My computer restarts halfway through the booting process

[websterthehamster]

I'm using Windows XP. It crashed a few days ago, and when I restarted it, this new problem came up. It gets to about when I'd expect the login screen to come up, then reboots.

Does anyone have any idea what's going on here?:confused:

[djr33]

That's not really enough information to know anything for sure. It sounds like a major problem, certainly, but not anything I've heard about. (This isn't my specialty, by the way.)

Before anything else, I'd recommend that you back up all data-- in another thread I believe you mentioned you can use Linux. If so, that's great-- store everything to an external hard drive then move on from there.

My general recommendation is just to reformat the computer. It never hurts to refresh the system (except that it takes an hour or so), and this will most likely fix the problem unless there is some major hardware issue (unlikely since that appears to be a software-initiated event-- at the login stage).

If you want to try to fix it, the first step is to try an alternate method to access (or fix) the computer. The obvious one is using safe mode or reverting back to a previously working state if you can do that. Aside from that, insert the XP disc and try to diagnose and fix any problems. And if that fails, at least you'll already have the disc in to start reformatting.


Remember that it's always safer to reformat, and the only thing that really matters is your data (if there's anything you can't replace). In situations like this, there's also always the slight chance that is a virus and might try to infect other devices as well. For that reason be cautious when connecting anything to it until you've fixed (or reformatted) the problem. This includes your method of backing up, but in general I think that if you copy to an external medium (something that doesn't 'boot') the virus [if there is one] won't be able to do much. A good idea in these cases is, if you can, to use another operating system. The best, It think, is a mac since anything that hurts a PC isn't going to hurt a mac (at least I've never heard of something like that), but Linux is a good option too.

[davelf]

Just format the computer, if you want to backup the data you can remove the hard-disk and use the external hard-disk plug to back-up all of your data. That's what i do, if i need to format my OS, and don't have any partition on my hard-disk

[websterthehamster]

Thanks for the help!

I am considering just formatting the computer and reinstalling Windows.

The computer is not connected to the Internet, so I don't think it's a virus.

And, here is a little more detail:

I was trying to run GIMP and a program called Logo Creator (by Laughingbird software) at the same time to compare some features. The computer stopped responding, and so I reset it. Then it wouldn't even get to the Windows loading phase, it just said a certain folder was corrupted (C:\Windows\system, or something like that). So I ran the Windows repair tool, which gave me a prompt, and then ran CHKDSK (Check Disk, I think). It muttered to itself for a while, then said it had fixed whatever problems it had found. I then was able to get as far as the point mentioned above.

One problem, however. Safemode doesn't work any better than normal mode. I haven't yet tried safemode with command prompt. I'll try that next, run CHKDSK again, and then probably install either Ubuntu or Windows or Both.

Thanks again.

[flapane]

Did you consider a RAM test (ie. memtest86) ?

[davelf]

if the safe mood prompt didn't work, it must be an error in windows system

[Asherr]

hi, Before you format your computer please check if your RAM is properly inserted or not in the slot. Once it has been checked then restart your computer and check if the same problem occurs or not. If the same thing happens again then take back up of your data and format complete HDD for increasing easiness in your daily work.

[freddavis]

Hello ! well I also encountered a similar kind of problem. My OS used to restart before I login and by chance I used to Log in then after some time it used to get restarted again. Well there was a combination of problems in my system. Firstly, the virus was activated in my system secondly, the IC of my CD Rom was shot ( Not working properly ) this turned out to be a dangerous problem for me. So my advice to you is that check both hardware and software.

[Beverleyh]

Once you do reformat your computer it would probably be a good idea to partition the hard disk too. Keeping your data away from the OS will be quicker if you need to reformat again at a later date, but always try to keep an external data backup too.

[websterthehamster]

Hi

It's been quite a while (several months) since this incident occurred. Just in case anyone else has this problem, I'll post how I dealt with the problem:

1. I ran Ubuntu Linux live from a USB Flash drive.

2. I backed up all my data to an external hard drive.

3. I installed Ubuntu on the computer.

That computer is now used for viewing movies off the Net in the living room since my family really doesn't dig linux (except for me :), and I got a new computer. I was able to save the data because I could view it in linux.

So, if your Windows machine bleeps out on you, just remember that you can run a live distro of linux to at least save your Great American Novel and other important files. If I had lost some of the files on my computer, I might have flunked 9th grade! Thanks Linux.

[victor.martin]

Either the os restarts or the hardware restarts- or you tell it to restart. Reinstall your os. test your memory with memtest to see if your ram is ok. try a new hard drive. but reinstall first. its free