Continuous Rebooting

[21stHermit]

I have a month old Foxconn Atom 330 that has run flawlessly for 1-month. Yesterday it started going into a continuous boot cycle. It starts the XP boot then black and then Windows would not start screen: How do want Windows to start? Normal? Safe? etc. Loops over and over in this pattern.

My best guess is to reseat the DIMM stick, possibly a failing PS? Any thoughts?

Foxconn Atom 330
150W PS
250 GB WD SATA HDD
1-2GB Crucial DDR2
WinXP SP2

 

[mpilchfamily]

Try a repair install of Windows. Sounds like the HDD may have gotten currupted. One of 3 things can cause HDD curruption. It can be either be bad sectors on the HDD, bad RAM, or an unexspected loss of power while the system was running and trying to save something to the HDD. So you may want to run an scan of the HDD and use Memtest to check the RAM.

 

[21stHermit]

Originally posted by: mpilchfamily
Try a repair install of Windows. Sounds like the HDD may have gotten currupted. One of 3 things can cause HDD curruption. It can be either be bad sectors on the HDD, bad RAM, or an unexspected loss of power while the system was running and trying to save something to the HDD. So you may want to run an scan of the HDD and use Memtest to check the RAM.

Thanks, that rings a bell.

Because I live off-the-grid, I have an inline power switch to avoid ghost loads. Sometimes I get careless and flip the switch before Windows has shut down. Most likely this is the unexpected power failure.

So this repair install, from the Win XP CD-ROM? Any tips?

 

[21stHermit]

I evoked Repair from the XP CD. After a lengthy load sequence, I get a black screen with XP Recovery Console and a C: prompt, no choices except to type EXIT to quit.

I was expecting some choices.

Suggestions?

 

[21stHermit]

I found this guide to doing a XP repair. Note he specifically warns not to use Repair Console. I used normal XP setup and XP does NOT even see an existing XP install on the drive . . . bummer.

Looks like it's surgery time to remove that drive and recover files then reinstall XP.

 

[Matt1970]

Hit F8 when it boots and select "Do Not Restart On Failure" or however it is worded. You need to rule out the power supply first.