Computer restarting and other stuff

[syxx2001 0]

OK, so Christmas Eve was here and I was on my computer listening to music. Then my computer restarted out of no where. So I go, OK, maybe something went wrong. Oh yes, something did. The computer restarted, went to the Windows XP screen, restarted again so I just turned it off. I turned it back on 5 minutes later and it was working fine....for a minute or two then it restarted again. So I just left it alone. Later that night, like 11 or so, I turned it back on and it worked fine for about 5 minutes, then it restarted AGAIN. So I just turned it off. Christmas came and I turned it on, brushed my teeth and went downstairs. Then I heard a faint beep, the sound of my computer starting up, meaning it had restarted. I had enough. Reformatting was my last option cause I have ALOT of important stuff on there. I cant find my Windows XP disc and I needed it because it said a file was corrupt or missing and I needed to repair the system. So I used my brothers computer and downloaded XP SP1 and tried to install that. What I did was try to install the new OS over XP, but that didnt work. It said something was missing there too, which I find strange since I downloaded a group ISO from IRC and not something from Kazaa or Ares. So now I cant load the OS because it gives me some garbled text on a black screen and for some reason the disc wont load either. It says "Searching for boot record from CDROM....OK" "Hit any button to load..." I hit something and the screen goes black and sits there.

 

What do I do? The computer Im on now is ancient and I have a bunch of stuff on that computer that I need for the upcoming week. I know there is a program that would allow me to recover files if I delete them, but would that work if I were to reformat that other computer? I dont want to do that so dont recommend it unless its your last resort. Thanks to anyone who can help.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Do you get like a countdown before the computer restarts? If not, it might be your power supply going out.

[syxx2001 0]

No count down, but I dont think its the power supply cause it told me I had a corrupt system file before I tried fixing it. And its restarting, not cutting off.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Right click My Computer, click Properties.

Click Advanced tab.

Click the Settings button under "Startup and Recovery" (near the bottom.)

A new window will pop up. A checkbox near the bottom says "Automatically restart." Uncheck it.

 

Click OK until you've closed all these windows. By default, XP tries to restart upon getting a Blue Screen of Death. By turning that off, you can sometimes see what file is causing these problems. So leave your computer on, and expect to see a Blue Screen eventually.

 

If you're still having mysterious restarts out of nowhere, then it's probably not a software problem and just a dying power supply.

[MrRant 0]

Try doing a system restore to a day before it started happening to rule out any software that may have caused a problem.

 

Start - All Programs - Accessories -System Tools - System Restore

 

If that doesn't work then baring it being something hardware related (bad memory, card, power suppy as mentioned) then you would have to format and reinstall.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

You can try that but see if you can try my thing and find out which file is flunky.

 

I had this happen to me before, my computer used to restart while playing games. I turned off the restart and got a BSoD regarding a video card driver file. Replaced it and things went fine.

[syxx2001 0]

I tried to restore it but that didnt work so I guess it might have been a hardware error. But I took it to a computer shop yesterday so it should be ready today he said. Thanks for the help.