VERY unusual PC restarts in endless loop. CPU resources eaten up, and more

OK.
first, thanks for all the help so far, this forum is by far filled with the most educated computer techs Ive seen so far.

I went through the malware portion of this site at first, and did the EXTENSIVE malware removal steps.
I was really REALLY set on the idea I had some kind of rare hard to detect virus, but after all the steps and eliminating a few small malware items, and haviong the problem persist, I was pointed to hardware/software forums...

details as follows -
* the first noticable change of this ordeal -
when I log in to windows, it takes FOREVER to load windows. I have only 5 icons on my taskbar that load everytime. and Ive only got about 35 processes in my task manager. so windows isnt exactly stumbling on these programs, I assume.:cry
* when my speakers make sound, for example windows loads the sound will stumble. half the time I play songs, they skip bad ( from hardrive):cry
* my CPU often is bogged down heavily, 50% or more on miniumal tasks, yet my ram is barely used:cry
* everytime I start my computer scandisk comes on, and has been for a while checkign for disk errors..? what the hell!!
* sometimes , rarely, I cant load task manager (ctl alt del)
* the computer just runs WAAYYY slower
* finally, my computer gets stuck in this endless restart loop. I have my hibernation feature on, but once my computer shuts down, it immediately restarts. and will do so NON stop over and OVER. sometimes when my computer is off, it just turns on. and half the tiem when it is restarting, you know the speaker sound ( the little bass kind pop u get when the computer powers up?) <-- that sound will cycle like 3-9 times. i mean pop then stop then pop.. as if my computer is confused, and its like as If i sat there and pushed the power button on and off like 9 times making it pop on and off.. only it does it on its on.

* the computer has overheated and shut off 4 times now as well..


I am in awe.. I really need ur expertise
I found something about the hardrive running in DMA and PIO mode on a forum.
My hardrive is running PIO which is bad. I have a IDE type drive, running on a cable with my dvd rom, and another drive SATA running on the SATA port. I only have 1 IDE port, and I need the IDE drive, so I have to run both....

what can i do??
thanks so much guys

 

I'm not one of the tech guys, they are great. But when I had these symptoms, it was indeed a virus. I can't remember which one, maybe virut or huellar or reader.exe. I booted from another hard drive and cleaned it with NAV. That did the trick.

 

Ill continue waiting for another reply from one of the software guys, but in the meantime, thanks for the info, and could u give me some mroe info?
whats NAV ,u mean norton?
I have norton..
if it is a virus. I got it from a downloaded codec or active X for sure.. dont know if that helps, or refreshes ur memory with ur virus..
thanks

 

I am confused. I think I remember using scandisk on DOS 3.3?, yet you say you have Windows. What version ?

If your computer overheats and shuts down to protect itself it is dangerous to allow it to immediately restart and continue into melt down.

I suggest disabling hibernation.

If that fails to stop the restart cycle then something else needs fixing.

It is possible for the system configuration to allow the computer to wake-up upon an Internet wake-up call which could come from anywhere, including a hacker who has taken over your machine.

Alan

 

its like the disk check feature.. not scan disk.. but the disk check I think, thats starts before windows runs.
and as for it starting randomely, its very rare, but it has done it a couple times.
I have windows XP pro
as for overheating, its overheated about 4times and shut off

 

It immediately springs to mind that you have a problem on the hard drive if Chkdsk starts whenever the PC reboots. It could be like the old grandfather clock - never to reboot again. It could totally explain all your problems

A Google search on "chkdsk on startup" gets 270,000 results.

The top result was http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-72388.php

Alan

 

already looked into that, and chkdsk is performing the check because of drive C
I have a total of 3 drives. 2 actual hardrives, but 3 partitions.
I just disabled chkdsk.

the hibernation feature is causing a reboot everytime it completes hibernation.
there is defnitely a bigger problem going on here...
theres so much more
techs where are you???
:cry:confused

 

If your computer is overheating, have you cleaned it out physically? Look at the CPU heatsink and if it looks clogged up you need to get it clean. Grab a can of air and go to it.

I have a system that is notorious for shutting down when it gets too warm so that's what I have to do.

Good luck!

 

Ive done that too.
I appreciate everyone trying to resolve this
Ive air compressed the inside, sprayed all the dust out with pressurized air, and didnt solve it. I know thats been a culprit for many, but in this case, again its a no go to the problem

 

well, safe mode runs faster
although it takes a little to load up all the initial driers before the windows longin appears.
I havent tried it wiht music, and I dont think hibeernation is enabed on safe mode
I disabled hibernation, and the computer hasnt done the reboot loop( I did that today)
but still everything else is the same.
I did notice one thing...
When I was looking up this issue, I think part of the hibernate reboot loop is when I have a usb cord plugged in. I read somewhere that a USB device can cause the computer to reboot...
I am going to tweek around with that and see if thats part of the culprit.
if it is, is there a way to disable that usb driver or port from causing that?
what about the rest of the situation? u think its hardware or software ?
thanks again
ur help is greatly appreciated

 

Norton, yes. No problem. Hope you're doing better now.