Member Avatar for renegade_spawn

intel P4 1.8A ghz/512/400/1.5v with an intel d845WN MoBo, seasonic ss-300agx power supply it has 12v 18a, e-GeForce FX 5200 128MB agp vid card, 768mb DDR ram (512 pc133, 256 pc 133). hd western digital 60 gb (C:) & maxtor 40 gb (D:). DVD rom and 16x DVD burner. rest is built into MoBo (sound, net, USB), windows xp home w/ sp2.

The problem that is occuring is the system starts up and when it gets to the boot stage from the harddrive it restarts. at first i was getting a error saying that there was corrupt file in windows and i have since done a fresh install with a format. now it still is restarting and the second time booting the screne asking to boot into safe mode, network, safe mode with DOS, last know config and start windows normally. i have tried all options and have had the same results with a restart. i have an older P3 system that had the haddrives, dvd drives, ram, vid card and windows that all works with out any problems. this is where i am posting this problem from. is there anthing that i may have over looked or forgoten to do at all? i hope someone can help me with this.

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Since the same drives and Windows boot fine in the older P3 box, the fault is most likely tied to the P4 system hardware or its power/delivery rather than the files on disk. 's BIOS-reset idea and 's request for any stop-code are useful directions; the next steps should be focused on isolating board, memory, video and PSU faults so results are diagnostic rather than guesswork.

Strip-down isolation (fast, low-risk):

  1. Remove everything nonessential: keep CPU, one DIMM (try each stick separately), onboard video (or remove the AGP card), and only the single boot HDD. Confirm the 20/24-pin ATX plug and the P4 4-pin 12V connector are seated.
  2. If it becomes stable, add one component back at a time (second DIMM, AGP card, second drive) until the reboot returns. That pins the culprit quickly.
  3. If instability continues, swap the Seasonic PSU with a known-good unit or test voltages — intermittent rail problems often cause reboots during the driver/boot phase.

Diagnostics to run next:

  • Run a full memory test from a bootable image such as Memtest86: Memtest86.
  • Check the hard drive(s) with vendor tools like SeaTools and WD Data Lifeguard: SeaTools and WD Data Lifeguard.

Physical inspection and BIOS:

  • Inspect the motherboard for bulging or leaking capacitors, scorch marks, or loose power connectors. Reseat the CPU heatsink/fan and verify fan spin. If the board has an AGP voltage jumper, try the card in a different slot or use onboard video. If any test shows the system stable, consider a BIOS update from Intel for that board revision.

If hardware checks pass but the reboot persists, capture the blue-screen stop code as suggested and report it here; that code will point to a driver or OS-level failure rather than a pure hardware fault. If multiple hardware items fail isolation, replacing the motherboard (or swapping in a known-good board) is the pragmatic next step.

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Member Avatar for crawler

Have you tried the bios option. In bios change setting to default factory settings and then reboot. hope so your problem will be solved

Member Avatar for renegade_spawn

yea ive tried that im afraid. i have been reading a few n saw something about bad boot sectors on the harddrive. how would i check this option out?

Member Avatar for Darvus

To check that without hooking the drive up to another computer, you'd have to be at least able to get to Safe Mode w/ Command Prompt. You could try using a boot CD or the Windows Recovery Console on the XP CD, but that's something to try afterwards. First, let's figure out what the problem is.

Generally, you get an instant reboot when Windows encounters a "stop error" that results in a "BSoD" or "Blue Screen of Death". The thing with XP is that, by default, it automatically restarts the system upon encountering one of these, so you likely never see it, or only see a flash of it before the reboot. Next time, select the option that disables automatic restart (should be one of the last entries before starting normally). Copy the file it relates to (usually all caps, words spaced with underscores) and the first hex code at the bottom of the screen (0x0somenumber). The first hex string is all that's needed. There's usually five total (four in parentheses).

Post those here and we'll see what we can come up with.

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