XP Restarting Constantley

[craigwolfenden]

Hello Techies out there, I was hoping one of you may be able to help me. A friend's pc has gone a little wrong, he asked me to wipe it and start again. So I have, I installed Windows XP from fresh, now the PC will display the BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) randomley then restart.

The BSoD only displays for a few seconds before the PC restarts so I don't know the error code is. I am checking the memory as I type for defects.

The only items installed are the device drivers. Although I believe this is the same problem as before the fresh install. Therefore it must be the hardware (I think). The RAM is firmly sited in the DDR slot and CPU and fan is fine.

Any idea's???

Thanks in advance if anyone can help.

 

[linney]

Try Safe Mode and see if it boots.

If you have SP2 installed you also have the option on the Safe Mode screen to turn off Automatically Restart which will allow recording of the error.

If the error occurred after installing a device driver or application, try using Safe Mode and removing the driver or program.

To check your RAM.

http://www.memtest86.com/

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

To check your Hard Drive.

The drive manufacturer will have free diagnostic software to check your drive for problems.

You can also load the Recovery Console and run ChkDsk /r to check for problems.

HOW TO: Install and Use the Recovery Console for Windows XP (Q307654)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q307/6/54.asp

It is also possible in Recovery Console to use the Disable command to prevent a driver from loading.

You can also manually remove hardware that is connected to the machine.

 

[Gloryhound]

Random restarts are typically caused by 1 of 2 things.
1.) Bad Ram.
2.) Weak power supply.

If the friends computer was prone to running slow or locking up this is very possible, especially if the machine was choaked with dust or poorly ventilated.