boot problem help plez

[aznmidude]

hi, i've been having a problem w/ my computer booting up for a while now. Whenever I power on my computer, it loads to the windows XP screen and then restarts itself, boots up again, and then restarts... etc. It does this a few times before it actually loads WinXP all the way and then everything else is pretty normal. This happened for a while, and then last week I decided to reformat my computer to start over anew. Unfortunately, the problem is still there. I would guess that it's a problem with the hard drive, but I don't know for sure. Any ideas? Thanks

[ale52]

If you reformatted and the problem still exists, then it is most likely the hard drive.  They are relatively inexpensive to replace these days.

Alan <>< 

[patio]

Also more info on the machine itself, what OS and any new hardware/software installed recently may help narrow it down a bit...

[aznmidude]

Runs Windows XP SP2
AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 1.66 GHz
1 gig of RAM
Maxtor 6E4040L0 40 gig HDD
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

Just started using a WD My Book, but the problem was there before I used it. Haven't really installed much new software as of recently. I use a lot of different programs: bittorrent, firefox, adaware, AVG, AIM, MSN, etc... used to use Limewire, but not for a while. Any other info that might help?

[patio]

Travel to Control Panel/System/Advanced/Startup and Recovery...uncheck "auto reboot on errors" which is on by default. Re-boot.

Then DLoad and run the Maxtor diagnostics on that drive to see how healthy it is.

If it is fine then update and run all your protection apps...then post back with a list of them and the results.

[aznmidude]

so I downloaded and ran the seatools diagnostics basic tests on my hdd and they all seem to check out ok... but i still have the same problem of the computer rebooting a few times before actually loading windows.

[soybean]

AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 1.66 GHz

The AMD Athlon XP 2200+ should run at 1.8 GHz.  Do you have the correct CPU speed setting in your BIOS? 

I'm also thinking you might a power supply issue.  What power supply do you have in your computer?  Did you make any hardware changes before this started, such as adding something or upgrading something?

[Fed]

You said you reformatted, did you, how did you?

[aznmidude]

i've had my comp running at teh same speed for almost 4 years now, and this problem surfaced maybe 4 months ago. I didn't bother doing anything to it because all it did was delay windows from booting eventually. I can try changing the CPU speed, though i'm not sure it will do much. As for power supply, I have an Antec TruePower 380 watt power supply. And I have not made any hardware changes to my computer recently. I switched to a flatscreen LCD, but that was almost a year and a half ago. I recently started using an external HDD, but the problem was there before I started using it.

I reformatted with the winXP CD, just a fresh install.

[patio]

Travel to Control Panel/System/Advanced/Startup and Recovery...uncheck "auto reboot on errors" which is on by default. Re-boot.

Have you done this yet ? ?

[aznmidude]

yeah, i unchecked the auto reboot on errors and it didn't change anything.

[patio]

Are you now getting any blue screen error messages ? ?
If so post them here.

[Fed]

Were all of your programs still there after you re-formatted or did you have to install them all from scratch again?
AVG, Aim, MSN, Limewire etc?

[aznmidude]

no blue screen errors, it just keeps loading up to windows screen... then reboots itself, sometimes it doesn't make it to the windows loading screen, still at the bios stage, and then reboots.

when i reformatted, i did so from scratch... everything was reinstalled. lol i haven't even installed everything yet.

[patio]

Heat
Bad RAM
HDD failing
PSU

For the heat issue remove a side panel and place a small fan there for circulation. If the problem goes away you have found the culprit.
To test the RAM DLoad and run MemTest...let it run a few hours. Any errors and you have found the culprit.
For the HDD DLoad and run Seatools diagnostics from Seagate's site . It will tell you if the HDD is failing and you have found the culprit.
For the PSU borrow a known good one of the same or greater wattage and swap it in there. If the problem goes away you need a new PSU.