xp not booting all the way

[420girlntx]

I am working on a friends pc. It will begin its bootup, then you have to choose between two xp operating systems, gets to where it tells you that windows is startting up, then will reboot itself. I am dazed and confused. Please help!

Thanks

[ski]

If selecting either O/S causes it to restart, then press and hold the F8 key during startup, select 'Safe Mode' from the menu using the arrow keys, and press Enter.

If it does not automatically restart while in Safe mode, then do a clean boot to troubleshoot the problem:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;310353



If it restarts in Safe mode, then there may be a hardware problem:

-Everything not completely seated on the motherboard.
Reseat everything.

-Overheating
Check the system and CPU's temps either in BIOS or with temperature monitoring software.
If the system temp gets over 45 deg. C, then make sure the computer's fans are running, the vents are open, the computer is not located in an enclosed space or near a heat source, and there is no internal dust build up.
If those are ok, then remove the computer's cover, and run an external fan. If this fixes things, then install additional case fans. Recommended locations are lower front and upper rear of the case.
If the CPU gets over 60 deg. C, then make sure there is thermal compound between it and the heat sink. If that's ok, then replace the compound with Arctic Silver3.
If no luck, then install a higher capacity heat sink fan.
If still no luck, then replace the heatsink with a more efficient unit.

-Overtaxed or bad power supply
Swap it out with a different(preferably higher wattage) unit.

-Bad memory
Remove and reinsert the memory a few times, try it in different slots, do not use any optimal settings for the memory in BIOS, run Memtest-86, and swap it out with known good memory.
Also, do not mix parity and non-parity memory.

-Bad video card.
Swap it out with a known good card.

-Bad MB.
Swap it out with a known good MB.

-IRQ conflict with a network card.
If no problems show up for the NIC in Device Manager, then remove it from DM, shut down, uninstall the card, and restart.

-Viruses and spyware.

-Kazaa.

[420girlntx]

Thanks for the reply,

All the suggestions you made, I did that. I completely reformatted the hard drive through the windows installer and reinstalled windows. However, after all of that, I still have two operating systems. One of them is completed, the other asks for the operating system cd. Not sure why the incompleted operating system was still there after reformatting. Other than that, the pc is back up and running as it should be. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

>:) 420girl

[ski]

You're welcome.

What are the 2 O/S's , and which one did you reinstall?