douglasb

Earlier this week, my home PC started rebooting itself at random. This has been getting worse until now I can't start Windows (XP Home).

What now happens is that it gets to a screen saying something like "Windows shut down incorrectly. Your options are to start in Safe Mode, Safe Mode with Networking, Safe Mode with Command Prompt, Last Known Good Configuration, Start Windows as Normal. Select which you want otherwise Windows will start as normal in xx seconds (counts down from 30)"

Whatever I select, Windows attempts to start but never reaches the logon screen. As some point in Windows attempting to start, the PC reboots.

While it was randomly rebooting, it stayed up long enough for me to run a virus check (symantec, with auto update turned on). This reported no problems.

So, is the PC knackered or do I have a virus? If it is knackered, how do I recover data from the C: drive when I can't start Windows? (I'm assuming that the C: drive isn't totally screwed as Windows is at least attempting to start).

Nick

It may be hardware related. Could be a failing PSU, RAM or motherboard. I'd replace the PSU with a good quality brand (Enermax, Globalwin etc).

hedgehog

It does sound like a hardware fault as Nick says, though it is possible that this has resulted in corruption of your Windows install. If you have two "memory modules" installed it might be worthwhile removing one of them, and then the other, to see if this solves the problem. It's free!

Do you have the Windows CD to see if you can boot off it and run a repair? If Windows is corrupt this might get you up and going again, maybe.

scotty44

iTrader: (12)

I'v looked @ a few pc's that have had the same sort of problem m8 , when a screen has come up & give a msg saying its going to "shut down" in xx sec's & its allways been part a "msblast" virus , have you done a V.scan ?

hedgehog

That is certainly the virus if it gives that message before shutting down but there was no mention of any message before the shut down in the initial post, only that there were random shut downs. So, you might be correct and if there was a message then you certainly are but if it is just random shut downs out of the blue without a message then hardware is still in the frame.

Nicks VR4

Check BIOS you can get it to not reboot on Blue screen of Death or errors

DJ140

Mine kept rebooting itself recently and the problem was with the graphics card. I'd installed a 9800 pro, with the latest ATI driver and the system became very unstable.

The solution was to turn the AGP down to 4X from 8X and no more problems since.

Have you installed any new HW recently, or drivers? Is so this could well be the root of your problems.

kammy

Hi i had this. Had to take it to a comp shop and rebot XP for us. Could have done it myself, but could format the enitre drive as it has my dissertation on it. Shat myself.
Fookin virus,
Kam

douglasb

Thanks all. I suspect a hardware problem has corrupted the Windows installation rather than it being a virus.

When it decided to reboot, there was never an error message with the "Shutting down in...." text. Also, while it was still up and running I updated the Norton AV definitions and ran a scan - which was clear.

I don't have the XP CD (bladdy OEM install!) but I can borrow one to try to repair the disk.

If I boot from a Norton Ghost floppy and come out to DOS, I can see the C drive and copy files from it to floppy, so I shouldn't lose too much data if the worst comes to the worst. Also, as I have a fairly recent Ghost image on the second hard drive, I'm not too pessimistic at the moment.

douglasb

This is getting frustrating!

Tried booting from XP CD. The CD was recognised, the XP install program started correctly, but as soon as it tried to access the C drive, the PC rebooted.

OK. Replace the HDD with a new one. Boot from the XP CD - and the same thing happens.

Tried "Ultimate Boot Disk" from the CD drive - as soon as it accesses the HDD, the PC reboots.

I've removed the second (slave) HDD, so I don't think it's power related (the data in the BIOS screen about voltages and temperatures looks OK).

Tried removing the CD and using its IDE cable for the C drive. Same again. Every so often when booting up, the BIOS doesn't recognise the primary master drive.

I now suspect the IDE controller so I'll buy one on the way home tonight. Against that theory though is the fact that the BIOS (usually) recognises the HDD and that I can boot from a DOS floppy and then access the C drive.

If anyone has any better suggestions, they will be very welcome,

douglasb

It's getting more frustrating!

Booted the thing up when I got home this evening. As (almost) usual, it tells me that the BIOS has recognised the primary master drive and goes on to the "There is a problem. Do you want to boot to Safe Mode, Last Known Good, or just let Windows start normally" screen.

At this point, the phone rings. While I was talking on the phone the PC chose the "Start Windows as normal" option. Up comes the XP startup screen! Just as I'm thinking I've been a lucky barsteward, after about 30 seconds with the "blue dots" making their progress below the XP logo the thing reboots again. While on the phone, I didn't touch the PC but let this continue. It repeated this a few times.

Great, I thought; the IDE controller must be OK and the HDD must be OK. If XP is corrupt, I can boot from an XP CD and try the "repair" option. This still gets me to the point where XP examines the hardware, loads drivers, etc., and as soon as it tries to do anything with the C drive decides to reboot the PC. (No error messages at any point).

Am I right in thinking that this means that my best bet now is to-

(1) get a mate to partition and format my spare (blank) HDD,
(2) install this in the PC, boot from the recovery CD and get the system back to "as new",
(3) reinstall the slave drive and restore the last Ghosted image from it,
(4) install the (currently borked as a boot disk) HDD as a slave,
(5) copy anything over that was missing from the Ghost image
(6) run Windows Update and Norton Update?

As before, if anyone has any better ideas, I'm listening.

douglasb

Replaced the PSU. It's now working and no data lost . Yay!

Thanks all for the suggestions.

Doug

Boro

iTrader: (1)

LOL, good call Nick, first reply and spot on, im impressed