PC Problems

[homepat]

I built a PC for the first time ever. All seemed to be going well then suddenly, when I would switch on, the PC would boot to desktop and then it would restart and continue to do this until it was switched off or loaded in safe mode. To date, I cannot find an answer to this problem. I am running XP pro. I do not know a lot about all of this and I am trying to learn so go easy with the jargon, please,

luv homepat

[reboot]

Boot to safe mode by tapping the F8 key as the computer starts up, select Safe Mode from the menu.
Once at the desktop, right click My Computer.
Select Properties.
Go to the Advanced tab.
Click on the Settings button in "Startup and Recovery".
Take the tick mark OUT of "Automatic restart".
Restart your computer, and post back with any error messages, BSOD's etc.

[homepat]

I have:
CPU AMD Athlon 3200+ with 400mgh
Leadtek Motherboard Winfast K7 ncr18d
Graphics Card:3d prophet9200
OS WinXP pro
2 strips ram oem 512 mb dimm ddr266mhz-184 pins
psu 550 watt dual fan
Western Digital Hard Drive 80g ultra ata/100
TDK DVD writer

[homepat]

Wot are BSOD's, PLEASE?
Already tried this and still doing it. Taken off all software that I put on to see if it was any of these. wasn't. Tried XP restore. Got computer up and running at one stage then it started to freeze and go slow. resetup OS. BT Broadband and network began to show errors. removed these. Went ok. next morning this problem started.
Gonna jump in the black hole!!!!!!!

[Confused]

BSOD - Blue Screen Of Death

Did you do as Reboot requested?
Chas

[homepat]

Clicked off auto and and rebooted. comes to desktop starts to initilise progs and restarts. No change and no blue screen

[reboot]

Boot to safe mode again.
Go to Start > Run > and type in: msconfig
Go over to the startup tab, and take the tick marks out of EVERYTHING.
Restart. Post back.

Go to Start > Run > and type in: system.ini
Find ANY line that begins with "run="
Put a ; in front of it (semicolon).
Exit, save when prompted.
Restart.
Post back.

[homepat]

After my last post, I decided to do what you have just suggested and I came up with some results. My way took longer than what you said but nonetheless it worked. After a process of elimination, I finally discovered sg2 which is speed gear for overclocking. when I uninstalled it all became well. This is part of winfast motherboard software. Thank you very much for your help. It has been a week of nightmares but my confidence in building my own computers has been restored. Thank you.
By the way, what temp should the CPU run at. At the moment, mine is running between 48c-55c.

[reboot]

That's a little hot. Official meltdown point is 90c, and the cooler you can get it, the better.
Anything under 40 idle, and under 45 with a load would be good.
Glad you tracked down the culprit. Some motherboard mfg's seem to think that installing anything and everything from one CD is a good idea. Generally, all you need from the motherboard CD are the chipset drivers. If you have onboard sound, video, or LAN, then those too, otherwise most of the other software on the CD is a waste of time.
Enjoy the new build

[homepat]

Thank you, all. I am learning new things all the time from you experts glad I joined.
Any tips on how I could do this for my particular model? I have an extractor fan on top and back plus dual fans on the power pack but if I take the side panel off the case it still runs at this temp.
I read about silver? 111. What is it and where could I purchase it?
sorry for being a pain in the butt.

[reboot]

It's called Arctic Silver, and it's a silicon based thermal paste that you put between the CPU and the Heatsink. It may help a bit.
Ideally, you should rid yourself of the heatsink and fan that's on there, and get an oversized copper core one. They're not expensive, and may prolong the life of the CPU by years.
Others will recommend brands/models that you can get online, or at a decent computer shop.