Help badly needed - system constantly trying to reboot

Thanks for the replies guys. Still not got this sorted.

Idleman - The Bios is very basic, there are no ram settings/timings to check unfortunately.

bledd - No worries m8. Already updated to the latest bios & yeah it was a bit hairy but did get it done:p

shannowdr - Already put a replacement PSU in the machine & have same problem so it cant be that.
 
Bluntwrapped - Yeah did wonder about shorts, do you mean just tighten everything uo with a screwdriver or can I use 1 to detect a short somehow?? Electrics are not my strong point!!
 
G@rethf said:
Bluntwrapped - Yeah did wonder about shorts, do you mean just tighten everything uo with a screwdriver or can I use 1 to detect a short somehow?? Electrics are not my strong point!!
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Yeah mate I'd try tightening everything up first, and if that doesn't work do what neverender suggested and take the motherboard out and see if you can get it to boot on a box or a table or something. I remember having a similar issue a few years back. Got stuck in a loop of hearing the post beep a flash on the screen then it would reset itself. Turned out I forgot to remove a stand off screw which I believe was causing it to short and get stuck in this loop.

It's a strange one since it's been working fine until recently :confused: hope you manage to get it sorted.
 
Could be a short, yeah. If not then something on the motherboard has failed - I'm not an electronics expert, but possibly a voltage regulator/capacitor. It is a fairly old board by the sound of it. Do any of the capacitors look like they're bulging at the top?
 
Nice 1, thanks for the advuce guys, I'll try whipping the board out and booting it up as you suggested. Hadnt thought of that so cheers. Yeah its is a really weird one!

Curio - Yeah it is an old Nforce board. None of the capacitors look any different to normal to me, but then I'm no expert either:)

Will post back & let you know what happens.

Cheers again for all the help
 
First off, try it on a cardboard box to eliminate any shorts. Also check that the cooler hasn't taken a knock.

Have you cleared the CMOS? That's usually my first step in this situation (pulling the battery while it's powered down should do the trick). Next step is to remove everything but 1 stick of memory and the CPU and see if it'll post. You mentioned upgrading the memory - it's worth trying each stick separately.
 
I had a case fan that was plugged half in and half out of the mobo that caused my comp once to keep crashing. After I checked all connections and found the loose fan cable, it was problem solved.
Hope this is all it is for you.
 
G@rethf said:
I have a Compaq desktop PC (not the 1 in my sig) which was running perfectly a week ago which is now turning itself on and off constantly. It doesnt get as far as posting before it cuts out, then tries to restart and cuts out again and that cycle continues til I remove the power lead. I have scanned the machine for viruses, spyware/malware, updated the bios, updated drivers, but still have the problem. It literally powers up for a couple of seconds then cuts out!!

Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this??

Thanks,
G
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G@rethf said:
Its actually the old mans machine, must be 5 or 6 yrs old. Was running perfectly prior to this saga.
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Time to buy a new PC? Sorry but it wasn't of the best quality when it was new. *no competitors please*
 
After hours of messing about swapping power supplies, updating dricers/bios etc, swapping sticks of ram around, checking cables etc, the problem turned out to be a tiny bit of fluff stuck in the connector thats on the rear of the power button!!!:mad: Cant believe it! Its now working fine!

Cat_J - You're not wrong mate, ** **** it was, it'd be the last place on earth I would personally buy any PC from!

Thanks to everyone who posted suggestions.
 
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Good to hear you got it sorted.

Both you and Cat J may want to remove the competitor link, before a Mod steps in. Just a heads up.
 
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