I still say that you should take the HD out and hook it up to another computer as a slave and do a scan for bad sectors.