Re: Mystery Problem - Won't Boot

From: D.Currie (dmbcurrie.nospam_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 03/05/04 

Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 21:53:35 -0700

"Doyle Lonnigan" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:6f6e01c40205$8e12df30$a401280a@phx.gbl...
> So, my last computer lost my confidence when it no longer
> started up and instead rebooted itself continuously, never
> showing the desktop. I invested in a brand new machine
> which ran like a top for about six months when suddenly -
> Bam! It did the same thing and has become a pricey paper
> weight.
>
> The symptoms: The computer starts normally but just when
> the desktop should appear the screen flashes blue for a
> split second (too fast to read the text) and it starts
> over again. Initially I could start in safe mode but now
> it won't even do that. I get the option to start in safe
> mode (when I hit F8) but when I choose to do so it hangs
> up after listing a string of command lines that are
> incomprehensible to me.
>
> My computer go-to guy thinks it has something to do with
> the HPT 374 drivers being corrupted, alluding to "ultra
> DMA drivers". Yada yada yada. He connected to HD to
> another point on the motherboard and re-installed the
> chipset for the original connection point (sorry I don't
> know better tech lingo). After connecting at the original
> point with the new chipset installed, the machine started
> up but was sluggish with long periods of inactivity
> between clicks. I backed up my stuff and restarted only
> to have the original symptoms reapper. No desktop.
> Constant rebooting.
>
> I can reformat and start over but since I can't tell
> what's causing the problem I can't defend against it
> happening again. Since I've been struck down by the same
> problem twice within the last year and on two different
> machines, I have to believe that something in my set up or
> working method is causing the problem. Either that, or
> the problem is inherant in Windows XP. I've seen others
> post the same symptoms to this forum, but no one seems to
> get a definitive cure.
>
> If anyone can offer any insight into this I'd greatly
> appreciate it. I'm at the end of my rope. Thanks in
> advance!!

You might want to find another "go-to" guy.

First thing you need to do is get rid of the rebooting so you can see the
error message, at which point you can track down the hardware or software
that's causing the error.

>From System Properties, go to the Advanced tab, then the startup and
recovery button. Click Settings and uncheck "automatically restart."

Once you've got the error message, you can look it up and you're a lot
closer to solving the problem.