My PC keeps booting before it has started!

[14luvmusic]

I seem to be a magnet for technology malfunctioning around me!!!

My desktop PC (running Windows XP) keeps rebooting itself whenever I start it up. It starts up with the whole 'would you like to start in safe mode or start windows normally' screen as well. Then it gets to the load screen where it says windows XP with the blue load bar underneath then it suddenly restarts itself again. I scanned the hardware with Ultimate Boot CD and it said that there were no errors found after a full scan.

I would really appreciate some help with this thanks!!!!

[fivealive]

Have you tried seeing if it will boot into safe mode?

[CWB]

hmmm ... i'd hedge the bet on this one and have one of the malware removal experts help you check the machine out .

(this may be a malware related issue , seems to me i have seen this behavior before)

the fact that you can run "the ultimate boot disk" says that the power supply , ram and motherboard are most likely ok .

go here to start with : http://forums.malwarebytes.org/index.php?showtopic=9573

follow the directions to the best of your abilities .

(obviously you will not be able to perform the scans , but the information about the process is important ...

start a new topic in the HJT/malware removal section)

include the information you posted here .

[14luvmusic]

My desktop PC (running Windows XP) keeps rebooting itself whenever I start it up. It starts up with the whole 'would you like to start in safe mode or start windows normally' screen as well. Then it gets to the load screen where it says windows XP with the blue load bar underneath then it suddenly restarts itself again. I scanned the hardware with Ultimate Boot CD and it said that there were no errors found after a full scan.

Apparently it might be a malware related issue.

[lovehhy]

It should be a endless BSOD. You can press F8 when system just starting and choose never reboot if the system met problem. Then you will see a BSOD screen and it will just stay there.

[Maurice Naggar]

Hello,

Had you done any program or driver additions or removals near the time this issue first showed up?

Had you been doing anti-virus / anti-malware scans prior to this time, to insure pc is malware-free ?

Do you have your Windows operating CD, in case the Recovery Console is needed ?

Use this reference http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-vista/Advanced-startup-options-including-safe-mode

Restart pc, use F8-key procedure, and select & do "Disable automatic restart on system failure"

then try Safe Mode with Networking.

IF it halts with a STOP code, we need the full code and descriptive text shown.

This is not meant as a quick solution. It is only the bare start.

[14luvmusic]

The STOP screen has shown, it says:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Disable or uninstall any anti-virus, disk defragmentation or backup utilities. Check your hard drive configuration, and check for any updated drivers. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x00000024 (0x00190203, 0x86F4EAC0, 0xC0000102, 0x00000000)

I don't believe I did any scans or anything but I know that it was severely infected with a number of things and it's memory was nearly full.

And none of the safe modes are working either.

[Firefox]

Boot from your Windows CD and go to the recovery console

Try running chkdsk /r on the drive from the recovery console if you can.

Also look for a drive vendor's diagnostic utililty and run that.

[Maurice Naggar]

@14luvmusic

To add a bit to Firefox's note:

Stop 0x00000024 or NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM

The Stop 0x24 message indicates that a problem occurred within Ntfs.sys, the driver file that allows the system to read and write to NTFS file system

drives.

#1. Run CHKDSK in XP Recovery Console:

Set pc BIOS to boot from CDROM. Place XP CD in drive. Reboot from the CD. Select the first option R Repair/Recovery Console. Select your Windows

partition by number. Usually it is 1 . Login to XP . Then run CHKDSK /P from the command line. (In Recovery console /P replaces /F ).

Run it once (or repeat) until it shows no errors. Run CHKDSK for each drive on your system.

CHKDSK /P :X where X is letter for disk drive

References for Recovery Console:

Description of the Windows XP Recovery Console - Article ID 314058

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058

HOW TO: Install and Use the Recovery Console for Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/directory/kb/307654

To exit the Recovery Console, use the EXIT command.

HTH