notebook booting problem

hi,
I have a HP Pavilion notebook about 3 years old. It has trouble booting up. It repeatedly attempts to, but shuts down and repeatedly tries again. once in a while it boots up, I tried knoppix live cd and the same thing happens. I have the power supply plugged in.
thanks for any help
zsuiter

 

It sounds like to me that the computer is 'restarting' partway into booting the operating system. This indicates a blue screen of death since most computer are set up to automatically restart upon BSOD.

You can turn this off by pressing F8 when the computer is starting and then selecting 'disable automatic restart upon system failure'. This way you can be sure it is a BSOD and also read what it says (though it is often not helpful)

Since your symptoms persisted even with a boot CD, I predict a RAM issue. Try memtest86+ and let it run a few passes.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Benchmarks/Memtest86-plus.shtml

 

Hi zsuiter, if it is giving the same issue when booting a linux distro CD then it will more than likely be a memory issue, i recommend the same as Senlis but you dont need to leave majorgeeks to download it http://majorgeeks.com/Memtest86_d1247.html

*** Remember you have to burn the disc as an IMAGE FILE not just a normal CD and the boot your PC from it by restarting the PC with it in the disc drive!

 

since you will need to boot that memtest program, let's hope it doesn't reboot as well. I would also check your fan(s) for excessive dust, and clean out any air vents in it, it might just be getting way too hot. see if you can get into your bios and monitor your temperatures. look for something called system health or similar.

 

Very good point smokingun.

If it does, you could try a different ram stick if you can get one, aslo resetting the mobo is a good idea.