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Constant reboot loop - BAD POWER SUPPLY?

T

Trizik

Senior member
Not sure if this is hardware related but I have a feeling it might be so I'm going to start here.

My system specs are as follows:
MSI RS480M2 Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice
pqi TURBO 1GB (2 x 512MB)
Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10,000 RPM
ATI Radeon X800XL 256MB PCI-e

The problem... my computer reboots automatically ~5 seconds after Windows has loaded. It started when I deleted Battlefield 2's cache, started the game, and pressed the "LOGIN" button to connect to my account. I heard a click noise and the computer rebooted. After the splash screen displayed, it clicked and rebooted again, this time making it into Windows. Five or so seconds after Windows loaded, it rebooted again... and again... and again... until I finally shut it down.

What would cause a systen to constantly reboot automatically like this?
 
I assume everything is at stock speed? If not, make it all stock right now. I'm also thinking...data corruption, maybe overheating CPU (although I doubt it), or even PSU...hmm...

Try botting to safe mode and see if that works.
 
Originally posted by: Mrvile
I assume everything is at stock speed? If not, make it all stock right now. I'm also thinking...data corruption, maybe overheating CPU (although I doubt it), or even PSU...hmm...

Try botting to safe mode and see if that works.
Click to expand...


It definately is the OS is in this case, I wouldn't thinik it was anything else given the specifics. I think it sounds as though your system is dumping during boot, check into the log for the dump info. Like this guy said try safe mode to see if you can get in that way.
 
I changed the fan speeds in BIOS. I'll set them back to default to see if that helps.

Where do I check the logs for dump info?


Thanks.
 
I set the fan speeds back to the defaults in BIOS. So far so good. However, the computer is cold because it was resting all night so I'll post here again if it starts to reboot again later.
 
Well, that didn't do it. The computer is in a reboot loop again. This is really weird because I was playing Battlefield 2 all day today nonstop with no problems whatsoever. When I closed the game, I did a little browsing and then went back into the game. When the game was loading, the computer rebooted itself, rebooted again while it was still in DOS, then entered the reboot loop about every 10 seconds after Windows loaded.

All of the hardware is brand new and was purchased from Newegg at the same time.

How can I diagnose this problem?
 
Originally posted by: Trizik
Well, that didn't do it. The computer is in a reboot loop again. This is really weird because I was playing Battlefield 2 all day today nonstop with no problems whatsoever. When I closed the game, I did a little browsing and then went back into the game. When the game was loading, the computer rebooted itself, rebooted again while it was still in DOS, then entered the reboot loop about every 10 seconds after Windows loaded.

All of the hardware is brand new and was purchased from Newegg at the same time.

How can I diagnose this problem?
Click to expand...

Still sounds like the OS to me. Try running a Repair Installation from your OS disk.
 
I unchecked "Automatically restart" from System Properties>Advanced>Startup and Recovery Settings>System Failure, but it still restarts automatically and instantly without displaying the blue screen.

I also booted from the "last working configuration" in the F8 boot-up menu. That didn't work either.

I'll try an OS repair now, but I don't think it's that because it also reboots in DOS before Windows gets a chance to load.
 
Most of the time I can't get into the XP repair because it reboots before it finishes loading all the files from the CD. I managed to get into the repair area once, but it asked me for my admin password and I didn't have one so I just hit enter and it left me at a DOS prompt. What am I supposed to do at that point?

I ran Memtest. The first set of tests (1-8) didn't show any errors, but after the 8th test it returned to the first test and the pass % progress bar started over after reaching 100%.

I physically examined my motherboard for any blown/enlarged capacitors and any other damage. No damage that I can see.

My power supply is an Aspire 420W. It's brand new, came with my brand new Aspire case. I should mention that one set of the power supply's connectors are supplying power to the hard drive, CD ROM, floppy drive, and the front panel LEDs on the case. Is that too much load for one set of connectors? I would be surprised if it is because how is it going to support any additional hardware I throw at it in the future? I'll move the hard drive to another connector to see if that helps and report back.

Any other info would be greatly appreciated. I'm running out of ideas.
 
I moved the hard drive to a different set of power supply connectors so that it was only being shared with one case fan. That didn't help, I just got rebooted a few minutes ago.

I don't know what else to do. How can I track what is causing these constant reboots?
 
I figured out what it is, I think.

I accidentally tapped the power supply and it rebooted. Tapped it again, rebooted again. Tap, reboot. Tap, reboot. Now imagine me doing this 10 more times, and guess what? Ten more reboots.

There's probably a faulty connection somewhere (power cable going into power supply unit), or something inside is loose, don't you think?
 
Originally posted by: Trizik
I figured out what it is, I think.

I accidentally tapped the power supply and it rebooted. Tapped it again, rebooted again. Tap, reboot. Tap, reboot. Now imagine me doing this 10 more times, and guess what? Ten more reboots.

There's probably a faulty connection somewhere (power cable going into power supply unit), or something inside is loose, don't you think?
Click to expand...

Actually I do think you are correct! It definatley is not OS related. I would stop tapping the power supply though as it could lead to data corruption on the disk.

pcgeek11

 
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