Computers perpetial restarting

[A-comp-less]

******EDIT*****
My appologies! I just went back to the forum and saw that someone had a thread similar to mine right underneat it!!!!!! I guess that since mine is slightly diffrent, it isint really repeating, but my appologies for a repetitive post!!!!!!!
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Ok, first off, hello :)
Next, my issue at hand.
A few days back, I shut down my computer as I do on occasion(I am not a religious computer-shutdown-er. I just do it ever 4-5 days or so for about 15 mins). When I returned from some work, I came back to turn my computer back on. Everything seemed to be going fine... that is until my computer went to the Windows XP loading bar. Soon as it would start to load, if at all, it would restart and go strait back to the beginning. Before it went to the windows loading screen, I did have the option to go into safe mode with networking, command prompt, or normal safe mode. Also, I had the Start normally and Start with last working settings. All of them would cause the computer to restart. Everything had been working fine before hand. My first impression was that the CPU had overheated. My computer has been known to give out "CPU Overheat, Press F1 to resume" errors on occasion, as it had said when I turned it on. I went to see how my cpu was doing in the bios and I found it to be starting off at about 45C-a max of 60C[I've heard 45-55 is fine, but 60c is a bit hot]. Soon as I saw the 60c in red, I shut down and unplugged. I left it off for 24 hours. When I returned the next day, I tried to see if it had cooled down yet... nope, still resetting. I opened up the case to find mounds and mounds of dust. I ran down, got a vaccume, cleaned it up, and let it cool down and un-dust for another 20-24 hours. When I returned today, I found there is still no change. I was starting to think the CPU overheating error is not causing this. I then checked my two memory sticks one at a time. When I took one out, it would not work. When I took that one out, but put in a new one, it still would not work. Put them both back in, and it worked fine... but it still was restarting. I have been told my a friend to try to boot off of the windows install disk and try to repair that way. I am a little uneasy about this method. I can NOT reformat or lose any information in my C:, Doc+settings, and a few other folders. They contain very important work which could get me in a lot of trouble if they were deleted. I would first like to know if there are any other things I should try out inorder to attempt to stop this error... if nothing else is to work, then, I would like to know what the repair feature removes when it is done.

Just as a recap-
-I can not start in safe mode
-I can not get to desktop
-I can not log in
-I can access bios for apparent extended periods of time(possible proof of CPU not overheating)[I've only tried for about 15mins]
-I can not reformat
-I have limited knowledge of the inside/outside of computers (I.e. the parts, the bios, fixing)
-I need access to my computer A.S.A.P.

Thank you for your time,
-comp

By the way, incase you need my specs(all that I know)-
Motherboard- Asus K8V Delux
CPU- AMD Athlon 64 3400 Processor 1MB
Memory- Duel corsair 512MB DDR
Harddrive- Seagate barracuda 80GB 8MB cache SATA

[Inky]

First off, for the sake of your computer, crack the case more often and give it a good cleaning with some compressed air. Especially important since you leave yours on so much. ;) Also, make sure all your fans are in good working order. If not, replace the one/s that is/are broken.

To help diagnose your OS non-starting problem, unplug the system and press the power button and hold it for a few moments to drain any residual current. Then, disconnect all non-essential hardware (CD-ROM drives, etc.). Replug the system power and boot. Let us know the results.

[A-comp-less]

There was no luck in trying out this method. It did, though, give me a new message. It said, "Overclocking failed! Press F1 to change settings. Press F2 to load diffrent settings." Or something similar to that. I've had tihs come up once or twice throughout this ordeal.
I need access to my computer as soon as I can get it, my time is quickly running out on some programs I need inside it.

I have not tried to set up a slave to see if the hdd works on another computer yet... I may end up doing something wrong if I were to do that lol.

[A-comp-less]

Ok, I just decided to go ahead and try out a repair via the boot cd. When I did this, I could not boot from the cd unless I shut off the raid/ide option in the bios. When I would do this, it would give me an error message saying that the hdd was not detected and I should press F1 to resume. After I pressed F1, it went to the windows blue screen from the boot cd. Had the repair option etc. WHen I clicked R to try out a chkdsk, it said that it could not do anything because the hard drive was not detected.
Is it not detected just because the raid is disabled? or is my hdd fucked up. I am getting very irritated with this whole ordeal, so if anyone has a slight clue, please share.
Also, I have tried booting from other drives in the bios to try to get the cd to work, but none has worked. Only way it would show up was by disableing the raid/IDE.

[A-comp-less]

Ok, I got it to boot without shutting of the ide/raid, and it still does not find the harddrive disk when I press R to try for a chkdsk... does this mean I'm completly screwed?

[Inky]

I don't have a lot of experience with RAID but I think you'll have to have specific drivers for the computer to see the drive outside of Windows. Try checking w/ the manufacturer for these

[A-comp-less]

I don't have a lot of experience with RAID but I think you'll have to have specific drivers for the computer to see the drive outside of Windows. Try checking w/ the manufacturer for these

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this, but I kinda think I know. Are you referring to how I couldent boot windows by the disk? If so, I was able to get around thatway. Also, I can shut raid off and switch to IDE in the bios. Only problem now is, my monitor wont turn on. It does have its neutral orange color light(green when it is on) but it does not turn on. Hasent worked since I tried to see if my memory sticks were causing the problem. Any hints on how to fix this?

[alkibalboa]

Go back and unplug all the un escential components. Cd-roms, floppys, sound cards, ethernet, ANYTHING that is not your video card, or hdd (if you have raid keep that plugged) If it still restarts, try to go back into the bios and set to defaults. if once again this doesn't work, you may need a fresh copy of windows. Let me know if this helps or not