XP randomly goes into reboot loop

[swana2k]

Recently built myself a new system Athlon XP 3500+, ASUS AV8 deluxe
motherboard, 1gb RAM. Sound system had no probs.
Then got a wireless router and the motherboard has built in wireless
so i wanted to setup a home network which i did, again all no probs.
As my comp was now newly connected to the net I updated windows and
AVG etc... when they were complete i had to customarily reboot. This
is when i first hit a reboot loop.

Couldnt solve it so formatted and reinstalled XP (figured it was down
to windows updates)
So as i said i figured it was the windows updates so I dloaded all
apart from the most recent. Rebooted & installed. All good no
probs, so i figure ive cracked it....

Spend another hour or so installing apps i use, customising it all how
i like it. numerous reboots after installations still no probs.
Watch a video in media player.... installed cuteftp which i hadnt done
previously so this cant be the prob. rebooted again to complete
installation, windows loads up with the jingle then reboots like
someone has just turned off the power!

No error messages, no blue screens, just power off and on again. Now
its stuck in a loop again like this!! Now this seems pretty random to
me and I've now come to conclusion it must be a hardware prob??
The systems not overloaded power wise by the way.

I cant boot up in safe mode either cos the standard keys dont seem to
work F8 selects the boot device on my system and the pause/break key
has no effect.

How the hell do i break the loop and isolate the prob?! All the guides
Ive found involve changing settings in windows which i cant get too?!

I pretty sure its not a software issue, its not like I installed
something and then the system loops. There are no glitches in the
actual boot sequence it performs the POST actions fine, XP startup
screen fine. Its so odd?

Ideas anyone please!!! I'm not reinstalling everything for the 3rd
time for it to randomly hot again.

[Rich Barry]

You could try disconnecting a few devices that are not needed for OS
functioning. Then try a Repair Install.
You could possibly have a flaky Power Supply or Ram. Check here for
further info on the RI
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

http://btfaq.com/cgi-bin/fom?_recurse=1&file=34#file_36
Check here for possible Network culprits.

"swana2k" > wrote in message
.. .
> Recently built myself a new system Athlon XP 3500+, ASUS AV8 deluxe
> motherboard, 1gb RAM. Sound system had no probs.
> Then got a wireless router and the motherboard has built in wireless
> so i wanted to setup a home network which i did, again all no probs.
> As my comp was now newly connected to the net I updated windows and
> AVG etc... when they were complete i had to customarily reboot. This
> is when i first hit a reboot loop.
>
> Couldnt solve it so formatted and reinstalled XP (figured it was down
> to windows updates)
> So as i said i figured it was the windows updates so I dloaded all
> apart from the most recent. Rebooted & installed. All good no
> probs, so i figure ive cracked it....
>
> Spend another hour or so installing apps i use, customising it all how
> i like it. numerous reboots after installations still no probs.
> Watch a video in media player.... installed cuteftp which i hadnt done
> previously so this cant be the prob. rebooted again to complete
> installation, windows loads up with the jingle then reboots like
> someone has just turned off the power!
>
> No error messages, no blue screens, just power off and on again. Now
> its stuck in a loop again like this!! Now this seems pretty random to
> me and I've now come to conclusion it must be a hardware prob??
> The systems not overloaded power wise by the way.
>
> I cant boot up in safe mode either cos the standard keys dont seem to
> work F8 selects the boot device on my system and the pause/break key
> has no effect.
>
> How the hell do i break the loop and isolate the prob?! All the guides
> Ive found involve changing settings in windows which i cant get too?!
>
> I pretty sure its not a software issue, its not like I installed
> something and then the system loops. There are no glitches in the
> actual boot sequence it performs the POST actions fine, XP startup
> screen fine. Its so odd?
>
> Ideas anyone please!!! I'm not reinstalling everything for the 3rd
> time for it to randomly hot again.
>

[t.cruise]

If you have already done this basic thing, please excuse my suggesting it: When you first
install Windows XP, before any problems, right click the My Computer desktop icon, left
click Properties, click the Advanced tab, near the bottom of the window under the heading:
Startup and Recovery, click to REMOVE the checkmark in the box to the left of:
Automatically Restart, then click the OK button, and click the Apply and OK buttons at the
bottom of the remaining window. After doing that, hopefully instead of the rebooting
loop, you WILL get a blue screen, with details of what the error actually is. If you
cannot find a fix for the error detailed on the blue screen, post the information here,
and someone will likely have a fix or a link with information.

If you HAVE already done the above: Are you using a firewall? There are worms/viruses
that cause reboots. Some systems reboot when they overheat because the fan is not working
properly. Have you checked your RAM? Faulty memory can also cause reboots. Is it
possible that you are installing older hardware drivers AFTER the Windows updates, and
that there is a conflict between an older driver and a Windows update?
--

T.C.

Remove [NoSpam] to reply



"swana2k" > wrote in message
.. .
> Recently built myself a new system Athlon XP 3500+, ASUS AV8 deluxe
> motherboard, 1gb RAM. Sound system had no probs.
> Then got a wireless router and the motherboard has built in wireless
> so i wanted to setup a home network which i did, again all no probs.
> As my comp was now newly connected to the net I updated windows and
> AVG etc... when they were complete i had to customarily reboot. This
> is when i first hit a reboot loop.
>
> Couldnt solve it so formatted and reinstalled XP (figured it was down
> to windows updates)
> So as i said i figured it was the windows updates so I dloaded all
> apart from the most recent. Rebooted & installed. All good no
> probs, so i figure ive cracked it....
>
> Spend another hour or so installing apps i use, customising it all how
> i like it. numerous reboots after installations still no probs.
> Watch a video in media player.... installed cuteftp which i hadnt done
> previously so this cant be the prob. rebooted again to complete
> installation, windows loads up with the jingle then reboots like
> someone has just turned off the power!
>
> No error messages, no blue screens, just power off and on again. Now
> its stuck in a loop again like this!! Now this seems pretty random to
> me and I've now come to conclusion it must be a hardware prob??
> The systems not overloaded power wise by the way.
>
> I cant boot up in safe mode either cos the standard keys dont seem to
> work F8 selects the boot device on my system and the pause/break key
> has no effect.
>
> How the hell do i break the loop and isolate the prob?! All the guides
> Ive found involve changing settings in windows which i cant get too?!
>
> I pretty sure its not a software issue, its not like I installed
> something and then the system loops. There are no glitches in the
> actual boot sequence it performs the POST actions fine, XP startup
> screen fine. Its so odd?
>
> Ideas anyone please!!! I'm not reinstalling everything for the 3rd
> time for it to randomly hot again.
>

[swana2k]

No i havent tried that. Wish someone had told me before!! lol

Just using the windows firewall.
As for drivers... only ones im updating after SP2 are graphics card
(geforce FX 5200 - Nvidia) and (Sound card - Creative Audigy 2 ZS).

Will check the memory too. 2 x 512Mb Corsair.

The system was stable before introducing the wireless it seems. I mean
the onboard wireless was installed but not actually active on a
network.

It boots to windows and a window flashes up too quick to see and it
reboots so im thinking it may be the first startup item?? I've also
tried hitting ctl alt del quickly to see what processes are running
briefly.