comp restarts right after windows bootup!

[weewun]

i have a P4 2.8GHz pc with 512 ram etc. I was happily playing a game, which i have played since feb without this error, and my PC just resets! i was slightly annoyed, however this has happened before(i put it down to cheap RAM or something) BUT in the past it always booted up fine! but this time it loads up windowsXP pro to the login screen, then about 2 seconds later, it just resets itself again! it just goes round in a big loop! have tried totally powering it down at the socket. ran a check disk which found nothing (surprise surprise) and even re-wrote the boot sector on my HD(was a long shot)... and still it doesnt work! any help would be good!

 

[madcat75]

Have you installed any new virus programs? Or tried booting to "last known good config" ?

 

[weewun]

not installed any anti virus software recently(i am behind a hardware firewall and a software one so wasnt sure it was worth it)... and i forget how to got to last known good config...

 

[Osiris]

Do you have 1 stick of ram or two?

 

[weewun]

1x512 ram

 

[Osiris]

What I would do, is completely rebuild and double check everything

 

[weewun]

is there nothing else i could try first? re-building would take me AGES and i dont actually know what to look for... would there be any specific bits to check? iv not touched the inside of the case for about 2-3 months when i put an exhaust into it for my GFX card... would it be the RAM??

 

[madcat75]

not installed any anti virus software recently(i am behind a hardware firewall and a software one so wasnt sure it was worth it)... and i forget how to got to last known good config...

Hit F8 I believe it is, when starting up.

 

[RicoDirenzo]

when you do your initial start-up. Hit the F8 key....you will see an option to>> boot from the last known good config>> and then report back.

 

[weewun]

woohoo! did it... 3 mins logged on and no reboot! dammit... i spent about an hour and a half trying to fix it earlier!!! must remember the F8 key... lol! cheers for all the help.... will let i know if it f****s up again...