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XP system keeps rebooting

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6 replies

by cfl

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I have tried everything I can think of and this system just keeps rebooting. I have put different hdd's on it thinking it was corupt or the bootsector was bad, but it does the same thing. I have changed the hdd cables on the motherboard, they were okay. it shows up in the bios, so the board is finding it. I ran several diagnostics on the system and I got one error message that the hard disk controller had a failure. Otherwise, everything checked out. This system is just one year old. I cleaned all the fans and checked the cpu and ram. The power supply is fine. It started rebooting itself when windows was up and running, now it doesn't even get into Windows. It just keeps rebooting after the "Enter Bios" message comes up. Everything is Bios is fine. If anyone has any ideas I would sure appreciate it. Thanks.

6 replies

by fungus-among-us

Normally, I'd say there was an issue with corrupted/infected files on your HD or a failing power supply, but after reading your post and seeing that you've installed different hard drives with the same result and your power supply is "fine". I would tend to believe that error message stating the HD controller failure. Also the fact that you're not even getting into windows anymore, and the system still reboots itself, ends to point to a hardware issue rather than a software one. HDD and FDD controllers have been built into system motherboards for quite some time now. If the controller is bad, you need to consider getting a new motherboard. If you can find one, you may want to install a PCI (doubt ISA is available in your system) based drive controller, connect your IDE drives to it (assuming were dealing with IDE hard drives, if SATA, get a SATA controller), disable the drive controller in your BIOS and see if the system continues to reboot.

Good Luck

by cfl

I tried the pci disk controller and installed it according to the instructions. When I turn it on, it finds the drive and continues to reboot just as before. I have tried going into BIOS and disabling the onboard ide controllers but it doesn't help. Do you think my only other option is a new motherboard/

by --loki--

The cylinder shaped thingys sticking up from the board, usually around the CPU.... are they bulging at the top or leaking? if so, that will cause your system to spontaneously reboot, and cause other errors as well... the more you try to use the system, the worse it will likely get, if this is the problem, as they would not be correctly regulating voltage to the cpu anymore.....

Check and see... that's all I can think of other than what's already been mentions...

Hope this helps!

by cfl

It ended up being the powersupply. It had enough voltage to light up my tester, but not enough to boot the system. After I installed a new one, it works fine. Thanks for everyone's help.

by smlippa

I'm having the same issue, driving me insane. I have a ~5 yr old Compaq Presario that's always been a good machine, now rebooting constantly, pulling my hair out trying to figure it out. Haven't found any viruses or other issues. How can I confirm if it's the PS please? Thanks very much.
Scott

by spjenatech

Qestion: I have faced similar problem of rebooting of WindowsXP system in every 3 to 4 hours

Soln: The Heat Sink of the Processor was not working properly. After repasting the HeatSink Paste, it worked perfect and no Reboot. Thanks for your information I found from your discussion.

1. First Suspected some virus problem, but there was no virus
2. Secondly the power suply discontinuity in SMPS, that was also not true in my case
3. Third Suspect was Domain administrator is forcing to rebbot the client machine, aslo not true.

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