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Reboot loop after restart

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22 replies

by wesley.chin 1 view

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After rebooting, the windows splash screen appears, screen is black, and then the computer reboots again. This sequence repeats indefinitely. At one point, manually enter safe mode, schedule a disk check, reboot and then boot normally. But then the reboot sequence starts again after restarting.

22 replies

by oh smeg

Or Corrupted Software.

You first need to rule out a Hardware Failure so I would suggest the Ultimate Boot CD available free here

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

Download the ISO for this and burn to CD then go tot he affected computer insert into the Optical Drive and reset the Boot Order to Optical Drive before HDD and then boot the system.

I start off with RAM Tests followed by CPU then HDD and finally Video but you can use whatever you like. Of course if you get errors whatever you are currently testing needs attention.

However if the Tests Pass OK then you have to start looking at a Repair Install of your OS. ;)

Col

by wesley.chin

I had thought of a repair install too. But the XP CD has no service packs, whereas the installed XP has SP3. In this case, would it be a repair install be doable? I know IE definitely will not work, other than that, will everything else be reinstalled properly?

Also, how would a repair install differ from "sfc /scannow" with the XP CD?

Since the problem appeared, I have had the user hibernate his machine, which he is not accustomed to.

by oh smeg

Any Service Packs and Hot Fixes that where released after your Install Disc it will work OK.

But like anything with Windows you should have a working Backup of your Data & Settings before beginning. ;)

Col

by oldbaritone

Did the user monkey around with REGEDIT? I've seen many a user create these symptoms when they deleted or changed some key improperly.

Oh, of course not. How silly of me for asking. I know the user said "No, I never did that..."

;-)

by wesley.chin

But I don't think the user has the ability or inclination to monkey around with the registry. Or even knows how to access the registry.

by wesley.chin

I reinstalled...so far has been up and running. Does not appear to be a hardware failure. At this point, how many days should I wait before deciding the problem is gone? Right now, the OS is bare bones, with just programs the OS shipped with.

by jellimonsta

It sounds like error recovery is set to automatically reboot. Uncheck that option so you can see the errors that are causing the reboots.

1.
Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
2.
Click the Advanced tab.
3.
Under Startup and Recovery, click Settings to open the Startup and Recovery dialog box.
4.
Clear the Automatically restart check box, and click OK the necessary number of times.
5.
Restart your computer for the settings to take effect.

by tobif

Your tip can be very useful for the future, provided that OP manages to get out of the current situation. (Try right-clicking "My computer" if the boot never reaches the desktop interface :) )

by oh smeg

They say don't bother we'll E-Mail you the settings so you are not wasting bulk loads of [i]our[/i] time.

I've never fully understood that logic though. :^0

Col

by ansugisalas

I mean of course, safe mode...no more naruto-reading marathons ;), the questioner said he'd managed to pull a safe mode.

by wesley.chin

that is one of the things I had thought of. But if that is done, will I be able to enter safe mode?

by tobif

Something that is not loaded for safe mode has been corrupted and should either be repaired, or deleted.

Use safe mode to change the reboot behavior as indicated in the post I ranted about.
When the computer next halts, note what program is causing the boot failure.
Next, boot back into safe mode and investigate the startup logs, where you often can see what the computer was doing when it stopped.
Hmm. In case something recently installed is causing these problems, then you could try rolling back to a recent restore point.

Ultimate solution: Back up all user data (from safe mode), then nuke the disk and reinstall the system.

by ansugisalas

you can get to it from safe mode.
But if it's a hardware problem, this won't help - of course, that failure is in itself diagnostic.

by jellimonsta

You should F8 on boot to enter safe mode. Then change the settings via my original message. Then restart again normally. You will most likely see a blue screen instead of the perpetual reboots. That blue screen will give you the stop error and potentially the drivers or system file that is causing the issue. My guess would be its a video or sound driver (or potentially even network) that is causing a stop error. If you write down the stop error and any system files listed, you can google that error and usually find a resolution. Or post the error back here.

by ansugisalas

implied in the "not wasting bulk loads of our time."

Admit it, you envy their audacity ;)

by oh smeg

No not really I'm no where near that Polite to my customers.

Of course they also know that I go to bat for them when they have problems like that and sort it out for them. ;)

Col

by santeewelding

Is interested in the immediate. The ins and the outs of diagnostics may, or, may not be, of immediate help.

by jellimonsta

I probably should have implied safe mode in my post, as he did mention he got it up in safe mode so it was implied he would change settings there.

by ansugisalas

one thing to make sure of is that you have all the drivers and firmware for all components installed...
if there's a hardware issue in a component, it's not always apparent until it's put to full use.
I had one like that... I still haven't found the root cause, I'm thinking an onboard component, either network or sound, was fried.

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