I'm having trouble getting my computer to start up. Every time I switch it on, it begins to load Windows and then just resets itself. Occasionally I can get Windows to load but then it just resets itself after a few minutes. Anyone got any idea what could be wrong or what steps I can take to rectify the problem?

Please post your OS.

Windows 98

Get a new OS.

Post any other information that you can about your PC. It may show up in their forums or on the FAQ's. I know my brother is having the same problem with an HP XP home computer. We havn't figured it out yet, but we are working on it. We thought it may be a virus, but it came back after a reformat and reinstall of the OS. Although on HP they have a recovery partition, only on XP I think, so it seems that would also get infected also. Others may have had this same type problem and can shed some light on the situation. I will post back with any information we find that deals with win98 that I find that may be helpful.

I would start with trying to see if it was RAM first, go to single stick and see if it works.

How do I check if it might be RAM? I don't know how to go to single stick.

You can get in before Windows loads with a Memory Tester such as: http://www.memtest86.com/

This is a self-booting Memory diagnostic that loads onto a floppy...hopefully, you have a floppy drive! ;)

Also, you may want to try the Harddrive diagnostics. These can be downloaded from your harddrive manufacturer's web site...they are also self-booting using a floppy...

Hi,

The first thing I would do is use my startup disk and use that to boot my computer with and see if it is stable. If the samething happens again you might have a faulty powersupply, check it first. Then check to see if your CPU fans is working and heat is not a problem.

Will it boot into Safe Mode without problems?