Problem with random reboots

[dabuddha]

it just started over the last few days but im currently running windows xp and win98 in a dual boot configuration
in xp, when it gets to the startup screen with the scrolling deal, thats when it just cold boots again. its like an endless cycle. safe mode does the same thing. so i booted in 98, and reinstalled xp and still same problem
then in 98, it started doing the same thing. now it just reboots when it tries to boot up in 98 or xp. im so frustrated with the thing i just don't know what to do. any suggestions would be really appreciated
thanks

 

[Rkonster]

Hmm, could be a hardware issue. First thing to try is to low level your hard drive and reinstall everything. Also, try and run take everything non-essential out, only leave the video card in. If that doesn't work, try swapping out ram or cpu. Lastly, try the board. It is probably one of those. Hope this helps.

 

[WarCon]

Have you installed any new software in the last few days? Have you updated any drivers in the last few days? Been to any warez or other bad sites prior to the problem?

Check your bios temps for a while and see what they settle at. It is possible some peripheral of yours might be failing, so you can start removing non-essential hardware one piece at a time and see if the problem stops.

Good luck..........

 

[dabuddha]

my cpu temp has been hovering around 91 F
one thing i noticed that was interesting, i went into my bios and selected fail-safe settings and rebooted
it dropped my p3 700 to a 433 and it actually booted into windows 98 and xp fine. then i rebooted tried to up the cpu speed back to 700 and it started the reboot cycle again. tried fail-safe method again and its still rebooting now! ill try the hardware swap this weekend to see if i can figure out whats wrong.
thanks guys

 

[DaiShan]

I think this may be a PSU going bad. When you under-clocked the chip it worked, this could indicate not enough power to the cpu. Also when you booted into safe mode and it still rebooted, this tells us that it probably isn't a driver issue. I would try to check the psu, how many watts is the one you have? and how old? may either not be powerful enough, or might just be dying, or it may be none of the above just brainstorming here.

 

[dabuddha]

its a 330 watt power supply, the enermax silent one. i hope its not that but if it is, ill check it out

 

[Basie]

Don't those IBM model drives have a history of problems and high failure rate?

 

[LawBeefaroni]

I agree that it sounds like a PSU issue. 330w should be plenty, but maybe it's going bad or you're drawing a lot somewhere. If you have a motherboard diagnostic that can monitor voltages and cpu temp, run it and check for voltage spikes (especially the 3.3+/-). If you don't have the software or can't get into Windows to run it (run it when your CPU is properly clocked), check the bios for a "health status" or something similar which should report the temp and voltage.

 

[dabuddha]

well i bought a new case which came with a 350 watt enermax power supply. lo and behold, still rebooting. now it just gives me 3 beep codes and just sits there. so i took out my old isa vga card and took out my radeon AIW and it booted up fine. put in my S3 virge PCI video card and it booted up fine, put the radeon back in and 3 beep codes. with the S3 and Trident video card, it still reboots though. so im thinking its probably the motherboard that's fried. i dunno, i think im just going to sell the parts and trash the motherboard. I'll just buy a new laptop instead
thanks for all the help guys, i really appreciate it