PC Shuts Down After Booting

Hi there folks,
My computer shuts down itself right after I start the computer up. This happens just before windows tries to load.

Any suggestions?

G

 

Just to get the ball rolling on a dialog....

How far into the loadup do you get?

Is the windows logo visible?

Any errors or beeps?

When you say shutsdown, do you mean it literally turns off or does it lockup, or end up at the c prompt?

 

Total Power OFF

Thanks for the reply Godez,
The power just goes off totally when I see the windows startup images (blue sky, white clouds). I think it might be a virus but I'm finding it difficult to get into the PC to remove it!

Gerd.

 

Have you tried an F8 during startup to the startup menu which allows the options of safemode or c: prompt or create a bootlog.txt? Try the windows/safemode option first.
How-to:
To be done after bios loads its stuff and before windows clouds. Timing can be tricky on this one. Sometimes it can take a few times to catch this just right. Either press and hold control key [either left or right] or by tapping the F8 key during bootup.

An emergency startup disk? Have you tried this? Please keep in mind that if you suspect a virus is envolved that any floppy you use should be write protected. Make sure the little tab on the floppy is set for such.
How-to:
If you didn't make one of these or can not borrow one of these, try www.bootdisk.com

A bootup creating a bootlog.txt? Again a startup menu option. Which you can read if you can get a c prompt and use the edit command.
How-to:
The bootlog.txt will be located in the root of c:. If you can get to the c prompt you type in the command edit bootlog.txt and hit the enter key. This will allow you to read your bootlog and possibly spot problems.

What virus program do you have? Does it allow for dos (c prompt) scans. You would need to know the path to your viral program and the dosmode executable (file) to call up, plus any switches that may apply. I know Norton has such. Possibly you have this on a cd? If so it will allow for or offer to do a scan prior to installing. Not ideal, since the dat file will be the older original but this may work in pinch.

Sometimes, during bootup, you can see what is going on behind the clouds by hitting your escape or tab button when the clouds appear, I forget which. In any case, if you can get to a c prompt, you can still edit your msdos.sys file, to add or edit the switch logo=0. This will allow you to see what is going on behind the clouds, in case there's an error you aren't catching.
How to: This has other stuff in it but the dirrections for c prompt commands such as changing the attributes and editing the file are the same.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q226112/

Has your computer always shut it's self off when an error occurs? Some bios settings have an option, that would have a setting to control this.

This may be a hardware issue. A bad device such as modem, soundcard, graphic card, even the power supply, etc. can and will cause your computer to do this. But we can cross that bridge, if needed, when it can be firmly established that there is no way to regain a windows entry, any other way.