Constant restart

[Mannisenmaki]

Hi,

I am hoping someone will be able to help with this problem. I am not too sure of the computer spec as I am posting for someone else. It is a Compaq Presario 5335 if that is any help.

After about two or three minutes of being on, thecomputer crashes without warning and goes into a standby-like state. I mean that the power and hard drive lights remain on and so do the fans but everything else on the computer switches off. There is no power to the CD drives, keyboard, mouse and no output to the monitor. The only thing to do is to cut the power. When I switch it back on, the computer stays in the same state and it is only by leaving the computer off for several hours that it will boot up again. The best way to describe this is that it is like the computer is in standby but it is impossible to wake it up.

More recently, the computer will reboot itself after a few minutes and it will never finish booting. Half way through the boot cycle, it will restart and try to boot again. This is a never ending cycle.

Yesterday, I did manage to get in long enough to send an email and the recipient told me that the date on it was 1/1/70! This leads me to think that maybe there is a problem with BIOS (new battery perhaps?) but when I went into BIOS the clock was correct (and in Windows too). I should also mention that the computer restarts itself even when it is in BIOS.

Someone told me that it is likely that Windows is corrupted and that I should format the hard drive and reinstall. I don't want to lose any data though so thought I would ask here in case someone could suggest a hardware solution.

Thanks in advance for any replies. I would really like to get this problem sorted out.

Cheers,
Nick

[Bluefish]

Welcome to PCHF Mannisenmaki!
Have you changed thing before this started to happen?
What Windows version are you using?
Could you also try to give us some information on what videocard you are using, processor etc.?

Bluefish

[Mannisenmaki]

Thanks for your response.

I haven't changed anything on the computer before this happened.
I am using Windows XP Home Edition
I am not too sure about the spec because it isn't my computer. It is definitely an onboard video card, maybe an Athlon 1.3Ghz, 256MB RAM but no idea about the Motherboard. It was bought in November 2001 so is now 4 years old.

Nick

[Bluefish]

Could you get into the PC and check whether RAM and videocard are connected tight to the mainboard?

[Mannisenmaki]

I did go inside last night and checked that everything was secure. It all looked fine.

The RAM is in two 128MB blocks. Could it be worth testing it with one at a time?

[Bluefish]

Well RAM can get loose so you can try with 1 stick. Try both alone and check what kind of results you get through that.

[smog1979]

Is there a hardware monitor in your bios?

Check the cpu temprature and the fanspeed, overheating will cause probleam and shutdowns, try loading the default bios settings or use the clear cmos jumper.

Hope this helps Im new here myself.