I turned on my computer this morning to find that it boots up only to the screen which gives me the choice to boot in Safe Mode, extended safe mode, or the usual mode (I’m on an office comp now). After I select any of these choices, it begins to load, before suddenly restarting and booting up again from square one. only to reach the screen again, cycle, etc. This has never happened before. Has anybody had or heard of this problem before. How must I go about fixing it?
BTW, the computer is a 2.53 GHz Pentium IV, Windows XP, about a year old.
If it’s a hardware issue, check for unusual heat-up of the chip or at the point where the power supply connects to the motherboard. Check all fans, etc.
If you leave it on indefinitely, without selecting any option, does it stay on or does it still reboot or shut off ?
Funny, I am working on a computer at work right now that is doing the same thing. I tried everything to no avail so I am reinstalling Windows XP. That will work.
Safe Mode means a critical failure has occurred. If you can’t get beyond that choice, xash is right. Do a recovery.
There should also be a logged safe mode option. YOu can step through boot up item by item and find where the problem is. If there is a hardware problem it should occur there.
Guesses: Corrupt OS. Corrupt hard drive. Virus. Hardware problem.
Could also be a video card /video driver issue. The screen for Safe mode is a low res screen but once it starts loading hi-res drivers and such it could be failing.
Open the case and have a peak inside. See if you’ve got some blown capacitors. (They look like AA batteries set on end) Their bottoms should be flat and shiny. No bulging or discolouration…such as brownish build up.
There should be a last known good mode. Try that. If there isn’t one, try hitting F8 and see if one appears. If it doesn’t work, pop in the XP cd, boot of it (BIOS option) and choose to recover the system.
I’m assuming since it’s an office PC, its in an air conditioned enviroment and no one’s been poking around inside it which are the main causes of hardware failure…