Windows XP keeps restarting

[Sylvan56473]

I walked into my office this morning to find my computer keeps restarting. The "Blue" screen comes up for just a split second and then it restarts. But the "Blue" screen goes away before I can read anything. I have recently had to reinstall Windows XP a couple of diffent times now because of various problems but this is the first problem that I have had with this installation (with the exception of always having to reset the clock). I reinstalled Windows XP in a new partition so that I could access the internet enough to get e-mails and on the web. I am also unable to start the computer in safe mode and I have already tried to repair the current Windows installation but it does not complete and it will shut down and restart. I have a Dell 4400 if that helps. Thanks.

 

[ShoobieRat]

If you ever get the desktop to come up, I would be interested to know what the system logs are saying.

Either way, you mentioned reinstalling Windows repeatedly. Given that you're now experiencing some strange behavior, it's pretty well safe to assume that you've got something knotted up. I would suggest backing up yer data, wiping the drive clean and starting fresh.

 

[Sylvan56473]

That is what we had to do last time (wiping it clean and starting over). I'm not a computer expert by any means, just enough to REALLY screw things up I think the only thing I can do is to deal with it.

Since I can access all of my saved documents this appears that it will work for now. But can anyone tell me how I would retrieve all of my saved e-mails and contacts from Office Outlook?

Thanks!

 

[ShoobieRat]

If you can get to Outlook, have Outlook simply export your emails and contacts to a PST file.

If not, it's next to impossible. What you should do in that case (or at least, what is easiest) is to just go buy another HDD and make this old one a slave. You won't have to erase the data, and as a slave, it'll work.

 

[Him]

Oh man, you should never just 'deal' with a computer problem as it can always be fixed. Try simply running a repair of windows xp. Boot from the cd, and the rest is pretty self explanatory.

 

[Sylvan56473]

Oh man, you should never just 'deal' with a computer problem as it can always be fixed. Try simply running a repair of windows xp. Boot from the cd, and the rest is pretty self explanatory.

I have already tried that and it still restarts. I'll have a professional look at it the first chance I get though.

 

[Sylvan56473]

If you can get to Outlook, have Outlook simply export your emails and contacts to a PST file.

If not, it's next to impossible. What you should do in that case (or at least, what is easiest) is to just go buy another HDD and make this old one a slave. You won't have to erase the data, and as a slave, it'll work.

I wasn't able to get that to work but I'll have someone more knowledgeable than me take a look at it. Thanks for all of your help.

 

[Him]

NP, thats what we are here for.

 

[Sylvan56473]

I tried repairing Windows Xp again and about 1/2 way or more into it a box popped up that said this

"The software you are installing for
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400
has not passed Windows logo testing to verify its compatibility with Windows XP"

Then you have a choice to either continue installing it or cancel. No matter which way I chose the computer restarts just seconds afterwards.

Is it possible that this may be causing something?

 

[Sylvan56473]

I just restarted my computer after using it half the day and a box came up saying that it just recovered from a serious error and this is what it has to say in the report.


C:\WINDOWS.001\Minidump\Mini041505-01.dmp
C:\DOCUME~1\JOHNBL~1\LOCALS~1\Temp\WER1.tmp.dir00\sysdata.xml