Computer restarts after booting

[Jimmy]

Well last night the avast did a full scan when I instyalled it and didn't make any differance so can't have found/fixed anything.
i had had it running in safe mode for aboyut an hour while I was downloading avast on my parants pc and then it was in safe mode when I installed it on there and after it restarted the pc during install it went to noprmal windows mode and ran fine for about 20mins (although it performaed like a 400mhz thing with like 1mb of ram ) So i manged to dial up and download the updates for avast then started it scaning again, after about 5mins of scaning it was as if there was a power cut and it just restarted again

I'm going to go try it for thefirst time today, if it doesn't work i'm gana take out the graphics card, maby thats causeing it cos it may have OVERHEATED (I'll be rather upset if it has grr lol)

once again thanks for the help so far , if it wasn't for all the help i'v got i think i'd already have dealt to my pc with the axe!!!

[creator2003]

james when your dad comes back you and him sit down take the side of with power unplug leave side cover of and start puter make sure you see the fans going cpu and the fan on g/card an the one one the power supply,, this is most important to see them going as you need to elimnant each thing off,,

then start with taking g/card out if all fans are going ,if you carry on using it without cpu fan she is going to blow ,if it is running without any fan going on other componants then they need to be replaced ,you said you computer was new or new second hand ?

after you have worked out that it is not hardware ,then your best better is installing the op system fresh,, then go to whatever virus wear you would like to use avg from what i said before is not bad for free even i use it with sygate pro firewall,ad aware pro se and sometimes spybot ,all good products

just remember one thing at a time and if you are playing with power and such do it with a parent

[Jimmy]

ow okay, I removed the graphics card (by myslef ), its working ifne now, I don't know about the fans ill try that soon.

My pc was second hand (ex-lease) I brought it from the computer broker shop and the os was a newly installed. I asked for the disc's for xp pro but they said they don't have them to give out

I thought I mite put the card back in and if it crashes again ill remove the cd-rom drive to put less strain on the power supply ,maby thats why its playing up when theres the grphics card in cos the power supply can't take the extra work?

James

[natas03]

yeah i was kind of thinking power but those things should tell you that if it is but do check all fans as it could be overheating and switching it self off
oh you got it from a shop so thke it back and let them see what wrong if non of this works just put back together and say nothing ...well just that you put a g/card in and all worked great until the computer just switched off two weeks later if you droped it in tommorrow u should get it back working when you get back from holidays covered under shop warrenty there is usally a time perod for these things ,,lets just say you took it home and boom she blows you take it back the nexted day and they fix it !! well they should

dont tell them about the power cuts you mite of had let them sort it just say it was turning its self off and error messages thats it ..

[Jimmy]

I'v tried it with the graphcs card in and the cd drive unpluged and same thing happend (a crash then restart at the windows welcome page) so I think its not the power supply.

At this stage all fans except the vid cards one were working , so I turned the pc off and spun the fan on the gpu with my fingure and then started it upagain, the fan was spinning on the graphcs card and it got all the way to the desktop ,things were odd thow, cpu usage was at 100percent and things were realy slow then eventuly the "your system has recoverd from a serrior error a log has been created" window come up and I clicked "don't send" and then the computer cut out again.

So i removed the video card ,deciding it is my main problem.

the system is now running with out the graphics card and not shutting down but strange things are happening with the os. I get a messgae about ctfmon.exe not working on startup and other wierd things happen, my avast wont work, when I open it it says there an enternal error and it wont even do a scan , all sorts of messages about files being deystored or the operation could not be started etc etc...


I'm downloading avg now on to this pc (my parants , i still don't trust mine) and will install that, I may have to reinstale xp thow I don't have the disc's sadly , cause it seems alot of the windows files are destroyed

I'm still confused about whats happend, is it all from a virus? is it from a over heated GPU or a combination of both.

i'mgoing to go get a new fan for my graphcs card tomorow cos the one on it at the moment may not be working at its proper sppeed and its just shutting down cos its to hot. Or i may just have to look for a new card any ideas for a cheap way of getting my pc back to how it was on wednessday?.ill spend 5 buks on a new fan thow just to see if it fixes it anything.

I just wish I knew what the problem was !!!!!!!! so frustrating lol

wow is must be my longest post ever, sorry guys.

Thanks a heap
James B)

[Jimmy]

Well it was working fine for a wee while, I left it sitting there open on its side running in normal windows mode (with out the vid card in it), so I downloaded AVG on this pc and put it on a disc and took it into my one, I had to stand it up on its side to use the cd-rom drive, when I inserted the disc I waited a efw seconds then it just turned off, like in a power cut, it just began restarting again.

