PC keeps restarting

[Shawzer]

I recently inherited a faulty PC from a friend. When booting, it reaches the black XP 'loading' screen and then immediately re-boots. Tried re-formatting the HDD & re-installing windows - same result. Tried swapping out the HDD for a known good one - same result. Any suggestions? New MB perhaps??

Not too sure of the spec because I don't have the documentation. Although I have worked out that its a P3 1GHz.

Thanks
Gary

 

[ThirtySixBelow]

Seeing as you have tried more than one motherboard, more than one fresh install of windows, and more than one hard drive im going to say that perhaps your processor is running to hot and when it starts to load windows it automatically reboots. I dont see how if you have a good motherboard, hard drive, and a clean install that it would just cut off like that. It might be a bad stick of ram but im not sure that would cause instantaneous reboot. What kind of cooling and thermal paste/pad are you using.

 

[jaun1477]

can you tell us if you finish the reinstall or it will just reboot while install ?
some times its the battery gone bad

 

[Noliniel]

might be faulty memory. Happened to me before but not excatly like that. Try change the memory card.

 

[HoLoCroN]

Check the power supply.

 

[Cappy]

Definately check your power supply , see if it will boot into safe mode also .RunMEMTest 2.1 to see if your memory is ok . Check the inside of the case for heavy dust accumulation around the processor and PS

 

[killians45]

yep, I'd check the power supply. Maybe need more output.

 

[Apokalipse]

actually he didn't try a new mobo
I agree with trying a bigger power supply though

 

[herbert talabis]

Have you tried running OS under "safe mode"? If yes & it showed that OS didn't reboot under SAFE MODE then might as well uninstall every damn DRIVERS you installed.
After that return OS under "normal mode" & see whether it works. Then try installing outdated or updated drivers until you've got the compatible driver. Video drivers were common in terms of compatibility issue before desktop appears.

I had experienced power supply issue in that kind of situation. One is replacing the whole thing & the other one is removing some hardware because my power supply couldn't handle 4x 20gig HDD & a floppy. Before buying a new one; remove optical drives / floppy / aux. fan & test if you've experienced the same problem.

Do you have a spare memory?
CPU / Mainboard temperature cool enough?