Computer continues to restart itself

uncheck the 'boot on error' option which hopefully is checked. then you can see and write down error message. also check event log.
to turn off auto reboot:
Control Panel/System/Advanced/Startup and Recovery
clear box that says Automatically Reboot and check box that says 'write event to log'

Boot into safe mode ,F8, this should get you in to see whats going on above. Other things to check: Power supply, how many critical updates did the machine download? Could be one of them isn't agreeing with the pc, try removing them in add/remove programs...

1. Make sure this isn't a prank from your friends with the "Blue screen of death" screen saver, which looks like its rebooting in a loop.
2. I agree with Answer#2, check your hardware and reverse your steps to the time the computer was working fine.
3. You might have to go to the extent of running a recovery on it. (HP recovery disk?).

Hope you get back up and running.

Okay ! I got 5 things 4 U:

1st) U are not alone with that problem ;) !

2nd) The problem happens mostlikely when you instaslled any Hotfix OR Servicepack on Windows 2K or XP ... AND you had any Application OPENED during this Update !!

3rd) I have found NO chance to recover the OS - sometimes !! we were able to use the OS-CDROM and activate the the Emergency-Console to recover all Systemfiles

4th) We mostlikely accessed all files with a Network-Disk or CD-ROM and backed-up all files to a Network-Share and reinstalled the Computer !
Or create yourself a "Windows PE"-CDROM - check
www.nu2.nu and look for PEBuilder !!! AWESOME !!
Their motto "...'cause being Admin is hard enough..." << DAMN RIGHT ;)) !

5th) ... if you find any other option ...PLZ let me know ;) !

GOOD LUCK, get back 2 me if you need more help !

It looks like a windows patch is causing it. First try to go into safe mode. If you can, you can set the computer to not reboot automatically upon a blue screen. This can help with finding the problem.
A second option will be to try using the cd to recover the OS, but this does not work too often (unfortunately). Another option is to boot into the recovery console (if you have an idea of what to disable) and disable the service or driver causing the problem. BUT --
the best option if you cannot find out what driver or service is causing it, and the recovery does not work, is to rebuild the system.

A lot of great answers here so far!

After hitting the F8 key on boot, you will have the LAST KNOWN GOOD option. It probably won't work as the updated probably didn't damage the area that is relevant to LAST KNOWN GOOD but it's worth a shot at this point.

Another thing that you can try is disabling change all the power management setting in the BIOS setup. If it's currently enabled then disable it. If for some reason the updated modified the HAL it could cause an issue with power management.

Cheers!
~Sean

I usually am able to fix these problems, but each one can be different. Boot Safe mode if possible and follow Answer 1 to turn off the "Reboot on error". Then you can see the actual error and track it down. In the future, always do a System State Backup using NTBACKUP before applying any patches. That way you can always put things back like they were before the update. I have my system scheduled to do a system state backup once a week so I can always recover in an easier fashion.

I've read the answers and there all good but try checking the power supply. Your PC might not be getting enough voltage witch can cause the problem you are discribing. the blue screen may be tring to inform you of the bad power supply but you cant read it so ???????

I've read the answers and there all good but try checking the power supply. Your PC might not be getting enough voltage witch can cause the problem you are discribing. the blue screen may be tring to inform you of the bad power supply but you cant read it so ???????

It sounds like your processor is going bad. Is this machine still under warranty?

This sounds like you have a virus, the msblaster virus that was going around in August/September

check your running processes for msblast.exe

You will find the most common reason this starts, happening is due to a bug in the service patch which does not agree with all chipsets,BIOS, etc. It will usually happen when you have not shutdown all non critical settings, and disabled the boot on error settings in your system settings, and the error log is not disabled also while downloading the so called quickfix patches.

You will also need to turn any screensavers, or you might end up with a corrupt install. Any one of these can cause the same problem. You should be able to resolve the problem by booting into safe mode with networking then unistall the patch, check the above settings, and make any changes needed and reboot into normal do a scandisk and defrag of your disc, and cleanup the remnants left behind in your registry. Only try this with administrator's rights or you will be limited as to what you are able to do, finally make certain your antivirus is upto date and carry out a deep heuristic scan for viruses on your system.

I have seem it once. It was rights access related.
Install your hard drive in another system (slave mode) and check if System account has full control access on WINNT directory and subdirectories. If not restablish it.
Good luck.

Are you hooked to a UPS. It might be doing the same as it does on XP corporate. If you are, plug into a single element, do the tips above about boot on errors, get a meter and check the power supply also. If that is not it, try one patch at a time to single out the culprit.

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