PC stuck in start up loop

drumdogg · 2 Mar 2012 at 14:27

Im fixing a PC for a friend and it basically full of viruses, so i removed them and removed some program in which i thought the viruses where coming through (bear share, limewire etc). But ever since, when i hit restart it keeps looping on the BIOS screen(the screen usually says F10 for setup etc). This screen shows and then restarts again and it is if it is stuck in a continues loop. But it doesnt do this when i shut down and then boot it up again!! It works fine that way but doesnt when i do a restart!!!

I have tried doing a cold boot and cleared the CMOS battery but didnt work either.

Any suggestion??

stulid · 2 Mar 2012 at 14:30

System specs?

drumdogg · 2 Mar 2012 at 14:32

Its a HP Compaq, with core duo 2.66 and 2G RAM.
Win7 ultimate.

drumdogg · 2 Mar 2012 at 14:34

Hp compaq dc7800 small form factor

stulid · 2 Mar 2012 at 14:38

I would be tempted to do a fresh install of the OS.

drumdogg · 2 Mar 2012 at 14:41

Could try putting another Hard Drive in to see if it will work with it. But cant see why it could be a OS problem if its not even booting into windows at that point. But Cheers, will give this a go first.

inSilica · 2 Mar 2012 at 15:34

drumdogg said:
Im fixing a PC for a friend and it basically full of viruses, so i removed them and removed some program in which i thought the viruses where coming through (bear share, limewire etc). But ever since, when i hit restart it keeps looping on the BIOS screen(the screen usually says F10 for setup etc). This screen shows and then restarts again and it is if it is stuck in a continues loop. But it doesnt do this when i shut down and then boot it up again!! It works fine that way but doesnt when i do a restart!!!

I have tried doing a cold boot and cleared the CMOS battery but didnt work either.

Any suggestion??

This has happened to me on the DS4 (latest BIOS). I changed PSU but continued so I put the blame on the motherboard. Sometimes when I power on it posts, reboots and never gets past post. So I unplug all, including PSU from wall socket, reconnect to power before it starts to work. If it's anything like what I have, it's the motherboard - its inconvenient but hey it works