Computer Restarts at Desktop

[StopherSylvia]

My sister gave me a box full of computer parts and I found that it was one computer disassembled (or maybe in the process of being assembled), I don't know a lot about computers but I figured I knew enough to piece it together. I was able to hook everything up and get the computer running, but it has 1 issue. It restarts 3 seconds after the Desktop shows up.

The computer was just a motherboard (with the CPU) when I got it, but it came with all the pieces I needed to put it together. I put in the graphics card, 6 1gb ram sticks, screwed the fan back on above the processor, and hooked up the power supply. It lacked a Hard Drive put I happen to have a small one laying around that my father gave to me because someone gave it to them. This hard drive has Windows XP installed.

I turned on the computer after hooking up the small Hard Drive and it started normally but after it logged in it showed the desktop and restarted (in a loop). After messing with some of the settings in the BIOS I made it worse and the computer would restart at the windows logo before the login screen.

I hit f8 and told the computer to use the last working settings and it would make it to the desktop before restarting again. I tried starting in Safe Mode with Networking and the computer would load and get past the login screen, but the desktop and taskbar were missing. Due to the fact that the computer hasn't used my mouse and keyboard before and needed to install the driver software but wouldn't for some reason, I couldn't do anything. The computer didn't restart though, I could leave it and it would remain on the black screen that said "Safe Mode" in all 4 corners and had a window that said windows was in safe mode yada yada yada.

After reading online I read it could be a virus issue. So moved the small hard drive to my main computer and had no issues. I tried moving my larger Hard Drive (Windows 7) to the boot looping computer and it still restarted automatically, but this time it restarted at the windows logo screen again. I started it in Safe Mode with Networking and was able to use my programs I had installed like, Google Chrome.

I was curoious what the processor was because I didn't put it in the computer so I used CPU-Z and noticed that it said I had 4gb of RAM even though I had 6gb of RAM installed. I read online that a RAM issue can also cause a computer to enter a boot loop. So I began a process of elimination for trying to find what was wrong with the RAM.

I found out when I put only one 1gb RAM stick into the RAM slots 5 and 6 the computer would not turn on, but only beep (like it had when I forgot to hook the Graphics Card to the PSU) so I figured that the last 2 slots were broken and left them empty. I then turned on the computer and it still restarted at the windows logo. I ran it in Safe Mode with Networking and checked CPU-Z to find that it said I only have 2gb of ram even though 4gb or RAM is in the computer.

I tinkered with the RAM sticks so more and found that only certain sticks in certain places would let the computer start (possibly an error on my part, such as not putting them in all the way) 1 of the ram sticks worked in all 6 slots, but another would only work in the third slot. I don't know what the issue could be.

The computer only Works in Safe Mode, but gets stuck in a boot loop if started regularly with both Windows XP and Windows 7, which are on two different Hard Drives. I assume I may have hooked up a component incorrectly, but wouldn't the computer still fail to work even in Safe Mode if I had done that? I don't know what else to try...

 

[popatim]

The 'parts' computer is having trouble running either of your versions of windows because it sounds like those are from an existing computer. The parts computer has different chips on the motherbd that your existing PC and thus crashes when it loads the wrong drivers and windows is doing an automatic restart.

As for the ram, download the manual for the specific motherbd you have and check for the order that the slots should be populated in. If the ram is not matched pairs, and it doesnt sound like it is, then its a crapshoot if the various sticks will work with each other. I'd start with 1 or 2 sticks that you know are identical (ie - have the same label on them) and proceed from there.

Good luck.

 

[StopherSylvia]

The 'parts' computer is having trouble running either of your versions of windows because it sounds like those are from an existing computer. The parts computer has different chips on the motherbd that your existing PC and thus crashes when it loads the wrong drivers and windows is doing an automatic restart.

As for the ram, download the manual for the specific motherbd you have and check for the order that the slots should be populated in. If the ram is not matched pairs, and it doesnt sound like it is, then its a crapshoot if the various sticks will work with each other. I'd start with 1 or 2 sticks that you know are identical (ie - have the same label on them) and proceed from there.

Good luck.

I did try moving my hard drive from my computer, so yes it was from a different computer and the other one has stuff already on it so I assume it is from a different computer (it was given to me so I am not sure exactly what it was used for) should I wipe out the hard drive and try it then?

The 6 RAM slot are all full so I assume there isn't an issue with the order the RAM is in (I wouldn't know) also the RAM sticks are pairs of 3 (aka 3 of them are the same and the other 3 are the same, 3 gold and 3 blue, early alike) I could try just using one type of ram stick. Could the ram sticks be in the wrong order even though all the RAM slots are full? I assume the stick order only matters if you don't fill all slots.

 

[popatim]

Mark the ram so you know what goes where, just to play it safe. The motherbd slots are all labelled already if you look closely.

yes go ahead and wipe the unknown hdd and I would just install w10 or ubuntu/linux to it (parts pc) as a fast but simple test.

 

[StopherSylvia]

Mark the ram so you know what goes where, just to play it safe. The motherbd slots are all labelled already if you look closely.

yes go ahead and wipe the unknown hdd and I would just install w10 or ubuntu/linux to it (parts pc) as a fast but simple test.

i wiped the Hard Drive and will install windows soon, but something that made me wonder whether or not this will work happened. I had to wipe the Hard Drive with my main computer not the Boot Loop one. The Boot Loop computer would restart if I tried to load DBAN off of my flash drive. Any thoughts on this? If it was the hard drive trying to load drivers that the Boot Loop computer was unfamiliar with then it shouldn't have restarted when I never even booted the Hard Drive, right? I booted the flash drive and the only thing on the flash drive is DBAN, but the computer restarted when I tried to wipe the Hard Drive. Is that a sign that something else is wrong? maybe I hooked something up incorrectly...

 

[StopherSylvia]

So I tried to install windows but the computer restarts before Windows can install, I see the windows logo but then the computer reboots. What else could cause the computer to restart?