computer starts and stops in startup

Are using Dell Optiplex GX270? If yes then it is motherboard problem. I had face a lot of this problem at Dell Optiplex GX270 model, where the component near the Processor slot became plump.

So if you notice the component near the Processor slots have the same situation, you need to change the motherboard, to solve your problem.

That sounds like you have the automatic restart on error activated, I always turn this off.

If you can use safe mode to get to desktop, it's in Control Panel/Systems applet/Advanced/Startup and Recovery/Settings/Automatically Restart.

But are you saying that you can't get to the Desktop (is that what you mean by "Windows page"?) even in Safe Mode?

I presube you have tried F8 during boot and selected "Last known Good configuration"

One other way out of this is to try a "Hot Re-install" of XP, a non destructive method, which preserves your data and program settings. Fred Langa has an article on this at http://tinyurl.com/hutg5

However, this may not cure the cause of the problem, but may enable you to get to a Desktop where you can start doing something about it.

The real question is: What have you done recently, just before this started? That is the most likely cause.

OK a bit of basic Fault Finding here will work a treat. First try a Live Linux and boot off the CD to see if the system runs correctly if it does you have a Windows Problem that should be cured by in Inplace install of XP.

If Linux will not load there are 2 main options the first is a [b]Bad Power Supply[/b] so try it with a Known Good One if that cures the problem you know what you have to do. If it doesn't then the next option is most likely a HDD Controller on the M'Board which means a new M'Board.

The beauty of using a Live Linux to check the operation of the system is that it runs off the CD and doesn't write anything to the HDD in the system so it's a totally Noninvasive test method. Generally you can pick up a Linux Mag with a Live Linux on the Cover CD which you can use at first but after a while of using this you may wish to go to Knoppix which is far more useful to the average Windows User as it can read the NTFS drive and make changes to it if required.

Col

As I understand, the pc just shutdowns, not restarts. It may be an overheating problem due to the fan not working properly. To avoid frying the cpu, the pc stops automatically. You might want to look into it.

I had the same problem on a Fujitsu stationary machine during a heat wave, with temeperatures rising to 30 degrees C indoors. It was the processor shutting down automatically due to overheating. Removing the outer shell of the machine, and placing a tabletop fan in support of the processor fan solved the problem.

Dell motheroard problem, I am currently changing out all gx270 boards for Dell. 90 percent of the ones I swap have more than 1 swelled capacitors. This is a Dell recall. (They will still send a refurb board to replace!!) After reloading make sure to turn off restart on system failure. If you want to do diagnostics, backup or virus scan, you will have to put your HDD in another computer as slave, and run it that way.

I second the broken CPU fan theory. When certain CPUs overheat, they shut down to stop themselves from melting down.

This is consistent with the machine getting to different points in the boot up sequence before it shuts out.

I recently went through the problem described. A previous post mentioned 'Fred Langa' solution, that's a first, it covers the safe re-installation of XP from the MS XP installation disc, without changing your default computer system. It also covers the corruption of the boot.ini file. You could try and boot up in the Recovery consul from F8. CD Minidump, and delete the *.dmp files, When up and running check out www.barret.net/xpmemorydump.html Also delete the SWAP file, or make it Zero, boot up in Zero, then close down, boot up again and change the swap file to default. It is said the swap file holds info. on crashes which affect running of XP, by carrying out this proceedure XP produces a new file.
I'm no expert but that's how I got mine up and running.

Power supply unit is dying.

I have seen it twice on a PC, the power supply unit was not working properly. And, when that unit gives up, sometimes it damages other components in the machine. If you have access to an honest and competent shop, have the power supply checked; that unit is not very expensive and is very easy to replace.

Exchange your harddisk with a known good one with OS. If this boots properly, then it is a memory or motherboard problem.

Sounds like you need to start looking a little further outside the box. Is your power stable? Is your ground super solid? A lot of stuff happens at bootup. Have you tried swapping memory sticks? Are you on a big LAN with an extensive DOMAIN? If yes, is the COMPUTER BROWSER service running? If yes .. disable it. Have you been infected with a virus ever? Have you tried a beefier power supply?

I had this problem in June with a new (refurbished) Gateway running XP on an AMD dual core 4200. It couldn't get through the boot sequence. At random times after the desktop came up, it would reset and begin the reboot sequence.

In this case, it was a collision of mismatching software updates. I used MSCONFIG to shut off startup processes until I found that ehtray, which apparently is part of Media Center Edition functionality, was the culprit.