And AVG won't install properly in safe mode, it actuly says so in the error thingy after it says it failed to install, and when I try to install in in normal mode itll just turn off half way threw it, its impossible!


PLEASE HELP ME!!

I have no idea whats wrong , I thort id figured it out!!!!!!

[Zöltuger]

i agree with brownbox- a full re-install may be the only way to fix it. if its working in safe mode, its probably not a hardware issue

[ZK-MAT]

I may have missed something in an earlier post, but you aren't running the graphics card, so I take it you have on-board graphics? If so, did you disable the on-board graphics when you put in the card originally?

Maybe go into the BIOS on boot up, disable the onboard graphics, switch off then re-install the graphics card and see if that makes a diff. Perhaps it's a conflict?

[Jimmy]

hmm there should be no conflict, its worked for the last 2weeks, i'v just found out anyway without it still crashes with out the graphics card in

I'm going to take it to the shop tomorow (I have a 3 mounth warenty) and get them to reinstall windows, as they didn't give me the disc's even when i asked!

I don't mind lossing 2weeks of installing stuff, I just want my computer back!

[ZK-MAT]

Fair enough mate. If they get picky with you mention the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993, fitness for purpose and of acceptable quality.

[ardypilot]

Hi Jimmy,

I feel your pain mate, it really is frustrating when technology won't work the way you want it too!

I can't suggest any more tips apart from, try visiting the techspot forums here: http://www.techspot.com/vb/

They have a very friendly and helpful hardware forum which I frequented a while back when I was having sound card issues.

All the best with getting it fixed, hope to see you virtually airborne sometime soon

[Jimmy]

Thanks trolly

I know its worth it in the end, well I just haven't got to the end yet

I took my pc into the store this morning and was told the warenty doesn't cover software problems I spoke to anothor guy (someone with english as there first languge this time ) he said that if i'v only had it 3weeks is most likely a hardware issure, so he took it and said theyl have alook at it.

So i'm realy hopeing its not a virus that erquires a reinstall of xp as they will charge 200dollars to reinstall xp!

what if its a virus.........

James

[brownbox]

best of luck mate

[creator2003]

f u

[HardCorePawn]

Maybe its contagious...

my comp starting doing exactly the same thing a couple of weeks ago. I tried everything I could think of:

reseating CPU
reseating heatsink on CPU
reseating RAM
reseating vid card
trying individual RAM sticks (i have 3)
removing all IDE connections
removing all PCI cards
re-oiling motherboard chipset fan (it had basically seized up)

I managed to get it into windows once, then the random reboots started again. It would reboot while loading windows, in the BIOS, in the Dual BIOS backup utility, before POST screen, during POST screen etc.

Personally, i think my motherboard is stuffed. Unfortunately, there is no real way for me to test it, as my friend that had a compatible motherboard etc which would have let me test the individual components has moved to the UK

luckily for me, I have an understanding wife, and a well timed holiday in Hong Kong has meant that I have been able to buy upgrade components fairly cheaply.

I would think that your problem is probably also hardware related, if the system is rebooting at the RAM check/POST screen then I would doubt that it was a windows related problem.

Also, I cannot believe that you have been sold a comp with XP on it, without been given:

a. the install disks
b. a valid license key/certificate of authenticity (little sticker with license key on the box)

I would have thought that this is illegal and would probably be of interest to microsoft. If however, you have b, then you just need a copy of XP which can be had for the price of a blank CD

There are also utilities that will tell you what license key was used to install a particular copy of windows, but that would involve actually getting the computer to boot into windows (not sure if they work in safe mode tho)

good luck mate, I hope you're able to get it sorted soon... being without a computer sucks.

cheers,
HCP

[Jimmy]

Hi HCP and natas

I too am very annoyed I didn't get the windows disc's, I asked when I was buying the pc and the guy said something about them being ex-lease computers so they don't have the cd's to give out. but I new my os was a fresh install cos thigs like wmp had to go threw the "i accept liscence" stuff and all things were new, you know what I mean lol.

My computer usualy crashes at the windows welcome screen or at the desktop or even after half an hour of sitting at the desktop! sometimes when it loads windows itll have cpu usage at 100percent when its just sitting there. hmmm

I do have a coa on the side of my pc case, I registerd windows when I got my pc and that worked went fine so im a legal owner and will find a way to get it installed! lol the warenty doesn't actuly say its only for hardware so if i caome home and find they couldn't finda fault and have charged me 30buks ill go straight back in there and get my rightfuly owned reinstall