When powering up PC, it continues to reboot itself

system is an HP PAvillion a700n running xp.....when i power on the system, the system starts to boot, I see hte MS XP screen etc, but then after a little bit, it starts to reboot and goes through the boot-up process again. The system just continues to reboot itself and I can neve get to desktop/icons. Any ideas?

Thx

 

I've tried booting into safe mode, but it did same thing. I will try this now and post if it works. Thx

 

ok, tried f8 in safe mode with netowrking, but it continues to reboot itself.

 

If your HP has an AMD processor and you updated XP to SP3, go here
http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jes...ed-computer-boot-after-installing-xp-sp3.aspx
and scroll down to this section
First problem, affecting AMD-based computers with OEM images, primarily HP Desktops

 

I had the same problem with a Dell. It wouldn't start from a CD either. Can you boot from a cd?

 

I just fixed a computer with this problem. After opening the case to start unplugging stuff...I noticed the heat sink was askew. Looks like the bracket for the heat sink broke so it wasn't sitting firmly on the processor. I'm guessing it was over heating. After getting a new bracket....it ran smoothly.

Just something to check.

 

I'm having the same problem
the heatsink is not a problem in my case.
The same is happening on two diferent systems.