As you have seen from the many suggestions, this is a difficult problem to
diagnose. I am making my suggestion here because of the "click" that you
describe.
I had a similar problem that I traced back to either the motherboard or the
power supply. The power supply checked out good, using a simple tester, so
I replaced the motherboard. Still problems. Then I replaced the power
supply and all cleared up.
This happened to me twice (mine and my wife's computers) within a period of
less than two years! My power supplies were expensive PC Power and Cooling
ones that cost $200 each about eight years ago. Both times they tested
"good." The first time with the paper clip test (their web site describes
this) and the second time using a cheap tester, which is for all practical
purposes the paper clip test.
The symptoms of the most recent failures were erratic behaviour for a few
days, with the computer being able to stay on for less and less time.
Finally, it got to be very much like your symptoms, where it got
tantalizingly into the boot process then "clicked" back to a reboot.
Since it can get expensive swapping out parts (motherboards, power supplies,
hard disk drives, memory, etc.), you may need the help of a friend with a pc
who will be willing to loan you his power supply. You just need to connect
the basic things: motherboard, hdd (it needs an electrical load, plus you
can see if it will load the operating system), and maybe the video card.
After my first failure, I bought a power supply from Compusa for about $30
while I waited for my new one to arrive. So the second time I had a spare
one. :)
There are several other things to consider. The first, unlikely but
possible, is overheating. If you have a can of compressed air, you can blow
out the insides of your computer to clean off all the excess dust. However,
you crash pretty early in the boot process for overheating from dust to be
the cause. A remote problem is that your cmos battery has gone weak and
your bios are not set correctly. (This doesn't sound like it matches your
symptoms, but you never know.) If I am doing extensive work on an old
computer, I usually put in a new battery. Most of the ones used today are
CR2022 and are available at Wally's for about two dollars - pretty cheap
insurance, and they are going to go bad after a few years anyway.
HTH
Dean Kukral
----- Original Message -----
From: "Stephen R Stanfield" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, August 13, 2006 12:18 PM
Subject: [PCBUILD] System won't boot
Hello All;
When I turn on pc it goes thru boot-up process until Win xp startup page
comes on, then makes 'click' noise and goes thru boot-up page and
repeats process over again. Tried to go into safe mode, but same event
occurs. Any ideas what might be going on? i am using my laptop now,
but need my pc also. AMD Athlon 1.7ghz, 1 Gb ram 80 gig hd, Win xp home
sp-2,
thanx,
stephen r stanfield
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