[Help] I really really neat help with some incredible boot problems

[breadandbubbles]

alright, so far, the advice ive received in these forums has been fantastic. ive learned so much from the posts here, its unbelieveable. i have an immense amount of respect for the knowledge shared here.

but i cant imagine.

how anyone could help me with this.

i have been having some strange problems in Windows XP Pro. just a huge build up of registry errors and spyware and....well. we all have to go through that learning phase. right?

so i decide to reformat. i have a 250gb hard drive, so i put 80gb aside, neatly organized all my files, and put them on the partition. in this partition I also put all my installers. i keep every installer i download that i use. every single one. i even keep disc images of my driver disc, microsoft office disc, etc.

so i format my C: partition. The one with windows on it, naturally.

i boot up for the first time and i am extremely pleased with having a clean install on windows, and its only a matter of bringing all ym files back and going through relatively painless and sometimes educational experience of updating my software. i like doing it. i have no interest in integrating these apps into my windows install. no nlite. no unattended. i like it the old fashioned way.

anyway, heres where my problem came in:

i had installed a number of applications, Office, Microsoft Student, WinRAR, Alcohol 120%, etc. whatever. when suddenly my PC rebooted. and i dont mean shut down properly. i just mean...rebooted. as if i hit the button.

alright fine. maybe i kicked the reset button. no problem.

but then..and i couldnt believe it.....

once my desktop had come back, my icons and taskbar had about 2 seconds to settle in before my pc rebooted again.

i noticed as windows loaded the second time, that when that startup windows happens where it says..i cant really remember..."windows is initializing" or something liekt hat? whatever message appears before the logon screen, which i had turned off so it just said "welcome"......well...it took like....30 seconds.

and when the desktop appeared, i quickly hit "ctrl+alt+delete". i dont know why. its all i could think of. but i didnt have time! my pc rebooted again!

this time i tried hitting F1 as it was booting, trying to get it to boot in safe mode or something. it wont respond! it just booted up, and reboooted. again! on and on. i walked away for a phone call for about 20 minutes, came back, and it was still int his continuous cycle!

so....i quick formatted the partition. reinstalled windows. and tried again.

this time, i decided, that maybe it was one particular application. so after every installation, no matter how trivial, i would restart, to see if it was the culprit. one by one, i instaleld. finally, after...i had lost count of how many, but finally, it went into that cycle again. same thing.

so this time i did a FULL format. the long version. waited an hour or whatever. blah blah blah, the last app i installed was Alcohol 120%, and it didnt even have time for me to finish looking at the message saying "you need to reboot for the settings to take efft..." before...it rebooted. all on its own.

now i KNOW acohol isnt the culprit because the time before that i installed it as like..my third installation! and actually set it up! and it worked fine! .

this time it was WORSE though. NOW, it doesnt even make it to the desktop. NOW, that "windows is initializing thing" comes up for a full two/two-and-a-half minutes, before rebooting. i neevr see the desktop.

and i cant reboot in safe mode!

the worst thing about this is that CLEARLY, reformatting it does nothing. nothing at all. the problem keeps coming back.

so what do i do? throw away my reently built-by-myself PC?

im pretty much literally sititng here waiting for an answer from you fine kind merciful folks. end my torment. please. what can i posibley do?!

* Title edited *

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Edited February 16, 2006 by Sonic

[RJARRRPCGP]

Make sure that the processor heatsink is seated properly.

[peachy]

You said clean install of XP. Which service pack? And are you connected to the Internet without first installing the Blaster worm patch? If so, you may be infected. Just a thought...

[CptMurphy]

If it's a virus, get f-prot virus scanner for dos. It's free. Generally, your computer reboots because of either heat, or the power supply can't handle the load you have on it. Check to make sure that the fan in the psu is working. One final thing to check is ur memory. Have you recently done anything inside of your pc, hardware-wise?

[OtherworldBob]

Just before the Windows Boot screen appears, press F8, and you'll (hopefully) get to an options menu.

If the option 'Disable Automatic Restart on System Failure' is there (or words to that effect), click it.

Then, if Windows is Blue Screening, you should be able to note down the error it gives.

Any use?

Edited February 16, 2006 by OtherworldBob

[cluberti]

If it's restarting and going through the whole shutdown process, it's possibly an infection of some sort. However, if it's just rebooting (without the whole shutdown process happening, saving your settings, closing network connections, etc) then you either have a hardware problem or the machine is indeed bugchecking.

Make sure your system is configured to do a complete memory dump, notify the administrator, and NOT automatically reboot. If you're getting a bluescreen, you should see it after making these changes in the system properties. However, if the machine still reboots (and again, isn't going through the whole shutdown process) it's almost always a hardware problem and obvious hardware testing should ensue.

And pressing F8 after the BIOS POST, but before the Windows XP splash screen comes up, is how you get into safe mode.

[Daemonforce]

You have a hardware conflict.

[suryad]

I would go with hardware problems. Try the suggestions already mentioned. I dont think it is a software related issue since he siad he partitioned and reformatted and reinstalled....

[cluberti]

Ah, but it's likely the drivers are the same - no sense ruling out a software issue if it's easy to determine (whether it is bugchecking or not).

[CptMurphy]

If it's rebooting when it's at a hardware check then it more than likely is a hardware issue. If it's rebooting when it shows the winxp status display, then it's proabably a driver issue.

[breadandbubbles]

alright! so everyone was saying that it was either an infection, or hardware issue. probably heat, but possibley memory.

to correct answer is...

it was both! my memory is fine, my pc was infected with Blaster as well as getting too hot. once all my applications booted up with windows, my cpu got so hot that it shut down my oc. conbuned with the Blaster worm, it was very unpleasant.

i used System Restore to get rid of the work, and i underclocked, as well as got rid of some of my bloated startup programs.

thanks guys! once again!

[cluberti]

Now maybe perhaps you'll admit that we all are really THAT good .

Edited February 17, 2006 by cluberti

[LLXX]

Instead of underclocking your system to avoid a heat issue, perhaps you should invest in a better heatsink/fan.

[breadandbubbles]

hahaha. man, i seriously saw no way you guys could help me. but you guys did it! im incredibley impressed. hooray for teamwork!

and ill definately invest a better heatsink. as soon as i get some money.