Once I got the thing so it could boot, then did all my updates (Windows, BIOS, drivers), the problem went away and I could bring ehtray back.

Weird.

Good luck.

John

Before you blindly replace anything, blow it out with compressed air. I had the same problem yesterday. It was dusty and overheating

I had the same behaviour last week with my Dell laptop. Boot in safe mode and see if it jams consistently on the same file. If so, this is the culprit. In my case it was the video acceleration service. I hacked it out of the registry on a rare clean boot and all was good. A microsoft kb article also helped a lot which I found by googling the file name.

I’d try these, in order:

1) Power cord and/or plug-in/circuit (change cords, plug it in somewhere else)

2) Overheating (can definitely produce your symptoms as described).

a) look for any fans that should be running that aren't.
b) try to boot it with the side of the case off and an external fan blowing on it
c) blow out all the dust you can.

If it's a bad fan, replace it. If the fans are running, and cleaning doesn't help, but it does run opened up with added air circulation, you can try cooling the room, you can just run it with the case open (not really recommended), or you can start looking at parts, because something is likely starting to go bad, if it just started overheating. Could be motherboard, RAM, power supply, etc. . .

3) Try Recovery Console. Boot from your XP CD, press F8 at boot time, before the Windows splash screen, and select the option. Right now, you’re only looking for whether you can in fact get there: if you can, it's not hardware, and you don't want to spend money if it’s not going to fix your problem.

If you can't even boot from CD into Recovery Console, it's not Windows, and it's not your hard drive; it's other hardware. Trial and error time: first I'd check all my cable connections, make sure the RAM is seated properly, look for shorts or cuts in cables, etc. I'd pop the RAM out and put it back, maybe switch slots if you've got more than one stick. I'd flip the external power switch on the power supply, just in case. If you have to start replacing things, might be easier to take it to a shop that has spares on hand, but if you do it yourself, RAM's cheapest, then probably power supply, then motherboard. Any of them could cause your problem, so I'd replace them in that order, probably.

As mentioned in several of the previous answers, there are a number of possibilities. Many are software but I'm finding more often hardware and heat related being predominant.

1. Fan failure. there are a number, case, CPU, Video boards and a number of small fans on different motherboards. Lately, I've had a number of video card fans fail just after the one year warranty. Any of these can cause the system to reboot if Reboot on Error is on, and sometimes when it isn't.

2. power supply. Often this is the fan but sometimes the 5 or 12 volt supply will fail intermitantly without notice. There are a number of inexpensive devices you can buy which allow you to plug the power supply in and check each of the component supplies under load.

Most recent systems are requiring a minimum of 300 watt supplies and the newer systems from the last 5 months are now requiring 500 watts and more. I just built one with a dual core cpu where the required minimun with two PCI-16X video cards is 600 watts.

If you have updated components, added new cards or just have a dusty environment, look for power and heat issues.

If you've updated software or installed service packs, it might be software,

I had this same problem with a Dell system. It would shut off as it was booting up. Sometimes it would stay on and I would refuse to turn off the system as it was running. Everytime I rebooted the same problem. After 4 months I finally got Dell to send a tech. He replaced both of the fan cooling units and I have not had a problem since. He stated that the fan(s) were not coming on when they were suppose to start causing the processor to heat up sooner and shut down the system to prevent any damage to the computer system. It was a good protection device but when you do not have any idea of what is going on it is very annoying....Gary

I suppect bad memory or loose memory.

I re-built a 6 year old PC for my partner a little while ago using Win2K. All went well untill I put AVG Free on. It would do excactly as you describe. One removed through save mode it was fine again. I tried XP but the same thing happened. I'm now looking for another free Anti Virus program..
So if you PC is getting on a bit maybe...

It could be a failing harddrive. That's been my experience. I suggest you go into BIOS Setup and see if you have a hard drive test routine. It might be called something like 'IDE Self Test'.

It sounds like that there is some problems with the coolers or power supply in your system.

If there is blue screen before shut down, check your hardware(HDD, RAM, etc)/driver. Remove all unnecessary devices and boot to see if the problem still exist. If it's gone, plug one device back each time and boot to find out which device is the cause.

I had a similar problem but didn't try all those really exotic solutions. In my case the BIOS setting for the IDE was incorrectly set to SATA startup as opposed to SCSI. I didn't have a SATA drive so I tried changing that. As luck would have it it worked.