Endless Computer Boot Loop (1 Viewer)

[Adam Sanchez]

My brother is having trouble with his PC. It's been randomly shutting off and that itself I am pretty darn sure is the PSU. Money is tight so he is not getting a new one till it goes out. But the problem I am writing about is something new. The powering off problem is getting worse, so i am sure it's a factor. But now the computer gets to windows xp loading screen, and then freezes and the PC resets. it happens every time at the exact same moment. A BSOD appears so fast i had to record it on my phone and pause the video to see what it says. All the message says is "Windows encounter a problem when loading and shut down to prevent damage blah blah blah." i swapped out a PSU I had just for fun, just to test it. Tried another video card. Changed the ram. Same issue every time. About the only thing left to check is the motherboard or maybe the hard drive. Or maybe this is just a windows install problem due to the computer shutting down improperly too many times?

 

[mattCR]

Try booting into safe mode and running a system restore.


If not, find someone who has an UBCD (or google for ubcd4win) and boot to it. If it boots and runs, run a system restore from there.


Good luck!!

 

[Adam Sanchez]

Oh i tried safe mode, forgot to mention that. It starts loading the list of drivers and stops on the same one every time and resets. I will try that ubcd4win tonight when I get home. I didn't know about that. Thanks! Not sure his PC has recovery turned on. He games too much. WAY too much. Dude knows how to go through PCs....

 

[mattCR]

Yeah, UBCD4Win is your best option then.


Boot it up, run basic tools, and definitely run a full chkdsk c: /r /x on the drive

 

[Adam Sanchez]

To make things more fun, I should add I am pretty sure his CD drive has been going out for awhile. It's always something. =)

 

[Adam Sanchez]

Just for fun I took my brother's hard drive, put it into an external enclosure I have and plugged in into my computer. Immediately my computer (windows 7) saw a problem on the drive and asked to fix it. I let it and then put the drive back in his computer and it booted up just fine. Hours of time...saved. =)

 

[mattCR]

Bingo!


Yes, that's the chkdsk. WIn7 will auto-detect on a WindowsXP drive

 

[Cees Alons]

Adam,


Perhaps it's also wise to tell your brother that a next time his PC suddenly shuts off, the drive may get in a worse state. It's an inconsistency that may happen while it was either writing, or cached content has not been written to the disk in full - and then the computer stops. Sudden deaths that frequently are almost identical to a machine gone fully broke. It either has to be repaired or the machine retired.



Cees

 

[Greg_S_H]

Not that it matters now, but I believe when safe mode "stops on the same" driver, that driver is not the one causing the problem but is actually the last one that loaded correctly. If that's indeed the case, it is a little unhelpful that Windows doesn't tell you which is bad.