Restarting computer crashes and loops

[Elie]

Hi guys and gals, this is a problem with my HP Xw9300, when I cold start, it boots to Windows XP SP2 no problems.

When I restart, it crashes at the point of loading windows and loops endlessly.

When I restart and go to the bios then save and exit, it loads to windows fine.

What the heck is going on here? Corrupted Windows boot sector, the OS itself? hardware issues?

Thanks in advance,
Elie

[High_Jumbllama]

You didn't install Frogger did you?

[Elie]

Hehe, no This is my dedicated editing system, wonder if a system restore would work.

[Marshmallowman]

perhaps a cmos reset might help, or reseting ESCD stuff.

Don't forget to take note of your setting before doing it.

[Fat Tone]

Have a good look at your PSU voltages and the battery, and the electrolytic caps on the motherboard. Any that don't have flat shiny tops could be the source of your problem.

[Elie]

I checked the mobo, all was fine, did a system restore, same issue.

So I tried to reinstall windows thinking it was the problem, windows wouldn't even recognize the C drive, but that was because the C drive is on the internal raid array as a stand alone drive, anyway, that led me to test other aspects like the DVD players.

I had just bought a new player, I have two, one was set to Cable Select and the new drive was set to slave.
When I had the DVD's disconnected, the problems went away, so now I know what the cause is.

Cheers,
Elie

[Fat Tone]

Doh!

[Technoid]

CS = Cable Select = Computer Stupidity

[Elie]

CS = Cable Select = Computer Stupidity

I completely agree

[Elie]

I formatted and reinstalled windows, now all is good with both DVD drives connected properly.
I suspect a bad sector on the C drive.

Cheers,
Elie