XP restarts after loading screen

[tgxiii]

I have searched TechIMO for an answer but I could not find one. Each case I found where XP would restart was different from mine. Here's the deal:

I formatted my hard drive (not sure what model, but it's a Western Digital) and installed Windows XP Pro. The first time Windows booted up I was able to install some drivers. Right after installing the video card drivers, though, my system restarted. From now on, it would go to the Windows loading screen but would flicker and restart. Here are my system specs:

ECS L4VXA2 Motherboard
2.66 GHz Pentium 4 533 MHz FSB
512 MB PC2700 DDR RAM
?? Western Digital Hard Drive
Prolink Pixelview GeForce FX 5200 128 MB

I am guessing it's the memory because most posts I read suggested trying other sticks of memory. Unfortunately, I do not have spare memory lying around, so I will have to go out and buy a stick tomorrow. I have also yet to try memtest86, but if anyone has any other ideas, please let me know.

[Carl-cox-]

i dought it would be the ram if it is goign through POST ok . i had this problem the other day with our webserver turned out the resoulution of the monitor was too high. but the pc didnt restart. just the monitor didnt turn on

can you boot into SAFE mode ? see if you can reinstall the drivers or something

also could there be a heat probelm ?

[muno]

Probably a video card problem.
Boot to safe mode, remove the drivers and try to restart again.
-M

[Omardeth]

is this a new build ? i know the ecs k7s5a doesn't like some ram and some power supplies . maybe that is the case . what is the power supply and did you check the ram to see if it compatable ?

[tgxiii]

Yes, this is a new build. The power supply is a 350 watt Raidmax. I will try to reinstall the video card drivers. Hope this works.

[tgxiii]

I tried using memtest86, but could not figure out how. I ran the install.bat file that it came in. It said that I would not be able to view the floppy in Windows, so when I got a message saying to insert a floppy in the drive I thought I did everything okay. I tried using it as a boot disk and also tried booting with another disk and replacing it afterwards. Is there something I'm missing?

Here is what happened so far:

I tried booting up again and was able to log on to Windows this time. Again, it started installing drivers because it did not finish the last time. It was last looking for audio drivers when it restarted again. Then it started restarting during the Windows loading screen again.

I tried running in Safe Mode. It would start loading drivers, but it would stop after some time. I still haven't tried Safe Mode with Command Prompt or Safe Mode with Networking. Should I try those? What do I do next?

I checked my temperature through the BIOS. I am using a Thermaltake Spark 7 Xaser Edition running at 6000+ RPM. The CPU temp is 38 degrees. Unless I'm mistaken, that's an acceptable temperature.

So... any ideas anyone? Thanks for all who have replied so far.

[tgxiii]

If it matters, the drivers stop loading at Mup.sys when I try Safe Mode.

[wenchuen]

I experienced the same thing with my Ti4800se card. What I did was remove the driver and other display card utilities (mine's winfox 2.0, it's a leadtek card). Re-install the driver without installing the bundled utilities. Once everything's fine, install the utilities

[tgxiii]

Okay... I tried another stick of RAM that I know works with Windows XP because I took it out of my other computer. It's a Corsair 512 MB PC2100. This time, the loading screen wouldn't even show up. I can't uninstall the video card drivers because it won't even give me a chance.

[tgxiii]

I'm running out of ideas.... I am starting to think it could be a motherboard or a CPU problem. I put the hard drive into a system that I know works, my Abit IS7 with 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 800 MHz FSB. Windows loads, but it says it encountered a major problem. After sending the error report, though, everything seemed to run fine.

So then I tried using a working hard drive with Windows XP installed into the ECS/2.66 P4 and I get the same problems as before. The Windows loading screen does not show up at all. When I try Safe Mode, the drivers do not load all the way, except this time it stops at agp440.sys instead of Mup.sys. Could it be a motherboard or a CPU problem? The ECS board does not support an 800 MHz FSB so I can't put that in there to test it. I could put the 2.66 P4 into my Abit IS7, but if there's another way of finding out please let me know.